The incense making profession in Quang Phu Cau has existed for a long time and has been passed down for more than 100 years. Initially, mainly only the people of Phu Luong Thuong village made incense, but now the scale has been expanded to more than 2000 households in Cau Bau, Dao Tu villages...
Making incense toothpicks is a profession related to spirituality, that's why incense toothpickers in Quang Phu Cau always put the mind first, meticulous, and feats right from the stage of choosing ingredients. The urn used to make incense toothpicks must be old enough and carefully screened.
Photo: VnE, Law and Society
The process of making incense toothpicks is divided into 3 stages: making incense powder, incense sticks and incense. The main ingredients for making incense powder in Quang Phu Cau are a mixture of cinnamon powder, rice husk and sawdust. Incense sticks are usually made from gourd, bamboo, and bamboo, soaked in a pond for 1-2 months, then picked up and washed and then split into toothpicks. In the past, workers split, plucked, and pierced incense toothpicks completely by hand, but now this stage has replacement machines to save time and increase production efficiency.
After splitting the pot, the worker will layer and remove the rods that do not meet the standards. Quality sticks will be dyed and then dried in the sun. Incense sticks are often dyed bright red because according to the concept of Orientals, red is the color that symbolizes sand and fortune.
Photo: Khanh Huy - Viet Niem
After being dried, incense sticks will be bundled into large bundles and then transferred everywhere to make finished incense. The powder for flavoring is also different for each house, depending on its own secrets. People will dry the astringent incense in the sun to retain its natural scent instead of drying it. Because the workers here shared that if they use the drying method, they will lose their characteristic scent. Thanks to that, the incense in Quang Phu Cau always smells woody, does not fade because it does not use chemicals.
Photo: shuttestock, vtv
The work of making incense sticks in Quang Phu Cau is bustling all year round throughout the month, but the busiest is still in the months adjacent to Tet. At this time, the establishments in Quang Phu Cau are busier and busier than usual.
Listening to the elders in the village, this profession was originally only a profession done while farming. But up to now, the profession of making incense toothpicks has developed strongly, becoming the main profession, bringing the main source of income to thousands of households in Quang Phu Cau. Quang Phu Cau incense has been present all over the country, contributing to helping houses and pagodas always be warm and fragrant, dignified and respectful.
Photo: Khanh Huy - Viet Niem
During the journey to explore Quang Phu Cau Incense Village, visitors will have the opportunity to sit down with the locals, listen to them talk about the prerequisites to make complete incense bouquets. The materials used to make incense must be carefully selected because this profession has many spiritual elements, so people do not dare to do it through speakers and sketchy.
Quang Phu Cau village still retains many typical ancient features of a rural village in the Northern Delta, with banyan trees, water wells, and courtyards. In the past few years, Quang Phu Cau has attracted many domestic and foreign tourists to explore the traditional incense making profession as well as to record beautiful images in this place.
Photo: shuttestock
Synthetic Migo