Hien Le Pottery Village in History

 

The village is also near to white clay sources, the primary input of pottery. Hien Le Pottery Village was set up in the Hung King era, about 4,000 ago. Dong Son bonze artefacts and pottery made in the Han Dynasty were found near the village. A brick tomb was also discovered in the village. Hien Le was also called Bach Duong commune.

 

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vinh Phuc province welcomed approximately 1.23 million visitors since the beginning of this year, including 10,365 international visitors and 1,219,635 domestic tourists. Tourism revenue was estimated at VND499.1 billion in the reporting period. Now is the peak tourism season in Vinh Phuc. Unlike previous years, the province has a lot of dramatic changes in tourism infrastructures, destinations and landscapes. The province attracts tourism not only because of its natural beauties but also historical vestiges.

 

 

Previously, Hien Le Pottery Village produced various earthwares, mostly terracotta items like cookers, pots and household crockery. Old-time glazed terracotta made by Hien Le Village was thin, smooth and gray or blue-coloured with very high quality. In the early 21^st century, villagers shifted to make lowly fired pottery to meet new consumer demands. After it was established, the Hien Le Pottery Cooperative returned to produce terracotta, specially round pots. The cooperative used traditional pottery techniques.

 

Villagers also transmitted their very distinctive techniques to take clay and glaze pottery. The quality of terracotta was tested by the sound it produces whilst being knocked.

 

In the old time, merchants docked their ships on the east and south sides of the village to take pottery. Markets in Vinh Long province also sold Hien Le pottery, mainly for popular people in the countryside. Hien Le pottery used to make certain contributions to the development of Vietnamese handicraft industry in general and the development of folk pottery industry in particular. The most prosperous era of this village was 16-18 centuries. The tradition of this ancient pottery village was closely linked to cultural life of villagers. In a family, men exploited and transported clay and materials while women and children make terracotta. Women carried products to sell in the market.

 

All villagers had to keep their techniques and experience secret. Customarily, the villagers were not allowed to reveal the career to non-Hien Le residents. Otherwise, they were boycotted, segregated and despised by villagers. In pottery making, kiln building and pottery firing were the most important. These techniques had to be kept secret, even to sons-in-law and daughters. Only owners could enter their kilns because they feared that their techniques would be picked up. Women were banned to stay near or cross the kiln because they were believed to dirty the pottery kiln. Before burning the fire, owners had to bathe and worship the Heaven, the Earth and their Ancestor for success.

 

Funerals had to be silent when they went past the Career Ancestor Temple because noise was believed to disburse the Ancestor. If he got upset, villagers would not be able to make pottery. In wedding ceremony, the bridegroom’s house had to bring three carrying poles and six rattan frames to carry water in round pots to make terracotta. The bride’s family had to use round pots, made ​​of earth, to carry water from the temple pond (where the Career Ancestor situated) to the bridegroom’s house. Water and earth symbolise the intertwining of pottery materials and the eternality of husband and wife’s affections. Today, the modern life has caused certain effects on traditional values of Hien Le Pottery Village in particular and pottery villages in Vinh Phuc in general. Some pottery villages already shut down their kilns. Currently, the Provincial People's Committee of Vinh Phuc is carrying a programme to restore cottage industry villages to preserve and restore traditional cultures and careers, including pottery.