Preserving the beauty of Ba Na brocade in contemporary life

Entering the shop and also the house of Y Jung (born in 1990) in Plei Don village (Quang Trung ward, Kon Tum city), visitors will admire a space filled with colorful brocade and musical instruments typical of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands such as bronze gongs and T'rung instruments. The wooden house was renovated by Y Jung and decorated in a rustic yet eye-catching style with products such as dresses, shirts, pillowcases, handbags, wall paintings, carpets, etc. The Ba Na girl Y Jung is responsible for designing new models, ordering fabrics, consulting customers, and filming images herself to post on social networks for promotion. After three years of starting a business, Y Jung has built a famous brocade brand in Kon Tum city, selling online to brocade lovers not only domestically but also to foreign tourists who come to Kon Tum to see and buy. According to Ms. Y Jung, she receives an average of 6-10 orders per day, and during peak seasons such as festivals or Tet, the number can be many times higher. Her facility creates jobs for more than 10 women in the village with a stable income.

Y Jung said that both her paternal and maternal grandmothers were very beautiful weavers, and her mother still weaves at home. However, with the development of society, traditional brocade is only used in the family and is gradually being replaced by modern clothes and fabrics. However, thanks to her passion for Ba Na brocade and her aesthetic talent, Y Jung has transformed and sewed brocade to wear every day, not just for holidays and Tet. In 2022, Y Jung opened the Brocade Carrot shop in Da Nang city, specializing in providing fashion and souvenirs from Ba Na brocade, and later expanded to include patterns and motifs of other ethnic groups such as Gia Rai, E De, Co Ho, Gie-Trieng, Xo Dang, Mnong...

Brocade is used to sew office wear, ao dai,

shirts, ties, wedding dresses, performance costumes according to customers' requests, while maintaining the product line of traditional women's sets, men's shirts and loincloths. To optimize costs and expand the market, raw materials are divided into hand-woven brocade and machine-woven brocade. That is also the way many brocade shops and cooperatives in Kon Tum do it today, such as Y Duong and Y Thum shops... Hand-woven brocade requires a long time and high cost, so it is picky about customers and slow to sell. Meanwhile, the skilled artisans are getting older, many ancient patterns are becoming scarce and at risk of disappearing. Improving and modernizing the weaving process and creating brocade into many new products is a solution to help preserve and pass on this long-standing traditional craft.

According to research statistics of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Kon Tum province, there are about 123 different patterns on the traditional brocade fabric of the Ba Na people. Even each region in the province has its own patterns. With the main colors of red, yellow, black, each woven image is closely associated with nature, the life of labor and production and the beliefs of the people. Head of the Department of Culture and Family Management (Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism) Dau Ngoc Hoai Thu said that in recent times, with the participation of all levels, sectors and the efforts of the Ba Na community in the area, the brocade weaving profession of the Ba Na people has gradually recovered and developed, creating unique products with economic value. In 2023, the traditional Ba Na ethnic weaving craft in Dak Ha, Sa Thay, Kon Ray districts and Kon Tum city was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. This is an honor and affirmation of the brocade brand, helping artisans to be more motivated to stick with the profession and inspiring the younger generation to continue to inherit and promote the cultural heritage.

Ba Na brocade from the village now not only appears in cultural spaces and culinary spaces serving tourists but also becomes a fashion everywhere.

Mr. Huynh Nguyen Thong (born in 1987 in Kon Tum) is also the owner of a brocade fashion brand combined with community tourism in Kon K'Tu village (Dak Ro Wa commune, Kon Tum city). After nearly 15 years of surveying, collecting, and restoring Ba Na brocade patterns, he has successfully organized many events, bringing brocade and Ba Na culture closer to the public in big cities.

In addition to Kon Tum city, the traditional weaving craft of the Ba Na ethnic group in Kon Tum province is still maintained and practiced in villages in Sa Thay, Kon Ray, and Dak Ha districts. The flow of brocade is still passed down in Ba Na families here. However, to preserve and promote traditional values ​​in the long term, while creating more income for the people, brocade cannot stand outside the movement of the market, associated with trade and tourism. The fact that young Ba Na people are active and proactive in innovating brocade and bringing it into life, consuming it through e-commerce platforms has brought about clear economic efficiency, contributing to the preservation and promotion of brocade ■