The over 100-year-old incense village in Hanoi is bustling during Tet.

Located more than 30km from the center of Hanoi , the 100-year-old ancient village of Quang Phu Cau (Ung Hoa district, Hanoi) is famous for its traditional incense making craft. In the last months of the year, people are busy and actively producing goods for the Tet holiday.

The wood used to make incense sticks must be of the right age and carefully selected.

After being selected, the bamboo will be split, stripped and whittled by hand. However, in today's technologically advanced era, many households have invested in machinery to increase productivity.

"Incense sticks that are shaved by machine are used for incense machines, while incense sticks shaved by hand are more expensive and can only be used for manual incense making," said one person.

Quality incense sticks will be dyed and dried in the sun.

Everywhere on the streets and alleys, you can see these brilliant "flowers". To attract tourists , many households also arrange these bundles of incense sticks into different shapes such as the flag or the map of Vietnam.

Incense sticks in Quang Phu Cau incense village are usually dyed pink or red, depending on the customer's order. The red-dyed incense sticks are often used in temples and pagodas, while the pink ones are used in families. Each bundle of incense sticks weighs about 3kg and is sold by the people of Quang Phu Cau incense village for 3,000 VND/kg.

According to the locals, the incense stick making job takes place all year round, but becomes really busy in the last months of the year. " On average, we workers earn about 300,000 VND per day, and we work about 20 days a month because it depends on the weather, we can only work on sunny days, " said Mr. Van, an incense maker.

After drying, the incense sticks will be tied into 3kg bundles and transported to incense production facilities nationwide. In addition to supplying incense-making facilities nationwide, Quang Phu Cau village also has its own incense-making facilities.

With ingredients from herbs such as agarwood, pine, patchouli, star anise, cinnamon, resin of the canarium tree... and a secret blending method, careful in each stage, Quang Phu Cau incense is considered by many to be beautiful and long-lasting.

With the traditional way of rolling incense, the worker will have to be meticulous and careful. But thanks to the application of modern technology and the use of machines, this stage becomes easier and increases productivity.

After being dried, the incense will be packaged into finished products. Finished incense is sold for 35,000 - 40,000 VND/kg.

Minh Duc

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/lang-huong-co-hon-100-nam-tuoi-o-ha-noi-tat-bat-vao-vu-tet-ar909485.html