“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 the summer, and warm in the winter.
The salty, sun-baked land, unsuitable for growing rice, proved ideal for cultivating sedge. Through hard work and perseverance, people discovered that wild sedge could be woven into mats and carpets, and of superior quality. Sedge mat weaving became an integral part of the Nga Son people's lives. During the day, they would rush to cut and dry sedge; at night, they would split the fibers, twist the core, and weave mats. It was arduous work, "living off the sun," but everyone was happy because the sedge brought money for rice, bicycles, and homes.
The mat is intertwined with both working and daily life. Mats appear in folk songs, rhymes, and proverbs, and they nurture the afternoon naps or 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 a friend visits my home,
Bring out the ceremonial hammock to welcome, spread out the flowered mat to sit.”
For the children of Nga Son, the mats woven by their grandmothers and mothers nurtured them as they grew. Witnessing the hardship of drying sedge in the scorching sun, cutting sedge in deep fields, or days and nights spent sleeping in the fields, instilled resilience, patience, and a love for labor. After bundles of sedge fragrant with sunshine, weathered faces, hardened by sun and rain, belong to the craftspeople, making the beauty of a flowered mat all the more appreciated.
When sedge is in season, taking advantage of sunny days, they must go to the fields from 3 or 4 in the morning to cut it. Sedge is naturally tall, and the fields are deep, with no machinery, so it must be cut by hand. If they were to wait until the sun rose to go to the fields, getting "stuck" in the hot sedge fields would surely make the work inefficient. After cutting, the sedge is carried, wading through water, to the bank. Then it is dried immediately in an open field. The hotter the sun, the faster they must dry it. If it rains, the work becomes much harder, rushing to cover the sedge from the rain. During the sedge harvest, they almost eat and sleep in the fields... Looking at the sun-baked, weathered faces of farmers like Mr. Long, I can somewhat understand the hardships. After bundles of sedge fragrant with sunshine, there is the endless sweat of the laborers falling in the fields.
