PHU YEN SEDGE MAT VILLAGE
Phu Tan sedge mat weaving village is one of the oldest traditional craft villages in Phu Yen, reaching over 100 years. When you approach this sedge mat-weaving town, you will notice a slight scent of the newly gathered sedge combined with the smell of dye wafting through the little cottages. The hand-woven mat tradition is still maintained in the village until the present.
- Phu Tan Sedge Mat Village Introducion:
The Phu Tan sedge mat weaving town is hundreds of years old, located approximately 30 kilometers from Tuy Hoa city, in An Cu commune, Tuy An district, Phu Yen province, and is currently being maintained by the workers in the community. Almost every household in this Phu Tan weaving hamlet engages in mat weaving and uses materials that are natural.
Instead of planting paddy fields as in other locations, they opted to cultivate sedges in the field of Phu Tan village, which is about 25 hectares broad, to offer raw materials for the ancient art of hand-woven mats. This will undoubtedly be a fantastic site to visit in Phu Yen if you want to experience the rustic authenticity of the tranquil village of Phu Tan. The sedge mat differs from other types of mats in that when the weather turns dry and hot, the sedge mat made of natural materials aids in better and more comfortable sleep.
- The History of Phu Tan Sedge Mat Village:
Phu Tan sedge mat weaving hamlet has a long history and development that has existed for hundreds of years. It still preserves its own distinctive traits and love for the ancient craft that has been attached for generations. Phu Tan sedge mat weaving village was designated as a traditional craft community by Phu Yen province in 1977. But one thing that has transformed the sedge mat weaving hamlet in Phu Tan is that the community has only truly evolved on a large-scale basis since 1995 when the government of Phu Yen province started arranging a class to educate the villagers on how to weave mats.
Currently, there are about 200 homes in Phu Tan sedge mat weaving hamlet engaged in mat manufacture, with over 600 people from the community actively participating in mat weaving. In addition to hand-woven mats, the Phu Tan sedge mat weaving hamlet now manufactures machine-woven mats for increased labor productivity and greater revenues. Many homes have automated by acquiring equipment for looms with monthly outputs of more than 40,000 pieces.
- The Daily Life in Phu Tan Mats Village:
In Phu Tan sedge mat weaving village, as in other mat weaving villages, the sedge yarn is harvested in the field, shaken, transported, broken into smaller pieces, dried, dyed, made yarn, and lastly woven into mats. In the Phu Tan sedge mat weaving hamlet, residents used to knot bundles of sedge into rafts to pull on the stream or carry on their shoulders while moving from the sedge field to the house.
The dyeing process involves bundling and coloring the sedge strands. To keep the color longer and sharper for embroidering, the sedge bundles will be soaked in dye water. After dyeing, the sedge fiber can be sun-dried in a range of colors such as blue, red, yellow, and even its natural color. The most important operation in the Phu Tan sedge mat weaving village is sedge dying, which requires trained craftsmen to dye, resist heat, and keep the sedge fibers suitably colored.
