“Going backwards” to preserve the soul of the oldest Cham pottery village in Southeast Asia

Preserving the 800-year-old pottery craft

Mrs. Gach in Bau Truc pottery village, Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan province, often wakes up early, has breakfast and sits chewing betel before starting a day of “walking backwards” next to the pottery wheel. Her hands are calloused but nimble, skillfully kneading the clay to shape the product. Every few minutes of walking backwards, she stops to admire and meticulously decorate the patterns and motifs to make the pottery product more beautiful.

After shaping, Mrs. Gach quickly wiped the sweat from her face, then gently put the raw ceramic product out to dry in the sun, this time lasting from 4-6 hours before being smoothed with broken pieces of ceramic. After many days, when there is enough quantity, families in Bau Truc pottery village bring the raw ceramic to be fired in the open air for 4-12 hours depending on the size of the product, arranged between layers of straw, dry firewood and coconut shells. The ceramic product comes out of the kiln with the original bright red color of the soil tempered through the fire, and is sold on the market.

Mrs. Truong Thi Gach, one of the oldest artisans of Bau Truc Cham pottery village.

Born into a family of artisanal potters, from the age of 15, Mrs. Gach was taught by her mother “the creativity of Cham women”. To make pottery, women would walk backwards around a circular pillar, requiring strength and endurance because they had to walk backwards many kilometers each day.

“Cham pottery is special because it is handmade, not using a turntable but thanks to the skillful hands of the artisans. This is also a unique feature that shows the sophistication and hard work of Cham women,” said Ms. Gach. More than 65 years of working in the profession has helped her get used to the turntable, the smell of soil and the blazing heat from the kiln.

Cham pottery appeared in Bau Truc from the end of the 12th century, and has existed for more than 800 years thanks to "mother to son", with everyday products such as earthenware kettles, water jars, earthen pots, charcoal stoves,... to fine art pottery such as statues of the goddess Apsara, Cham towers, interior decoration reliefs,... Since then, the reputation of Bau Truc pottery village has spread far and wide, the products are sold everywhere, and this place also attracts many tourists to visit and experience.

Bau Truc pottery is famous for its uniqueness because it is made entirely by hand, imbued with Cham cultural identity.

Creating new vitality for craft villages

At the end of November 2022, UNESCO inscribed the Cham pottery art on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa - Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ninh Thuan province, expressed that this inscription opens up opportunities for the Cham pottery art to continue to exist and develop.

Over the years, the government and community have always paid attention to the Cham pottery craft by building a dossier to recognize and honor the value of cultural heritage and investing funds, creating conditions with legal documents to support the craft village. Along with that, they have organized spaces to practice the craft, organized exchanges, promoted, taught, and encouraged the community to use the products.

Artisans smooth rough Cham ceramic products with pieces of porcelain or bamboo.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ninh Thuan province has also advised the People's Committee of Ninh Thuan province to build Bau Truc pottery village into a community tourism village, which is a unique and distinctive product of the province, while creating an attractive tourism development, contributing to the preservation and promotion of the value of local cultural heritage. Along with that, establishing associations and performance groups to serve tourists when they come to the locality, investing in infrastructure and facilities in Bau Truc pottery village to serve the people and tourists.

Recently, the People's Committee of Ninh Thuan province sent a document to agencies, units and localities on the use of Cham ceramic products as gifts for guests when visiting, working and tourists, thereby promoting and developing the value of Cham ceramics to tourists.

Currently, Bau Truc pottery village has over 400 households engaged in pottery making, accounting for about 70% of the Cham households living in the locality; there is 1 cooperative and 12 pottery production and trading establishments, bringing to the market more than 12 thousand products of all kinds every year. Pottery making is becoming a livelihood for many households, the soul and traditional cultural identity of the Cham people are still strongly imprinted on each product.

Bau Truc pottery village attracts many tourists to visit and experience.

Mr. Phu Huu Minh Thuan - Director of Bau Truc Cham Pottery Cooperative said that to develop tourism, the pottery village has established a Community Tourism Development Board with over 60 members. Thanks to the attention of authorities at all levels and the consensus of local people, the pottery village is gradually becoming a favorite destination for tourists, contributing to spreading the unique culture of the Cham people as well as ensuring the lives of local people.

With the new direction and the attention and facilitation of the local government, Bau Truc pottery village will develop more strongly, becoming an attractive destination in the journey of discovering Ninh Thuan of tourists.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/di-giat-lui-giu-hon-lang-gom-cham-co-xua-nhat-dong-nam-a-20240916074341792.htm