Recent days has seen craftsmen in Le Minh Xuan incense-making village in Binh Chanh district of HCM City hard at work as they strive to meet orders for the coming Lunar New Year holiday, known locally as Tet.
Le Minh Xuan incense-making village is one of the largest and oldest places of its kind in the southern region. Villagers are busy all year round as they make items to serve the country’s main festivals, such as Tet Nguyen Dan (Lunar New Year), Ram Thang Gieng (First Full Moon Festival), and Ram Thang Bay (Seventh Full Moon Festival).
On these occasions, craftsmen start working early in the morning.
Coming to the village at this time of year, visitors can see racks of red and yellow incense stretching along local roads - a special characteristic of this incense-making village.
A workshop spanning a total area of 5,000 square metres is busy from morning till evening.
Around 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 incense sticks are produced each day, with every 1,000 sticks costing between VND25,000 and VND30,000.
The craft has been modernised over recent times, with machines used to replace humans in some stages such as material mixing and drying.
Incense powder is mainly made of sawdust of aquilaria crassna or naseberry. After mixing the powder, workers use litsea rotundifolia’s resin to glue the powder together.
Each household has a unique method of mixing their materials as a way of creating an exclusive aroma.
Some households make use of drying machines instead of drying incense sticks directly in the sun light.
Each worker can earn between VND200,000 and VND300,000 per day ahead of Tet.
Families that produce small amounts usually make use of sunlight to dry their products.
Villagers make incense all year round. but they are busy on major national occasions such as Tet and full moon festivals.
Vietnamnet.vn
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