9:47:24 AM | 7/10/2024
Dong Cuu village in Dung Tien commune, Thuong Tin district, Hanoi is a traditional embroidery village famous for its costumes for the worship of Mother Goddesses, recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage.
The traditional embroidery craft of Dong Cuu village has existed for hundreds of years. The people here still preserve and promote the technique of embroidering and restoring dragon robes, contributing to the preservation of the nation's precious cultural heritage and maintaining the development of the traditional craft village.
Traditional characteristics.
Dong Cuu embroidery craft village was founded by the founder of embroidery craft Le Cong Hanh. Legend has it that Dr. Le Cong Hanh learned the embroidery craft when he was an envoy to the North and then returned to teach it to the people of his hometown, Quat Dong village and neighboring villages, including Dong Cuu village.
The embroidery craft in Dong Cuu originated from the unique craft of catching glitter lines. Artisans often use this technique to embroider borders, making the motifs more sophisticated. The technique of catching glitter lines requires a lot of effort, accordingly, the craftsman will place the glitter thread on the fabric surface, following the available pattern and blocking it with silk thread. The silk thread is embroidered up and down and always perpendicular to the glitter thread to fix the position. Otherwise, the embroidery will deviate from the printed pattern line.
First of all, we must talk about the embroidery technique of Dong Cuu village. The embroidery technique of the people here requires meticulousness and high skills. Dong Cuu village artisans use special embroidery techniques to create products with outstanding sophistication and depth.
It is worth mentioning here the crochet embroidery technique, one of the typical techniques of Dong Cuu village. The craftsman uses a crochet needle to create soft, graceful lines on the fabric surface. This technique is often used to embroider traditional patterns such as lotus, dragon, phoenix, creating a vivid and profound beauty for each product.
The meticulousness is not only in the embroidery but also in the previous stages such as choosing silk thread, choosing glitter thread, drawing colors, creating images, printing designs on fabric are also extremely elaborate and meticulous. Although it is one color of thread, one needle, but with the hands of the artisans, the borders are somehow softer, curvier and much lighter than embroidered products elsewhere.
Even in Dong Cuu village, each artisan has his own strengths, for example, artisan Vu Van Gioi specializes in embroidering dragon robes, royal ao dai, artisan Nguyen Dac Bay embroiders fabric fans; artisan Nguyen Ba Tuy is known for his products of shoes, slippers, and conical hats for worshiping the Mother Goddess...
According to artisan Vu Van Gioi: in modern or free embroidery, the artisan can adjust the needle and thread as long as the shape is clear, meeting the taste of customers. As for the ancient style, there are clear rules and must be followed, the embroidery stitches have a unified direction, the way to pull the needle, push the needle straight, tilt also have clear rules, that is why a craftsman who wants to master a work of ancient embroidery must study the profession for at least 5 years. Very few people can master all the stages because the village tunic and royal tunic often have to apply many different embroidery styles, so to make a perfect work, artisan Vu Van Gioi once had to spend nearly 2 years, the durability of the royal tunic is often up to several hundred years. The effort is great, although selling for hundreds of millions does not make much profit, it is also the love for the profession left by ancestors as well as the contribution to preserving the traditional values left by the artisans of Dong Cuu village.
Efforts to preserve the values of craft villages
Today, in addition to creating unique embroidery products to serve the religious needs of the people, Dong Cuu village is also an attractive destination attracting domestic and foreign tourists to visit and experience the village's products. To enhance the value of the craft village, in the future, the locality wishes to build an exhibition area and introduce sophisticated hand-embroidered products to visitors, contributing to preserving and spreading the precious cultural heritage of our ancestors.
Embroidery here is not only a handicraft but also a symbol of traditional Vietnamese culture. Embroidery products are not only works of art but also contain profound cultural values. Embroidery motifs, from dragons and phoenixes to traditional patterns, all symbolize authority, nobility and prosperity. These motifs are meticulously and delicately embroidered, demonstrating the ingenuity and creativity of the craftsman.
It can be seen that the sophisticated embroidery technique of this traditional land is the crystallization of folk art. Each embroidered product is a unique work of art, reflecting the soul and feelings of the artisan.
In fact, in 2017, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism decided to recognize the Traditional Craft of Dong Cuu Village as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, not only helping to better preserve the craft village but also opening up more opportunities to develop the local experiential tourism economy.
Head of Dong Cuu Village Pham Van Men said that out of the 572 households in the village, nearly 90% of them are engaged in embroidery, of which more than 100 are large embroidery establishments (10-15 embroiderers or more). In addition to hand embroidery, some households in Dong Cuu are currently investing in machine embroidery. Before the isolation to prevent and fight the Covid-19 epidemic, the village was always bustling with people coming to work and trade. In addition, before the Covid-19 pandemic, the village also had many foreign tourists visiting, they came to experience and learn about the costume culture of our country's ancient kings.
The value of traditional handicrafts is the "unchangeable" principles in the profession. As with embroidery, updating product designs according to market demand is necessary, but it cannot break the old way. For example, the image of a dragon with five claws symbolizes absolute authority, reserved only for the king. When embroidering, the thread must be twisted, while catching the lines around the glitter so that it is soft but still meets the requirements of accuracy. Details such as dragon feet, dragon claws, dragon edges, and dragon jaw positions must not be too innovative, losing the basic characteristics of the image.
I work to serve customers, if customers do not want images that are too familiar, too old and demand something different, if I do not do it, people will not come to me. However, there are also requests, for example, to embroider a set of five elements flags with 3-4 leaves having ancient lines, and 1-2 leaves embroidered in a modern direction, I will not do it because it breaks the traditional rules. That is also the challenge for those in the profession in the context of the impact of technology, techniques, and the market, knowing what will preserve tradition, artisan Vu Van Gioi shared.
Each product is the crystallization of love for the profession and the traditional cultural beauty of the Vietnamese people. Preserving, maintaining and developing the royal embroidery craft in Dong Cuu village is an extremely precious thing. For other villages, the banyan tree, the well, and the communal house yard are the soul of the village, but for Dong Cuu village, that soul is also associated with this noble embroidery craft. Moreover, the royal embroidery craft here is also a valuable heritage and the pride of the Vietnamese people.
Source: Vietnam Business Forum
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