October 16th, 2006
Nga Son sedge mat
Many times ago, Nga Son (Thanh Hoa) has been well known for planting sedge and weaving mat. Even local travelers or visitors all buy the couple Mat of Nga Son as a present. It is cheap, beautiful and comfortable for sleeping… weaving sedge mat becomes the triditional handicraft at Nga Son. The local people at born-time get used to smoking scent, loom and consider the colour of sedge flower as the colour of aristocratic apricot blossom.
The Sedge makes the life of Nga Son�s people less tired. Children go to school and there are always the well pupils at provincial and national levels. Adults is took care more of food and clothes… coming to Nga Son in sedge bloom season, people seem to be lost in the forest of sparkling color. The sedge with 3 edges is planted on a large scale, rising up over the taste of marine soil.
In past and now, when mention to Hoi A trade village, it is always said to Thanh Ha pottery, Kim Bong carpenter village and hardly to the lantern work. Years recently, Hoi An lantern work has developed greatly and attracted many labors, because out of the rules of committee town all families light lantern in the night of ancient city (monthly 14th lunar calendar), all tourists buy a lantern as a souvenir. So it is surprising that over 30,000 units exported to Australia in 2 times besides selling to Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh Cities.
The Silver-carving going with unique excellent goods is named Lang Dong Xam (Copper-Engraving Village), a well-known and age- old centre for jewelry.
Rearing silkworms and mulberry for silk-weaving has long been a traditional occupation in Vietnam. As the legend goes, Princess Hoang Phu Thieu Hoa, daughter to King Hung (3,000 years ago) was a nice-looking, virtuous, skilful and hardworking girl. For this reason, her father sent her to Co Do village and more than 60 villages along the banks of the Red River to help the villagers rear silkworms with mulberry and weave silk.
Various items are made from cattle horns by skilful Vietnamese craftsmen, with many of them having a high-quality artistic value.
A legend tells that in the autumn of a thousand years ago, there was a torrential rain accompanied by severe winds in Vong Village, on the outskirts of present-day Hanoi . At that time, the paddy was just about to ripen and the storm threatened a big loss. The villagers had to collect and dry the young rice as alternative food to avoid starvation. Unexpectedly, the product had a such a distinct flavour and fragrance that the villagers repeated the process in later years. As a result of the fame of the young rice, this kind of food was brought to other places in the area. Then, it was much sought after by connoisseurs and was one of the village’s tributes to the King of the Ly dynasty (11th-13th century). In Vietnamese, it is called cốm.
Bamboo is ubiquitous in the Vietnamese countryside. Almost all villages are surrounded by bamboo hedges. Images of bamboo are attached to childhood, while a bamboo cane is a good companion to support old people when walking.
It is located in the south east of Ha Noi, passing Chuong Duong Bridge turns right and go about 10 km along the dike of red river is Bat Trang village. Bat Trang belongs to Bat Trang Village, Gia Lam District. This is a potteryvillage with a half-millenary historic development. Some decades recently, the vitality of this village is still blown up by the thousands of pottery-kiln on fire day and night.
Among the dozens of craft villages in the Song Cau area, the cradle of the Song Hong (Red River) civilization, Phu Lang is well known among many ceramic artisans. For years the village seemed unchanged. However, since the Patron Saint of ceramics making, Luu Phong Tu, brought the craft from China to Phu Lang and taught his children and co-villagers to make ceramic articles, dozens of generations of craftsmen have settled in Phu Lang and earned their living by practicing this occupation.
0n their first visit to the imperial city of Hue, visitors are often surprised at seeing huge ancient bronze casting items. They include the cauldron in the front yard of Can Chanh Palace, a set of nine urns at Hien Lam Palace, the arc girders on Trung Dao bridge that links Thai Hoa Palace’s yard to Ngo Mon Gate, the nine statues of Genies standing inside Quang Duc and The Nhan gates, the half-length portrait of the patriotic Phan Boi Chau located on the top of Ben Ngu hill, just to name a few. Except for the bust of Phan Boi Chau all other tems were cast from the early 18th to the early 19th centuries.