Top 8 Famous Traditional Mat Weaving Villages in Vietnam

Hoi mat, also known as Hung Ha mat, is a long-standing and famous mat weaving village in our country. No one knows exactly when Hoi mat appeared or who the founder was, but it is known to have flourished during the Later Le dynasty (15th century). The credit for turning Hoi mat into a famous brand goes to the Trang Nguyen Pham Don Le. During a diplomatic mission to China, he learned the mat weaving technique from the people of Guangxi, which involved weaving on a loom with a horizontal frame and a warp-tying horse. Upon his return, he improved the loom frame to make the warp tighter, more beautiful, and faster to weave. He popularized this technique among the people and was honored as the Mat Weaving Founder or Trang Mat. Hoi mats come in many types such as flower mats, bean mats, plain mats, dot mats, and sedge mats... New mats are white and will turn yellow over time.

The main materials used to make mats are sedge and warp. These are two types of plants commonly grown in areas near rivers with a lot of sediment deposition, which is very convenient. Hoi village is located between two major rivers, the Red River and the Luoc River, which are very suitable for growing these plants. These plants are harvested and go through many meticulous and careful stages to meet the requirements for mat making materials. Depending on the type of mat to be woven, the sedge and warp will be dyed according to each product. To weave a mat that meets the requirements, it requires meticulous hands, rich experience, and creative techniques of the weaver.

Hoi mat weaving village is about 40 km from the center of Thai Binh city. Passing through vast rice fields, visitors will set foot in this ancient mat weaving village. The village, with over 3,000 households, has more than 80% of families engaged in mat weaving. Despite many ups and downs, historical events, the people here still keep the flame of their craft, love their craft so much, and increasingly make their Hoi mat products renowned.

'He comes back to Ban Thach, I spread the mat for him to lie down. Love deep, heavy meaning, several full moons never fade'. That verse has deeply ingrained in the minds and become the pride of the people of Quang. Ban Thach mat weaving village is located about 5km east of Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province. Around the 16th century, ethnic groups from Duy Vinh (now part of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An) crossed the Van Nam pass to the Thang Hoa district, now the land of Da Nang, Quang Nam, and established the famous Ban Thach mat weaving village as it is today. Ban Thach mats are also very diverse in patterns and colors.

Dong Binh hamlet is considered the cradle of the Ban Thach sedge mat weaving profession, which has been famous since ancient times. Of the 355 households in the village, about 300 households are involved in mat weaving, as this profession requires little capital and can be done in spare time. To make mats, labor is clearly divided. Men are responsible for cutting sedge, lacing, drying, and stripping fibers for raw materials. Women are responsible for dyeing and weaving mats. The products can be sold to familiar intermediaries or taken to sell in surrounding areas. On average, each mat takes about 3 hours to weave, and each person can weave 2-3 mats per day. This profession is passed down from generation to generation, inherited from one generation to another. Sedge for mats is taken from sedge planted in Ho Dinh - Duy Vinh, harvested in two seasons, April and August. Sedge is bought and dried in the sun twice, dyed in different colors, then dried and finally woven into mats.

The traditional mat weaving village of Ca Hom - Ben Ba, located in Ham Tan commune, Tra Cu district, Tra Vinh province, was established in the late 19th century and has become increasingly famous. In addition to the common types of plants used for weaving mats such as coir and rush, the village also uses another type of plant called sedge. This is a plant that mainly grows underwater, along rivers and canals. People extract the bark of the plant, soak it in water, dry it, and then tear it into strands. Each strand is about 1m long, and weavers will sew and join the strands together. The colors used to dye the mats are all natural, such as from the giang tree, turmeric, and jackfruit tree. The mats in Ca Hom - Ben Ba village include two main types: white mats and colored mats. Colored mats have three main colors: white from lacquer, red from the giang tree, and yellow from turmeric.

Today, this traditional mat weaving village covers the two hamlets of Ca Hom and Ben Ba in Ham Giang commune, Tra Cu district, with nearly 500 looms, providing employment for about a thousand regular workers during the slack agricultural season. This is not to mention a sizable workforce that provides essential services for the mat-making profession, from planting and harvesting sedge, splitting and drying it, transporting it, dyeing the strands, to marketing the mats. With one loom in the house, two female workers can handle unnamed tasks such as cleaning the house, cooking, taking care of children, pigs, and chickens, and still weave a pair of mats measuring 1.6 x 2 m in a day. Skilled weavers can weave about two and a half or two pairs.

