Craft village nearly 400 years old
Phu Gia horse hat village (in Phu Gia hamlet, Cat Tuong commune, Phu Cat district) is the pride of Binh Dinh people. This craft village has existed for nearly 400 years and is also one of the oldest craft villages in Binh Dinh.
The horse hats in Phu Gia craft village have very beautiful patterns.
The reason why it is called horse hat is because the hat is flexible, durable, suitable for the wearer when riding a horse. In the past, the artisans here made this hat mainly to serve the king and his army when sitting on horseback. Especially during the reign of King Quang Trung, Phu Gia horse hat was associated with the Tay Son army.
The embroidered motifs on the horse hats were also different, corresponding to the position and rank of each wearer. Later, before 1945, the image of village chiefs and canton chiefs sitting on horseback, wearing silver-covered horse hats on the village roads became a memory in the villages of Binh Dinh.
Taking advantage of knitting the last hats to deliver to small traders in Hue to sell for Tet, Mrs. Phu Thi Bich Phong (in Phu Gia craft village) introduced while working: "Phu Gia horse hats have a very special structure, extremely durable. The hats are made of 10 layers, the materials to make the hats are the leaves of the bamboo tree that grow naturally in the mountains of Binh Dinh, giang bamboo, and pineapple roots. The leaves used to make the hats must not be too old or too young, they must be dried in the sun and dew so that the leaves are both dry and have the necessary flexibility, the pineapple roots must be the type of roots that have been in the ground for 2-3 years, have good durability and elasticity".
Phu Gia horse hats are handmade with many elaborate steps, each step requires a different method. Therefore, when making hats, you must be especially meticulous, just one step is not done properly and the whole hat will be ruined. But when done well, the hat will last 150 - 200 years.
Ms. Huynh Thi Hanh (65 years old, in Phu Gia craft village) cited: "There are many horse-shaped hats from 200 years ago that are still preserved in Phu Gia village. Each generation of families making hats in Phu Gia like Ms. Lan's family keeps at least 1 pair of horse-shaped hats (including men's and women's hats) as souvenirs."
Keep the soul of the village
The days leading up to Tet are also the time when the horse hat makers in Phu Gia craft village are busy with their work. Most of the horse hats are sold to Hue, because according to Phu Gia people, during Tet, tourists coming to Hue like to take pictures with the hats, so this is an easy time to sell.
It takes more than a day of continuous work to complete a horse hat.
Holding the horse hat in her hand, Ms. Hanh introduced that there are up to 10 stages in making a horse hat, from creating the frame to embroidering boats, weaving leaves... The patterns on the horse hat are mostly images that are deeply Vietnamese in character, such as: clouds, dragon - unicorn - turtle - phoenix, lotus flowers, wine gourds...
"It takes more than a day to finish a hat, for people who have been doing this job for decades like me. For people who don't do it often and are not used to it, it takes 3-4 days, sometimes even a week," Ms. Hanh added.
Although it is such a feat, each hat is sold for only 200,000 - 300,000 VND. After deducting all expenses, each day people only earn about 100,000 VND when making horse hats. However, the most difficult thing is still the output, only on big holidays are hats easy to sell, people can make hats day and night.
Ms. Bich Phong added: "Actually, we can only do so much near Tet, but on normal days we rarely do much because the output is facing many difficulties."
Both Ms. Phong and Ms. Hanh admitted that due to the difficulty in selling, fewer and fewer people are making hats. Now, most of the people making horse hats in the village are elderly. Preserving the traditional craft is also a difficult problem. However, when there are orders, the women in Phu Gia village still work hard to make hats. For them, making hats is not only to increase their income, but also to preserve this traditional craft.
Currently, Phu Gia horse hat craft village has been recognized by Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee as a traditional craft village, achieved the title of Typical Craft Village of Vietnam and was chosen to build a model of Cultural - Tourism Village of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups.
But after each Tet season, the number of households making horse hats gradually decreases. This is the concern of the elderly in Phu Gia village. (to be continued)
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