On Tet occasion, tourists in Nha Trang City have had opportunity to contemplate the skills of Cham women making beautiful brocade products which bear the unique culture of Cham people.
On Tet occasion, tourists in Nha Trang City have had opportunity to contemplate the skills of Cham women making beautiful brocade products which bear the unique culture of Cham people.
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| Phu Nu Hong Gam is busy creating brocade. |
Visiting Ponagar Temple on New Year festival, tourists often stop to contemplate Cham women in traditional costume sitting behind looms to weave colorful pieces of brocade. With the threads and a highly polished skill, the Cham women have created enchanting colorful pieces of brocade with striking patterns.
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| Tourists watching Cham woman making brocade. |
Thien Thi Phuong is a Cham woman who has been practicing this craft for more than 20 years in My Nghiep Village, a famous brocade weaving village for hundreds of years in Ninh Phuoc District, Ninh Thuan Province. Pointing to a 1mx1.6m piece of brocade, Phuong said that it took her eight days to weave this piece, not including the time for spinning and dying fabric.
Reportedly, making a piece of brocade requires many meticulous processes such as separating cotton fibers from seeds, rolling, soaking, dying, gluing, brushing, etc. The phases of creating colors and dithering also require a lot of efforts and meticulousness. In order to create unique and intricate patterns, the weavers have to have deftness, aesthetic and a good command of lines, color and shapes, etc. like a true painter.
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| Many children are also interested in weaving brocade. |
Van Ngoc Chi, Phuong’s husband, shared “My wife learned weaving techniques from her family since she was a girl. I also know about weaving. The weavers need to have a highly polished skill and passion to create beautiful brocade.”
The two sisters Phu Nu Hong Gam and Phu Nu Hong Nhi also learned weaving from her mother since they were very young. Until now, they have had over ten years practicing weaving although they are just in their twenties. Each day, Gam can create a piece of brocade, 20cm in width, over 5cm in length, used to sew handbags, wallets or souvenir products.
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| Thien Thi Phuong has been practicing weaving for more than 20 years. |
“It is hardly to create brocade if weavers are not patient and industrious. For example, it can take the weavers hours to rejoin the threads in case the threads are broken during weaving,” said Hong Nhi.
“I have never contemplated people making handicraft brocade, so I feel very interested. The weavers have worked really hard and seriously to create a sophisticated piece of brocade,” said Thu Van, a visitor from Ho Chi Minh City.
H.N
