Making incense in wonderland

From the center of Quang Hoa district to Cao Bang, we suddenly saw a place lush with green, clear water. The rice fields were neatly square, running as far as the eye could see to the foot of Pha Hung mountain. Squeezing the brakes to slow down the car, we could smell a faint scent of trees, mountains and forests blended into the space. At the fork to Phja Thap village, Phuc Sen commune, the scent felt more intense and somehow familiar.

Seeing us bewildered, the Phuc Sen commune officer quickly pointed down the street, where the incense bundles were dried on the sideroad.

The secret from the calabash

In Vietnamese culture, incense sticks are considered a bridge between the present life and the spiritual world. Perhaps because such sincerity is needed, so even if they are living in a world of modern technology, the Nung An people still use the traditional incense making method left by their ancestors.

Being in her 80s, Hoang Thi Niem is one of the two oldest incense makers in the village. She said, from the first day she came to be a bride, Phja Thap was always filled with scent.

Whether young or old, everyone finds their own job. Elderly people split sticks and bundles of incense. The children mix sawdust, dry incense. Women are in charge of sifting, collecting ingredients and processing. The heaviest job, going to the forest to find raw materials, is for young men.

Apart from the basic materials everyone knows, Nung An people especially focus on calabash, a type of forest leaf used to make glue to bind the materials together. Wild calabashes are commonly seen on the craggy cliffs.

Every time going to the forest, the villagers often calculate to choose a sunny day, and it would still take them a whole week, even half a month to find a tree they like. After picking, the leaves will be brought back and dried for roughly 2 days (if it is sunny) and then ground into blue powder. This powder has the effect of sticking other materials on the incense, but the villagers do not use it too much because it may affect the shaping stage later.

Also according to Niem, some households in the village have tried to grow calabash, but no matter how the plants are cared for, the leaves do not give off the same scent as those in the wild.

A 40 cm long incense stick costs approximately VND 20,000 per bunch at the fair, while the whole production process is handmade. In today's 4.0 era, people tend to "industrialize", "chainize" all possible stages so that the products made are uniform in size and quality.

But the Nung An people think differently. They are careful and meticulous in each stage, both to ensure quality and to immerse themselves in the sweet world of the fragrance of agarwood. Even for the drying of incense, many downstream production households have switched to oven drying method, but Phja Thap village still advocates bringing the incense to dry naturally in the sun.

A young one’s thought creates a breakthrough

Litting the kitchen fire, making water, and cleaning the large yard in front, Hoang Thi Cuc spends most of her time taking care of the guests' favorite "check-in corner" at her homestay. It is a garden corner nearly 50 m2 wide, paved with flat cement. In the center, there are 3 large steel frames, gathered in a U-shape. Each frame has 6 levels filled with colorful bouquets of incense. Outside the "main stage" is a layer full of pear flowers, rice flowers, azaleas blooming beautifully.

"These incense sticks mainly are to serve guests who come to take pictures, and I rarely sell them," said Cuc. According to the 30-year-old woman, her family now makes incense mainly to preserve the traditional profession, instead of selling it. To fill the income gap, she turns to do homestay and provides additional services such as guiding tourists to experience incense making, visiting incense villages, or organizing traditional dances and music performances.

Thanks to a foreign support project, Cuc's family became the first household in Phja Thap to invest in community tourism. Along with the project money, Cuc discussed with her husband and borrowed another VND 200 million to repair the house, build additional structures, buy blankets and other necessary items.

Compared to neighboring localities, where Cuc lives, the model was developed relatively late. By May 2023, only a few more households in the hamlet had learned and started to implement this model. Homestay owners had to build relationships themselves when it came to associating tours and travel routes. Cuc's family was no exception.

It is a fact that even though it is a famous craft village in the whole province, incense making in Phja Thap is still not enough to help the villagers bring food to the table. Part of the reason is because incense is made sophisticatedly but sold at a relatively low price. It is mainly consumed at district markets in Cao Bang province, and a few are sold in neighboring provinces such as Bac Kan and Lang Son.

Despite many difficulties and challenges, in the hundred-year-old village, the atmosphere of labor is still filled with overwhelming optimism. Cuc said, “The village elders are always educating the younger generation about preserving the craft”.

Young men of Phja Thap rarely goes to work far. Even if they do, it is only for a short time. Cuc herself also had the thought of creating a breakthrough in terms of income for her family, but then when she saw the incense stick of Phja Thap on the altar of families in Cao Bang, her heart sank. She told herself that she had to find a way to make a fortune in her own homeland.

Making Phuc Sen the cultural center of Nung An people

In September 2022, the People's Committee of Quang Hoa district held a ceremony to receive the certificate of recognition of Phuc Sen Forging Village, Phja Thap Incense Craft Village, and Quoc Dan Paper Craft Village.

One thing all three craft villages have in common is that they are located in a relatively convenient traffic location. The local authorities thus organize many field inspections to research and invest in items so that these craft villages can attract many tourists when they participate in the UNESCO Non Nuoc Cao Bang Geopark discovery tour.

Having an establishment like today is a great achievement of the Party Committee and people of Phuc Sen commune by implementing Resolution No. 03-NQ/DU dated 3/3/2001 on "three many". That is: mobilizing people to plant many trees, raise many children, and do many jobs. Since then, Phuc Sen began to innovate, not only getting rid of poverty but also getting better in life.

Secretary of the Party Committee of Phuc Sen commune Dam Dinh Dao said that from 2019 to 2021, the commune has over 50,000 people coming to experience community tourism. Among the four products branded OCOP, “Homestay Mr. Kim" of Hoang Thi Cuc's family achieved “2 stars" at the district level.

Aiming to make Phuc Sen to become the Nung An ethnic cultural center of the province, the commune Party Committee continues to direct the research to build a trekking route on horseback, taking Lung Sau as a connection point for a chain of 4 community-based tourist attractions.

Leaving Phja Thap, we still can't forget the spicy, pungent smell of the agarwood tree and especially the bouquets of incense that bloom in the sun like flowers in the high mountains. Perhaps in the minds of the Nung An people, making incense is not simply a profession that brings income to support the family, but it is more than that. That is a great pride and historical thread connecting generations.