Resurrecting a "rare" trade
In the early morning of a day in early September, the alley leading to Phu Binh hamlet was more bustling than usual. Stalls selling lanterns for the Mid-Autumn Festival showcased traditional paper and glass lanterns.
A young man was carefully arranging lanterns on a tricycle. These lanterns were in various animal shapes like butterflies, crabs, rabbits, chickens, etc. The young man did his job while saying that a charity society had ordered him 4,000 lanterns for this mid-autumn festival. As the order is big, he had to deliver goods by installments.
"For some reason the purchasing power for lanterns suddenly rises this year. Thanks to this we can maintain this 50-year traditional trade," he said.
There are over five booths selling lanterns within a 100m alley, from the entrance of the alley to Phu Binh Church. Visiting a booth, we saw Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich was splitting spokes to make lantern frames.
As the bookkeeper of a company in HCM City, Bich, 28, quit the job for several years to join her family to produce lanterns.
Inside the store, Nguyen Thi Hoa, Bich’s mother was assembling lantern frames. This family began making lanterns right after the Lunar New Year. After over 8 months, they have produced tens of thousands of lanterns with a variety of shapes and colors, to bring joy to children in the full moon night.
Bich said lantern selling power highly increased this year. This is a good sign, especially in the attack of imported electronic toys.
An old lantern maker in the hamlet said this year lanterns sold well, meaning that after years of playing imported lamps, Vietnamese children want to go back to the rustic and profound beauty of traditional lanterns. Is the soul of the nation is coming back strongly?
“Bao Dap” lanterns
Phu Binh lantern making hamlet was formed in the mid-1950s. This was a community of the families who came from the north. According to the elders, the founders of this hamlet originated from a lantern making village in Nam Dinh province. They carried this traditional job to the South. They gathered together in the hamlet to maintain and develop this trade. At first, there were a few dozens of households in the hamlet. The number used to reach more than 200 households and it is now down to just a half.
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| Young girls make the final stage: decorating lanterns. |
The golden age of this craft was the years before 1975. Back then, the lantern was a dream of Saigon children. Today, lanterns are also upgraded to satisfy new tastes of customers.
We dropped in on a house near Phu Binh market. Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen, 54, sat among piles of bamboo splints. His hands deftly bent each splint into a chicken shaped lantern. He stopped to talk with us: "Three generations in my families have made lanterns. Lanterns in Phu Binh are also called “Bao Dap” (Gratitude) lanterns. According to my grandparents, all Bao Dap villagers migrated here, with the lantern making craft. Today, it has the same meaning to call “Bao Dap” or “bao dap” lanterns. Bao Dap is the name of the village and it is also meaning that we maintain our father's profession to repay gratitude to our."
Mr. Quyen recalled the hardships of this profession in the past. He said that his family began a new lantern-making season after each lunar New Year. He went to Binh Phuoc to purchase bamboo to make lantern frames. His family used to produce around 10 kinds of lanterns, in the shapes of animals, aircrafts and ships. A 5m long bamboo tree can produce from 80 - 100 lanterns.
His family only processed lantern frames. Another group of workers were specialized at pasting cellophanes on frames. These workers were highly skilled in order to do their task quickly and beautifully. The last stage is decorating lanterns, which was assigned to other workers.
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| Quyen and his wife assemble lantern frames. |
He said that after the Mid-Autumn Festival, his family would begin making star-shaped lanterns for the Christmas. The time from the Christmas to the New Year is the relaxing period for lantern makers.
Saying goodbye to Mr. Quyen, we were informed good news: He was about to deliver over 2,000 lanterns to a trader in a southern province in the next few days. He invited us to stay back to film this scene.
We left Phu Binh lantern making village in late afternoon, with hopes to return. The most obvious thing here is that this year the atmosphere seemed to be more cheerful, because lanterns have been favored again to welcome a peaceful Mid-Autumn season.
Tran Chanh Nghia
