“Nga Son mats, Bat Trang bricks
Nam Dinh silk, Ha Dong fabric.”
Nga Son was once famous for making mats for the king. The mats were thick, vibrantly colored, cool in summer, and warm in winter.
The salty, sun-baked land is difficult for growing rice but thrives with sedge plants. Thanks to their perseverance and hard work, the locals discovered that wild sedge could be woven into mats and rugs, even yielding superior quality. Sedge mat weaving is deeply intertwined with the lives of Nga Son people. On sunny days, they rush to cut and dry the sedge; at night, they split the fibers, twist the core, and weave the mats... It's hard work, "toiling in the sun for a living," but everyone is happy because sedge brings money to buy rice, bicycles, and build houses.
The mat accompanies labor and daily life. Mats appear in folk songs, rhymes, proverbs, and nurture the afternoon naps and evening meals of Vietnamese families.
“Give me a pair of mats to lie on
A pair of blankets to cover, a pair of agarwood to wear”
or
“When friends come to visit
Bring out the red hammock, spread the floral mat for them to sit on”
For the children of Nga Son, the mats woven by their grandmothers and mothers nurtured them as they grew up. Witnessing the hardship of drying sedge in the scorching sun, cutting sedge in deep fields, or days spent eating and sleeping in the fields, instilled resilience, patience, and a love for labor. Behind bundles of sun-scented sedge are the weathered, sun-baked faces of the artisans. This makes the beauty of a floral mat even more cherished.
When sedge is in season, on sunny days, they must go to the fields from 3 or 4 in the morning to cut it. Sedge is tall, the fields are deep, and there are no machines, so it must be cut by hand. If they wait until the sun is up, being "buried" in the hot sedge field would certainly make the work inefficient. After cutting, the sedge is laboriously carried from the fields to the bank. Then it is dried immediately in an open space in the field. The hotter the sun, the faster they must dry it. If it unfortunately rains, it's much harder, as they rush to cover the sedge from the rain. During the sedge harvest, they practically eat and sleep in the fields... Seeing the weathered, sun-baked faces of farmers like Mr. Long, I somewhat understood their hardships. Behind the sun-scented bundles of sedge is the incessant sweat of the artisans in the fields.