Thanh craft villages are bustling during Tet season

At the end of the year, traditional craft villages in Thanh Hoa are bustling into the Tet production season - the most important season of the year. From the long-standing incense villages such as Van Thang, Quan Gio, Dong Khe, to the famous rice paper village of Dac Chau... the working atmosphere everywhere is bustling and busy. Hundreds of households share the same profession, contributing to creating a rich Tet cultural nuance in Thanh Hoa homeland.

People in Dac Chau craft village dry rice paper to prepare goods for the Tet market.

Working all year round, but for the incense villages of Thanh Hoa, Tet is always the busiest time. The high demand for consumption in and outside the province has caused production facilities in Van Thang, Quan Gio, Dong Khe incense villages... to simultaneously speed up from the 10th lunar month. From the roofs to the terraces, along the small alleys, everything is covered in a brilliant pink color of incense sticks being dried in the sun, creating a typical scene that only exists in the peak season. In these craft villages, people produce many types of incense according to orders, but the most popular are still vetiver and black incense with many different sizes. Prices are also diverse, incense sticks are sold for about 30,000 - 35,000 VND/100 sticks. In particular, Sao incense is the highest-end product line, priced from 55,000 - 95,000 VND/10 sticks thanks to the advantage of large incense sticks, long-lasting fragrance and burning time of 8 to 10 hours.

In Dong Khe incense village, one of the cradles of traditional incense making, there are still many households maintaining the manual production process. The raw materials are all natural, including cardamom powder, charcoal, resin and some other traditional spices. According to Mr. Doan Van Mau - a long-time practitioner, the introduction of machines into production helps reduce labor in some stages, but in the incense-rolling stage, his family still maintains the manual method to ensure the roundness, uniformity and beauty of each incense stick.

Mr. Mau shared: “Although the incense making profession is not very prosperous, it provides my family with a stable job and helps many local workers earn extra income during their free time. Most importantly, this is a way to preserve the long-standing culture of our homeland.”

No less bustling, Quan Gio incense village also entered the Tet season with a bustling working atmosphere. Dozens of households working in the profession had to work overtime day and night to meet orders. At Mrs. Tran Thi Thuy's facility in Hac Thanh ward, although she had two main workers, during the season she had to hire six more skilled workers to meet the demand.

Ms. Thuy said: "Incense is a spiritual offering so it cannot be careless but must be careful in every step, from choosing the ingredients to rolling the incense and drying it."

In the end-of-year harvest season, the atmosphere in the traditional rice paper craft village of Dac Chau, Dong Tien ward, becomes more bustling than ever. This craft village with a history of hundreds of years has long been famous for its batches of fragrant and crispy rice paper, becoming a source of livelihood for many households here. From early morning, the whole village has started a new working day. The sound of the millstones, the crackling of the stove and the aroma of baked cakes spread throughout the space. Like the incense village, the Tet season in Dac Chau is the busiest period of the year. From adults to children, everyone joins in the production stages. In addition to traditional rice paper, during Tet, Dac Chau people also make many special types such as sesame rice paper and gac rice paper to meet consumer tastes.

According to the experience of Mr. Le Duc Ngoc in Dong Tien ward - a long-time rice paper maker, the weather plays a decisive role in the quality of the rice paper. Only on sunny days will the rice paper be crispy and at its best. With strong sunlight, each batch of rice paper only needs to be dried for 4 - 5 hours. On cloudy days, it takes 7 - 8 hours and must be constantly monitored to ensure the rice paper does not become too dry and brittle, making it easy to break. One of the most difficult steps is making the rice paper because it must start from 3 am to about 12 pm to dry the rice paper in the sun. On peak days, output skyrockets, each worker can make from 1,000 to 1,500 rice paper pieces per day but still cannot meet the demand. Many times when traders place urgent orders, households have to hire more workers to complete the order on time.

Mr. Ngoc said: “We have to hurry now because the sun is still shining. The closer to Tet, the more rainy and windy the weather is, the cakes will not be as delicious as those dried in the sun. Even with a drying oven, it is not as good.”

These days, many other craft villages in the province are also entering the peak production season, adding color to the preparation for the new spring. In Dong Cuong flower village, Ham Rong ward, the beds of chrysanthemums, lilies, and gerberas are being meticulously tended every day to bloom in time for Tet. Or in Tien Loc blacksmith village, Trieu Loc commune, the sound of hammers and anvils also resounds continuously. Blacksmiths attentively stand by the red-hot coal furnace to make each knife, hoe, and sickle to serve the production needs at the beginning of the year. The working atmosphere is urgent but full of enthusiasm. Not only is it a job to earn a living, the traditional craft also carries within it a lasting cultural value. And each Tet season, when the craftsmen's hands are nimble, it is also the time when the quintessence of the craft is continued, spread, and further affirmed.

Article and photos: Phuong Do

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/lang-nghe-xu-thanh-nbsp-ron-rang-vao-vu-tet-270887.htm