After hundreds of years, the traditional coir mat weaving village of Phu Tan, An Cu commune, Tuy An district, Phu Yen province, is still preserved and developed. Although there were times when the village seemed unable to survive, thanks to timely support and guidance from the local authorities, the village not only escaped the brink but also flourished. To date, there are over two hundred households producing mats, with over 600 workers directly involved in mat weaving. In addition to hand-woven mats, machine-woven mats are also produced, offering higher productivity and income.

The mats are made from dried coir fibers. The dyeing process for coir must ensure even coloring for the coir to be vibrant and long-lasting. Previously, when hand weaving, it required two people to work together to weave a mat. One person inserted the coir into the loom, while the other performed the beating operation. Hand weaving was labor-intensive and time-consuming, with only 2 pairs of mats produced per day. Therefore, with the introduction of machinery, many people in traditional weaving villages can be more creative and reduce labor intensity, creating new designs to serve customers.

Located about 6km from Rach Gia City on Highway 63, Vinh Hoa Hiep Commune, Chau Thanh District, the craft of weaving Tà Niên mats has existed since the 1880s and has gradually become a famous product of Kien Giang. Tà Niên mats are intimate items in people's daily lives, and the product has been present in many places, favored by customers. At the same time, this mat is also associated with the heroic legend of the national hero Nguyen Trung Truc. Tà Niên Mat Village is famous throughout the region and is recognized for its durable, beautiful mats that local people prefer. There are about 100 households in Tà Niên village engaged in mat weaving. They mainly produce two types of mats: plain mats and floral mats, with the floral mat being the one that has made Tà Niên mats famous.

The craft of mat weaving has been maintained by the households in Tà Niên, including the Khmer people, to this day, and many families in the hamlet have up to three generations engaged in mat weaving. It is known that when it was first established, there were nearly 50 households, but gradually the materials for weaving mats became increasingly scarce, and many households switched to other crafts with higher incomes, so now only a few households are clinging to the craft, while the rest have switched to other professions. However, despite not being as lucrative as other professions, mat weaving provides a steady income throughout the year, and today, in the craft village, there are still artisans diligently working at the looms to produce special mats, which contributes to preserving the profession that our ancestors left behind.

Cẩm Nê Mat Village is located in Hoa Tien Commune, Hoa Vang District, about 14km southwest of the center of Da Nang City, particularly famous for its floral mats. During the Nguyen dynasty, Cẩm Nê floral mats were used in the palace as a precious and luxurious item, and the artisans who wove the mats were highly praised. Over time, the craft of making Cẩm Nê mats has gradually declined, and now only a few households continue to maintain the craft.

Cẩm Nê weaves many types of mats, wide mats, narrow mats, plain mats, and floral mats. Plain mats are made from uncolored white fibers. Plain mats are woven with long, uncut fibers, which are more expensive than the woven, cut fibers, woven with short, interconnected fibers. This white plain mat uses a type of fiber that is properly dried, when dried, it still has a green tint, which is then used for weaving. After weaving, the mat is sun-dried, to make the white mat bright and shiny, and to dry out the excess ends of the fiber on the mat's surface, made of woven fibers, strands, so that they can be cut off with a sharp knife.

The floral mats in Cẩm Nê are not woven white mats that are then used to print flowers on the surface like in some other areas, but rather, the fibers are selected for dyeing, colors depending on the owner. Red, blue, green, yellow, brown ... The dye is cooked and the fiber is dipped in, dipped one bundle at a time and then sun-dried. A bundle of dyed fiber can be dyed once or two or three times depending on the color and the intensity of the mixture. The dyed fibers are then woven into floral mats.

Nga Son is a land located near the sea, 40km from Thanh Hoa City to the northeast. With 8 communes along the coast, this is a fertile land for growing sedge, the only plant that can be grown in this area, creating Nga Son mats - the pride of this countryside. The allure of Nga Son mats lies in their softness and smoothness. Nowhere else does Nga Son have such small, long, and soft sedge fibers. Nga Son can produce many types of mats. This superior quality is hard to match elsewhere. Thus, products made from the diligent and skillful hands of the people of Nga Son are reaching every corner.

Today, the brand 'Nga Son mats' has reached the ports of many countries that favor sedge mats. But sedge today not only creates unique mats. From Nga Son sedge, many other attractive products have been created: convenient travel mats, baskets for fruits, trays, lidded boxes, mattresses... with sleek, youthful designs. Among them, Japan has shown great interest in sedge products. For many years, Japanese companies have come to Nga Son, closely contacting with over 50 sedge export companies in 8 coastal communes. Now Nga Son sedge mats have a wide commercial corridor reaching many countries.