In the dark night, with flickering oil lamps making it impossible to see their faces clearly, gray-haired old men reenacted the scene of buying and selling mats 200 years ago at Dinh Yen market, Dong Thap.
Happy to be an actor
For the past month, 150 people, most of them elderly people in the traditional mat weaving village of Dinh Yen (Lap Vo, Dong Thap), were excited to be “mobilized” to be the main actors in a real-life “ghost market” show. They are happy because the old space is recreated, happy because they can contribute to preserving the images and memories of their homeland.
Every day, the cast gathers at the river wharf in front of Dinh Yen communal house, on the old “ghost market” grounds. Each person can play the role of a weaver, a dyer, a street vendor, a boat driver, or a mat buyer.
“We act out what we have been doing for decades, saying the lines we still say every day, so it’s very easy. Being able to act is very fun, even if we don’t get paid, we’re still happy,” Ms. Nguyen Thi Van (64 years old) shared. .
Mrs. Van’s family has been weaving mats for 3 generations, and she herself learned the trade at the age of 12. Since then, every day she weaves mats, and at night Mrs. Van and her parents carry the finished product to the market to sell.
“I was busy weaving so I couldn’t go out and sell it. Only at midnight and in the morning did the village have goods brought to the market. Trading at night, oil lamps were flickering and people’s faces were not visible, so we had the custom of calling it a ghost market. Initially, there were only buyers and sellers. mats, gradually there were street vendors selling food, then it became a bustling market,” Ms. Van explained.
“Retired” for many years before sitting at the loom again, but Ms. Van said that “it’s not difficult, the profession is in the blood”.
No one knows what year the “ghost market” existed, but the market “disappeared” about 30 years ago, making everyone in Dinh Yen village sad. When the village has electricity and every family buys a weaving machine, no one wants to stay up at night to sell goods. There are so many products being made, traders come to the factory, so the market no longer has a reason to exist.
“The market is gone, the countryside of our ancestors is gone, it’s very sad. After 30 years, I never expected to see the market restored at the end of my life, I’m very happy. Both my wife and I were invited to be actors, so happy. I’m very happy, I leave early every day, I never take a day off,” said Mr. Tran Van Chin (69 years old).
Mr. Chin learned the weaving trade at the age of 15, but 30 years ago, when the weaving machine returned to the village, Mr. Chin had to “retire” and look after his grandchildren. Now having the opportunity to do his old job again, Mr. Chin said that “suddenly I feel like a kid again, I don’t feel tired working”.
The scene took place from afternoon to night, with many movements, but over a hundred actors did not show any signs of fatigue. In the dim space, hundreds of “ghosts” all showed happy faces.
“Ghost market” is a unique tourism product
The mat weaving profession in Dinh Yen has a history of over 200 years, and was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2013. Dinh Yen communal house is also recognized as a relic. National history in 2017.
Dong Thap’s reconstruction of the mat production and trading scene in Dinh Yen craft village is highly appreciated by experts for its economic and cultural value.
Mr. Nguyen Su – Former Secretary of Hoi An City Party Committee (Quang Nam province) – who has expertise in building and managing tourism space commented: “Ghost markets are a unique tourism product, when talking about ghost markets People immediately think of Dinh Yen and Dong Thap.”
Mr. Su believes that the restoration of the “ghost market” is like “brushing the dust of time on cultural values”.
“Rebuilding Dinh Yen ghost market is not just to make money, first of all it is for culture and the ultimate purpose is to serve culture. Because money can be earned, but once culture has been eroded or lost, it is difficult to earn.” “Yes,” Mr. Su commented.
Ms. Huynh Thi Hoai Thu – Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dong Thap province said that the province’s tourism industry is very pleased with the new tourism product that is different and has unique characteristics of Dinh mat village. Yen.
This is the first time a product combining tourism and art has been launched in Dong Thap, aiming to evoke unique traditional and cultural values to introduce to domestic and foreign tourists.
After a month of rehearsals, on the night of September 29, Dong Thap province officially launched the tourism product “Dinh Yen Ghost Market”.
The re-enactment of the old mat weaving scene will be performed every Saturday afternoon at Dinh Yen communal house yard. Particularly, the “ghost market” scene will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Saturdays of the 1st and 3rd weeks of every month, or when visitors want to enjoy it.
Coming to Dinh Yen, in addition to visiting the mat village, visitors can also listen to amateur music, be taught Southern folk songs, participate in folk games and enjoy specialty dishes.
($1=24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet (Vinlove.net)