The last basket weaver of Tra Nhieu village

Mr. Tran Van Hy with his newly completed basket boat. Photo: VINH LOC

Mr. Hy said that when he was a teenager, he already knew how to weave bamboo, mainly household items such as baskets, trays, winnowing trays, winnowing trays, rice bins, etc., but then the war interrupted his work, so he sometimes worked and sometimes rested. Even so, up to now, he has been in the profession for nearly 70 years.

After the liberation, he started weaving bamboo baskets for fishermen to go to sea. The most "prosperous" period was when tourism in Cam Thanh (Hoi An City) developed, many bamboo baskets were sold by him to the locals to serve visitors to the coconut forest. However, after a while, the appearance of plastic composite baskets caused bamboo baskets to stagnate. Now he weaves one occasionally but the price is not much.

To complete a basket of bottles (2m in diameter), Mr. Hy spends about half a month (splitting bamboo, weaving, lining the rim, and planting oil), the selling price is 5 million VND/basket, which is considered a profit. "If we calculate smoothly, we can make 2 bottles a month, but it's not like there are always orders. Not to mention this and that, and then there are weddings and funerals, so the work is irregular" - Mr. Hy said.

Mr. Tran Van Hy and his "students" work at Tra Nhieu Traditional Craft Village. Photo: VINH LOC

The income is low but the work is not easy. According to Mr. Hy, besides selecting the right bamboo (old, straight, solid...), cutting and transporting it, the most difficult and heaviest step is bending the sides and shaping the rim of the basket, because the rim is round to make the basket round. Each basket has a total of 7 rims (4 on the outside and 3 on the inside) but he does it all by himself, slowly every day.

Depending on the requirements, there are many different types and sizes of bamboo baskets. For example, those used to shake and spin to perform for tourists in Cam Thanh coconut forest must have a pointed bottom so that the surface that comes into contact with the water is less, making it easier to spin. On the contrary, bamboo baskets used to carry people or go squid fishing at sea have a flatter bottom.

Mr. Hy’s family is small, with only an elderly couple. In fact, they also have a son, but he got married and started a business in Nui Thanh, and only comes back to visit occasionally. “God gave me the health to work hard to make ends meet, but my children have their own lives, so I don’t expect anything,” Mr. Hy shared, adding that although he is still healthy, in recent years he has not dared to “risk” picking bamboo anymore, afraid that if he pulls the tree and falls, it will be dangerous and no one will take care of it.

Tra Nhieu Traditional Craft Village is under construction. Photo: VINH LOC

For nearly 2 months now, Mr. Hy has been working in the Tra Nhieu Traditional Craft Village tourist area under construction a few hundred meters from his house. His main job is weaving baskets and performing for visitors. In particular, he has passed on the craft to two "disciples", also 70 years old. Every day, Mr. Hy is paid 300,000 VND, which is considered an additional income to take care of fish sauce and salt, and weddings.

Mr. Quan Trai (Tra Dong village), who claimed to be Mr. Hy's student, admitted that he had known a little about bamboo craft before, but he was not good at weaving bamboo baskets, so he followed Mr. Hy to learn the craft so that when the tourist area opens to welcome visitors, he can show them to them. Currently, Mr. Trai and his students have finished weaving 4 baskets, and the goal is to complete about 10 baskets, enough for a rowing team to take visitors to Tra Nhieu coconut forest.

“The reason I learned to weave baskets is first because I like this profession because it has been associated with my grandparents since ancient times but is now completely lost. Second, I want to learn how to show tourists when they visit the village, because if I weave baskets to sell, I won’t be able to make enough money for the effort,” Mr. Trai explained.

Mr. Tran Van Hy and Mr. Tran Duy Tam at Tra Nhieu Traditional Craft Village. Photo: VINH LOC

According to Mr. Tran Duy Tam - a member of the Tra Nhieu Traditional Craft Village Cooperative Group, with the aim of restoring local traditional crafts, from the end of 2024, he and a number of people have rented land to build the Tra Nhieu Traditional Craft Village area associated with tourism. It is expected that when completed and put into operation, the craft village area will be a place to demonstrate traditional crafts such as mat weaving, net weaving, bamboo weaving for souvenirs, basket weaving, rice paper making, incense making, cajuput oil refining... In which, basket weaving will be the soul of the tourist area combined with a basket boating tour in the Tra Nhieu coconut forest.

“After the tourism area is stable, we will call on and connect people to form cooperatives to create livelihoods and income for people through vocational demonstration activities. Visitors to the village will experience traditional occupations such as basket weaving, noodle making, wine making, fishing, etc., so people like Mr. Hy are very important, because it is not only a treasure trove of living knowledge about basket weaving but also associated with the culture of Tra Nhieu land as well as the river occupations of the village” – Mr. Tam shared.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/nguoi-dan-thung-chai-cuoi-cung-cua-lang-tra-nhieu-3154381.html