Which way for Hung Hoa sedge mat craft village?

(Baonghean) -Hung Hoa Commune (Vinh City) has a long-standing tradition of weaving sedge mats; most people in the commune have known how to weave mats since they were nine or ten years old. Many families have been involved in the mat weaving profession for four or five generations. When sedge mats "reigned", people and vehicles flocked here to "buy goods", even selling them to neighboring Laos. But that is a thing of the past; now sedge fields are gradually shrinking, coupled with the dominance of bamboo mats, plastic mats, etc. in the market, causing many households to hang up their weaving frames. The sedge mat craft in Hung Hoa is gradually fading away.

Mr. Le Van Hung - Deputy Head of Hung Hoa 2 Cooperative said: Currently, the whole commune has 8/9 hamlets making mats with nearly 1,000 workers, mostly aged 50 and over, with a total annual revenue of about 6 billion VND. Of which, 2 hamlets Phong Hao and Phong Thuan were recognized by the province as craft villages in 2005. During the prosperous period, in 1998-1999, Hung Hoa had more than 200 households making the craft with 180 hectares specializing in growing raw sedge. From 2004 to now, after the aquaculture development project, the sedge area has gradually shrunk to 65 hectares (but in reality, only 55 hectares provide income, the remaining 10 hectares of barren land, sedge does not develop), with 60 households sticking to the craft. The remaining area, due to regulating salt water for shrimp farming, sedge plants are affected by salt, so they do not achieve the same productivity as before. The sedge mat making profession is facing increasing difficulties due to lack of raw materials, narrowed output, products that are difficult to compete with other types of mats and low income from the profession...

Production of sedge mats in Hung Hoa commune (Vinh city).

Mr. Tran Cong Hoi (77 years old, in Phong Thuan 1 hamlet), one of the skilled workers in the commune, regrets: "In the past, when we arrived at the beginning of the hamlet, we saw sedge drying all over the road, the sedge fields were always green, but now sedge is rare, we have to buy raw materials from Xuan Giang - Nghi Xuan (Ha Tinh). In the hamlet, there are only a dozen households left in the profession because there is no output, and the income is too low. And this profession is currently only suitable for the elderly, who cannot watch the shrimp pond or go to the fields to work. Like my grandparents, working continuously for 2 days, we only get 1 bean mat made according to request, 1.6m long, selling for 220,000 VND/mat, deducting the cost, it is 140,000 VND for sedge (about 7kg of sedge), 24,000 VND for jute (300g of jute); calculating the labor cost of one person/day is only 14,000 VND. If making normal mats, the salary is lower, about 8,000-10,000 VND per person/day. Mats are classified into 3 types: bamboo mats (also known as goods mats), regular bean mats and custom bean mats. Prices depend on the size and quality of the mat. A 1.6m wide bamboo mat costs 80,000-100,000 VND, a regular bean mat costs 140,000-160,000 VND... minus the cost of jute and dyes, there is not much profit left."

Hung Hoa sedge mats are made through quite elaborate stages. The harvested sedge is split immediately after being dried, removing by-products; then comes the stage of selecting the sedge, the sedge must be classified evenly, according to the size and length of each fiber, so that when weaving the mat it will be durable and beautiful. Two people are in charge of a weaving beam, the beam teeth are made from old male bamboo roots that have been stretched with jute fibers. One person holds a stick to swing the sedge fibers through the beam, the other person beats the beam teeth so that the sedge fibers are pressed together evenly and tightly; next comes the stage of pinning the edges, trimming the excess sedge fibers...

Talking about the special features of this region's mats, according to Mr. Tran Cong Hoi: Mats in other localities are often made by keeping the original color of the sedge fibers, after weaving, depending on preferences, they can print dragons and phoenixes, decorative patterns... But Hung Hoa dyes the sedge first, during the weaving process, the craftsman must know how to harmoniously combine colors with patterns to create a difference. To have a sharp image, long-lasting colors, first choose dyed sedge fibers with enough colors of blue, red, purple, yellow. And to dye the color accurately, each small bunch must be dipped, depending on the lightness and darkness, dipped 3-4 times. The dyed sedge must be dried in enough sunlight, not too harsh because it is brittle and breaks easily, and not too soft because it is easy to get moldy; long sedge fibers, not joined together, will produce smooth, beautiful mats, with a higher selling price. Depending on the shape of the pattern, the weaver uses a single or double loom as appropriate. The craftsman's hands must skillfully control the jute fibers, sometimes lifting them up, sometimes sinking them down, alternating two or three times... to create patterns that match each other.

Choosing sedge is one of the important steps to make a durable and beautiful mat.

Although the craft village is on the verge of extinction, many Hung Hoa craftsmen still try to stick with it and preserve the traditional craft; there are households that specialize in making beautiful, aesthetically pleasing mats such as Mr. Chu Van Be (Phong Hao hamlet), Mr. Tran Van Hoa (Khanh Hau hamlet), Mr. Tran Van Chau (Phong Khanh hamlet)... And thanks to the reputation of good quality products and beautiful designs, many customers have come to their households to order according to their wishes. For example, mats with double happiness characters and flowers in the four corners for newlywed couples; or mats with longevity characters in elegant colors, to be spread out at temples, pagodas, and used in worshiping ceremonies...

Mr. Le Van Hung added: In 2006, the commune also created conditions for people to visit and learn more experiences in famous mat-making localities such as Nga Son (Thanh Hoa), Kim Son (Ninh Binh), Mo Cay (Ben Tre)... Seeing that their mat-making technology is very modern and professional, every stage from weaving to spraying and burning patterns, decorative motifs, cutting, edging... are all operated on machines very precisely. In particular, they make mats with many types and rich designs, meeting the tastes of domestic and foreign customers. The production technology is invested synchronously, worth billions of VND. But mat production in Hung Hoa, up to now, has nothing but the hands of workers. People have not boldly changed their production thinking, and are reluctant to invest due to many factors such as: lack of capital, low income, the area for growing sedge materials is shrinking day by day because the production land is included in the city's planning (about 300 hectares) to build urban areas... In the area, there is currently no business that stands up to purchase and consume products for people, the products are made without anti-mold technology, there are no warehouses to store products and post-harvest preservation.

The current production style of each person doing their own thing, not wanting to cooperate, passively waiting for customers to order... is also a big obstacle to the development of the craft village. However, diversifying the designs, production tools, and improving the quality of Hung Hoa sedge mats is extremely difficult. Because the commune does not have the funds to take care of it, the people do not have the ability, and investing in advanced machinery and technology costs hundreds of millions of dong, while a household making the craft earns no more than 30 thousand dong per day, so who knows when it will be possible to recover the capital.

To maintain and develop the mat-making village in the suburbs of the city, it is necessary to have the attention of authorities at all levels, such as supporting people with capital, technology, finding outlets for products; creating conditions for Hung Hoa farmers to develop the economy, contributing to preserving the traditional craft of the locality.

Ngoc Anh