Weaving profession

26/04/2021 478 0
Through many generations, the traditional bamboo weaving village in area 6, Nga Bay ward, Nga Bay city, still exists and "stands firm" thanks to stable output. Many households are attached to the profession, and now their lives have also improved.

Through many generations, the traditional bamboo weaving village in area 6, Nga Bay ward, Nga Bay city, still exists and "stands firm" thanks to stable output. Many households are attached to the profession, and now their lives have also improved.

Hau Giang Province Tourism

Photo: Quang Hai.

After weaving the last bamboo strand, Mr. Ba Phuong (Nguyen Thanh Phuong) rotated the tearing rod to check for errors and then passed it to his wife so she could do the stitching and strapping. He offered me a glass of cold water and said: "Customers are very picky now. If there is even one defective bamboo strand, the entire batch of tearing rods, hundreds of which will not only lose value, but will also be rejected by the broker."

That is also the rule, because today on the market of plastic handicrafts there is no shortage, but nothing can replace the bamboo baskets made by Vietnamese people. Because the products are made of bamboo, they are durable over time. To preserve the tradition left by our ancestors, the bamboo basket weaving craft village in Nga Bay still exists because of the love of the profession of generations. There are families that have gone through three generations from grandfather to father, then to son, but they still work hard. Today's children in this craft village are only 10 years old, but they also practice whittling bamboo strips, splitting bamboo, and helping their parents weave bamboo baskets, even though in reality the number of households weaving bamboo baskets here is not as large as in previous years. 

Society is developing, many machines can replace human labor. However, in Nga Bay area, located along the Cai Con canal, stretching about 2km, there is still a traditional craft village, weaving bamboo by hand of hundreds of households. Almost every time this place is bustling with life, people split bamboo, people whittle bamboo, people weave bamboo... to supply the market in time according to the orders placed.

Hau Giang Province Tourism

Photo: Quang Hai.

Counting on his fingers, Mr. Ba Phuong, now over 60 years old, still doesn't know when the bamboo weaving profession started here. He only remembers that in his childhood, he often heard his grandfather and father tell stories about a long time ago when a man named Hai Bach, who was from Bac Lieu, came here to make a living by weaving bamboo. Neighbors saw that he was skilled, so many people living in the same period came to learn and were taught the profession by him. And from then on, the bamboo weaving profession here began to take shape, at first only a few people wove, gradually the profession developed strongly, reaching its peak after 1975 when the country was completely unified, with about 400 households doing the profession. Thanks to the bamboo weaving profession, many households have jobs, because the agricultural economy develops, requiring many labor tools, the appearance of bamboo is extremely necessary for farmers. Farming also requires a shovel to hold rice and fertilizer, gardeners or fruit sellers also need a shovel to hold oranges and mangoes... People who drain ditches and ponds also need a shovel to hold fish and shrimp, or people who buy and sell construction materials need a shovel to carry sand, rocks... they cannot be without.

Because of consumer tastes, the weaver must think of ways to design many different sizes of weaver rods, large and small. The smallest one can hold 1 apple of rice, equivalent to 10kg. The larger one can hold 1-3 bushels, or even larger depending on the needs of the person ordering it to hold fixed items. To make each weaver rod, the weaver must spend a lot of time and go through many stages. First, the materials must be bamboo, rattan, lead wire, etc. To have a really durable weaver rod that can be used for a long time, the weaver must choose old bamboo and bamboo to make the weaving strips, the main strips, the mouth strips, and the bottom strips. When first making the strips, the weaver must weave two feathers, then four feathers, bend the mouth, weave the rim, make the straps, and the side strips, of which the straps and side strips of the weaver rod must be made of bamboo. Of the stages, only the steps of making the strips and making the base strips are the most difficult, because they determine the size and smallness of the weaver rod. A skilled person can knit 5-6 large bamboo spools a day, but for a beginner this is not an easy task.

Ms. Duong Thi Nga, Mr. Ba Phuong's wife, said that she knew how to weave bamboo sticks when she was only 10 years old. When she first started the job, she often got cut by bamboo sticks all over her hands, and it's the same now. Sometimes she wanted to quit the job and follow her children to the city to find another job, but after leaving, she came back to continue weaving bamboo sticks. She said: "I miss the job so much, I can't help but follow this job. Thinking about it for a couple of days makes me feel restless and uncomfortable. Although this job is hard, every time I make a neat and beautiful bamboo stick, I feel very happy." What makes her and many people in the neighborhood happier is that nowadays, when the products are made, they only need to sit at home and call for an hour, and a trader will come to buy them. The selling price for each bamboo stick depends on the size, from 35,000 to 250,000 VND/piece. After deducting the cost of materials and labor, the craftsman still makes a profit of about half of the price of each sold pole.

Mr. Pham Minh Dien, owner of a bamboo purchasing warehouse in Nga Bay, said that because the bamboo products of Nga Bay craft village are of good quality and skilled, not only are they known to consumers in neighboring provinces or Ho Chi Minh City, but they are also exported to foreign countries such as Taiwan, China, etc. Since then, the income from this profession of each household has also been stable, life has become more and more prosperous, especially for households without land, this is the main profession that can support the whole family.

Listening to the stories of the famous bamboo weaving village in Nga Bay Ward, Nga Bay City, we could understand the hardships of the workers here. The hard-working, honest people who are very proficient in bamboo weaving skills have helped us understand the traditional cultural values ​​of the weaving profession here. Although the village is small in scale and the production situation is still facing many difficulties, the workers here still try to hold on to the profession that has been with them and supported them for many years.

Source: Quang Hai - Hau Giang Newspaper

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