Recreating ancient activities in a 500-year-old carpentry village in Hoi An

On February 21, the People's Committee of Cam Kim commune (Hoi An city) organized the Kim Bong traditional craft village festival in 2024.

Kim Bong carpentry village (Hoi An) was formed by residents of the Northern Delta and Thanh Nghe Tinh regions in the 15th century.

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the profession began to develop thanks to the prosperity of Hoi An trading port. By the 18th century, the profession had developed strongly and prospered with 3 groups: carpentry for urban architectural constructions, civil carpentry, and shipbuilding and repair.

Tái hiện sinh hoạt xưa tại làng mộc hơn 500 năm ở Hội An- Ảnh 1. — An artisan is carving to create unique products from wood.

Kim Bong carpentry village is famous because most of the wooden architectural works of ancient Hoi An were built by the talented hands of artisans here. Many Kim Bong carpenters were invited by the Nguyen lords in Dang Trong, later the Nguyen dynasty, to build works in the Hue citadel.

In June 2016, Kim Bong carpentry was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Within the framework of the Kim Bong traditional craft village festival, the two parts "ceremony" and "festival" are organized according to the customs and traditions of the ancient Kim Bong people. The craft village space and activities demonstrating carpentry, mat weaving, basket weaving, boat building and repair, boat racing, folk games... are vividly recreated.

The event attracted a large number of international and domestic visitors.

Mr. Tran Mai Xuan Hoa, 21 years old, a tourist from Da Nang City, attended the festival in Kim Bong craft village for the first time, experienced many activities such as singing Bai Choi, weaving mats, participating in folk games, enjoying cuisine..., excitedly said: "I hope the craft village will expand and develop further to attract more domestic and foreign tourists to Hoi An".

Mr. Huynh Ngoc Hung, Chairman of Cam Kim Commune People's Committee, said that in recent years, the quality of Kim Bong carpentry village products has been increasingly improved and diversified in design.

In addition, the number of tourists coming to Kim Bong carpentry village is increasing, helping to ensure the income of workers and creating many jobs.

"Our locality as well as Hoi An City are very interested in the work of preserving, developing and maintaining this hundreds of years old traditional craft village. Through the festival, it will partly help the authorities at all levels as well as businesses and people join hands to restore the traditional craft, restore the carpentry village space in a systematic way, making the tourism products of Kim Bong carpentry village develop more and more", Mr. Hung said.