In Vietnam, Hanois incense artisans keep a core 100-year tradition alive
In Quang Phu Cau village, an hour south of Hanoi, Nguyen Dinh Vinh looks out over a sea of crimson. In the courtyard before him, tens of thousands of incense sticks appear in bundles – like explosions of burgundy, maroon and ruby – as they dry in the intense midday sun.
“Everyone in Quang Phu Cau makes incense,” Dinh Vinh said, as he surveyed the mesmerising array of reddened bamboo before him in the visitor centre. “We even had to hire workers from other places.”
In front of the entrance gate, a single joss stick smoulders, its fragrant smoke curling into the air. Worshippers burn aromatic incense throughout Vietnam, especially in Buddhist temples, where the sweet-scented smoke helps to ferry pleas for prosperity up to the heavenly precincts.
The villagers have made the joss sticks here for more than a century. On average, workers in this cottage industry collect 200 tonnes of material and produce 50 tonnes of incense every month.
The result is a hypnotic assembly of dyed bamboo bundles that can bring in as many as five hundred visitors every day on the weekend, according to Dinh Vinh, who is now 65, but started making incense when he was just six years old.
In the past, workers in the village split the wooden sticks by hand when making joss sticks, but these days, they use machines.
“It takes many stages to make incense,” Dinh Vinh said. “First, you have to go to the forest to gather bamboo. Then, you take it to the workshop and whittle it down into incense sticks. After that, we dye the incense before dipping it in a flavoured pink paste … and leaving it out to dry for a few days.”
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The incense sticks’ fragrance comes from combinations of ingredients, including agarwood, cedar, wormwood, patchouli, rosemary, and cinnamon. The scent is tailored to suit different regions of the country.
Once ready, the incense sticks are sold throughout Vietnam and exported to numerous countries around the world. “Our biggest customers are India, Nepal, and other Asian countries,” he said. “We do not export to China because the Chinese also produce incense.”Depending on their experience, workers can earn between 5 million and 8 million Vietnamese Dong per month, or between US$210 and US$340.
More than 300 families make incense in the village all year round, but they are especially busy before Lunar New Year when temples across the country are thronged by visitors.
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Nguyen Thi Vinh, a septuagenarian incense maker, said: “I am 71 years old this year, but I still continue to make incense. I’ve been doing this job for 60 years now since I was just over 10 years old.”
“I have four children – three boys and one girl. There are four people in my family who make incense,” she said. “This profession means a lot to us. Thanks to this trade, many people know about our village, and we are able to maintain this profession for future generations.”
Phan Thi Thu Hang, aged 34, said she separates about 200kg of incense sticks into small bundles weighing about two or three kilograms, which are then ready to be dipped in paste, dried, and sold. She adds, however, that “making incense does not only relate to money but has spiritual significance”.
Vietnamese maintain a firm belief in the afterlife and ancestor worship. There is an altar in every home, and it is almost always topped with burning incense, offerings, and flowers.
Due to falling incomes, Dinh Vinh worries that younger generations are losing interest in the profession, yet he does not think the trade will disappear. “Lighting incense to remember our lost parents, our deceased ancestors, is a core element of the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people,” he said.
Vietnamese burn incense to commemorate their ancestors on special occasions including holidays, death anniversaries, family reunions, and the Lunar New Year.
“What has become a tradition cannot be lost,” Dinh Vinh said, before adding simply: “Our ancestors have practised this tradition for thousands of years.”
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