The attraction of the only incense stick craft village in the capital Hanoi

Hanoi has over 800 craft villages and villages with occupations, of which Quang Phu Cau craft village has the profession of making incense sticks.

Nowadays, the over-100-year-old incense stick village of Quang Phu Cau is becoming more and more known. Thanks to that, some people not only make a living from the “father-to-son” incense stick craft but also develop village tourism to improve their lives.

Impressed with the traditional incense village

Many tourists have a strong impression of Quang Phu Cau incense village, Quang Phu Cau commune, Ung Hoa district, Hanoi city, through unique photos and videos on newspapers, social networks or introduced by friends and relatives.

More and more tourists come here to capture the unique beauty of the only incense stick craft village in the capital, and to explore the culture of a Northern village.

Arriving at the entrance of Quang Phu Cau village, Ms. Minh Huong and her group of friends from Ho Chi Minh City were picked up by the owner of Long Hoa incense stick factory - Mr. Nguyen Huu Long, who drove an electric car. Enthusiastically introducing to the guests about the incense stick making profession of his hometown, Mr. Long said that his family is currently a large incense stick factory in the commune. With 39 years of carrying on the family business, his family's incense stick products are currently supplied to factories throughout the North, Central and South, with an average output of 7-9 tons/day.

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Long, Quang Phu Cau commune has more than 10 villages but only 3-4 villages, with more than 10 families making incense sticks, mainly small-scale production, with not much product volume. In the large yard of Long Hoa incense stick facility, colorful bundles of incense sticks (red, green, yellow) are artistically arranged, in which red is the main color, brightening up the whole village space in an impressive way.

Incense production at Nguyen Thu Phuong incense production facility in Quang Phu Cau craft village. (Photo: Tran Viet/VNA)

International tourist groups come to Quang Tu Cau incense stick craft village in great numbers, especially during the Tet holiday. From the elderly, children to teenagers, everyone is excited to pose for photos with simple bundles of incense sticks.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Long said that even during Tet, the facility is open to welcome international groups who make reservations in advance to visit and learn about the craft village.

Alex Gilman, a tourist from the UK, shared that he previously thought that incense sticks were only used to make incense, but only when he came here did he realize that Vietnamese people also decorate incense sticks to create beautiful scenes like this. He has been to 15-20 countries with many craft villages, but only when he came here did he understand and learn more about the stages, methods of making incense, and the meaning of incense sticks in Vietnamese culture.

“Vietnamese people should preserve such cultures and preserve the handicraft villages with each stage of production by hand, so that foreigners can understand the process of making incense,” said Alex Gilman.

Out of curiosity about traditional Vietnamese crafts, Mr. Nick - a Singaporean Government employee visited Bat Trang, Van Phuc Silk and Quang Tu Cau craft villages during his trip to Vietnam. Nick shared that he was very surprised when he saw that from making incense by hand, some households had a production of 15 tons of incense per day.

"I like to see and experience traditional craft villages. This is very rare in Singapore, when young people are mostly only aware of phones. Younger generations of Vietnam need to preserve and promote traditional crafts. I will experience other typical craft villages in Vietnam in the future," Nick happily said.

Adding color to Vietnamese countryside

On the village roads and alleys of Quang Phu Cau craft village, people take advantage of the yards, empty plots of land, and walls to dry incense sticks, creating highlights for the village space with bright colors. In the houses, people are busy splitting bamboo, dyeing incense sticks, classifying and packaging products..., cars pack goods to transport to different places to supply the market. People of Quang Phu Cau village openly share about the history of the craft village with concerns about preserving and promoting the craft village, helping visitors better understand the unique features of the incense stick craft.

The incense making profession first appeared in Phu Luong Thuong village, then gradually spread to Dao Tu, Cau Bau, and Xa Cau villages of Quang Phu Cau commune. No one knows since when, Quang Phu Cau commune has become one of the prominent craft villages in the suburbs of the capital, becoming the pride of the people here. To make an incense stick, the craftsman has to go through many stages from splitting bamboo (or rattan), whittling toothpicks, dyeing incense sticks, making incense bodies, drying and packaging. Quang Phu Cau incense has long been famous for its quality and diverse designs, because craftsmen in Quang Phu Cau are always careful and meticulous in choosing materials and upholding the responsibility of preserving the traditional profession.

“Doing two jobs at once, selling incense sticks and serving tourists is great. Previously, the facility made incense sticks entirely by hand, but now it has switched to using machines to increase productivity, requiring higher techniques. The way incense is dried has also been improved in terms of arrangement to serve the taste of tourists taking pictures,” said the owner of Long Hoa incense stick facility - Nguyen Huu Long.

Currently, Quang Phu Cau Incense Cooperative has more than 3,000 households participating in production, with many OCOP products achieving 3 stars (compressed incense, incense buds, incense coils) and 4 stars (cinnamon buds from bi huong, canarium buds from bi huong, agarwood buds from bi huong, incense coils).

Quang Phu Cau incense has a characteristic color and scent, fragrant but not too strong, little smoke, burns for a long time, especially safe for health. In addition to the need to learn about Vietnamese culture through the incense making profession, many tourists, especially foreign tourists, want the people of Quang Phu Cau craft village, in addition to introducing machinery into production to increase productivity and output, to simultaneously preserve the traditional, completely manual way of making the profession to introduce to tourists, helping them find the origin of the traditional profession of the Vietnamese people.

Incense sticks are considered a bridge between the present life and the spiritual world in Vietnamese culture, Quang Phu Cau is a craft village that is preserving that cultural beauty. In recent years, when Quang Phu Cau people know how to promote the strengths of the craft village to develop tourism, meeting the needs of tourists to visit and take photos, it has contributed to creating a great attraction, bringing new vitality to the craft village./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/suc-hut-tu-lang-nghe-tam-huong-duy-nhat-o-thu-do-ha-noi-post1024781.vnp