Muong Lay white Thai ethnic rattan chair

Rattan chairs are an indispensable item in every stilt house of the Muong Lay White Thai ethnic group. Rattan chairs are also extremely important in the weddings of the Muong Lay White Thai ethnic group. Because when a girl gets married, the wedding items must be a pair of rattan chairs and a pair of gongs symbolizing the young couple being a couple.

The Thai people's bamboo and rattan weaving profession has existed for a long time, passed down from generation to generation in each family. This is considered a leisurely job, men and women share the work, together nurturing family life through handicrafts and items associated with daily life. To complete a rattan chair product, many steps are required, such as selecting raw materials, pre-processing raw materials, shaping the mold, splitting and shaving into fibers, drying... The main raw materials are rattan and giang trees because they are highly flexible, when dried, dried on the stove, they will be durable and less susceptible to termites.

The rattan chair is made up of two round wooden rims as the legs and the seat, which are carved and connected by 8 rosewood bars to prevent termites. After creating the chair frame, the craftsman will weave the rattan seat. This is the most meticulous and elaborate step, the distance is usually 3 rattan bars. For a skilled craftsman, in a day, not including the steps of carving, preparing materials, building the frame, just weaving the seat, the craftsman can only make 3 chairs. Each chair has a different price, depending on whether it is a low or high chair, ranging from 250,000 VND - 350,000 VND.

Following the modern trend, everyday items are gradually replaced, traditional occupations are also less practiced, but that does not mean that the rattan chair weaving of the Thai people in Muong Lay is lost. In Muong Lay town, there are still many bamboo and rattan craftsmen who are still diligently and meticulously shaping and polishing traditional handicraft products. Each item, each handicraft is tinged with time, the quintessence of traditional culture of the Thai people here.

Bamboo and rattan weaving has existed for a long time, created and crafted by local people, closely associated with their daily lives.

Commonly used and highly demanded items are shaped and woven by skilled White Thai craftsmen, mainly bamboo baskets and rattan chairs.

Rattan chairs are not only used in daily life but also in the wedding and funeral customs of the Thai ethnic group in Muong Lay.

To create a rattan and bamboo handicraft product requires many steps, the most important is choosing the raw materials, mainly bamboo and rattan, which are harvested, hung up in the kitchen, and dried in the sun to increase flexibility and durability.

Rattan chairs are divided into many stages, including drying the bamboo, bending to create a round chair surface and chair legs, requiring the craftsman's technique and meticulousness.

Along with stripping rattan fibers, the difference in stripping and spinning rattan fibers of the Muong Lay White Thai people is to keep the rough outer surface intact, creating elasticity, glossiness, and durability of the handmade product.

With rattan products, after drying and stripping the fibers, when used, they will be soaked to soften the material, preventing dry, hard rattan fibers from becoming brittle and broken.

The connection between the chair surface and the chair legs will use 8 wooden bars with a width of 8cm - 10cm depending on the customer's request. The wood used is rosewood to avoid termites and worms that can damage it.

Splitting the fibers evenly by hand, based on hand strength and experience, evenly splits 3 - 6 meter long rattan fibers.

Normally, a skilled worker, not counting the frame building, splitting the fibers... just weaving the rattan chair surface, can weave a maximum of 3 chair surfaces in a day.

For each rattan chair product, depending on the height, material cost, production time... to calculate the price, on average 1 rattan chair costs from 250,000 VND - 350,000 VND.

Tran Nham (Dien Bien Phu Newspaper)

Source: https://baophutho.vn/ghe-may-dan-toc-thai-trang-muong-lay-217421.htm