Chicken feather brooms are present in all regions of Vietnam and have long been a household item used by Vietnamese families to dust off altars, cars, to sweep hidden corners of the house.
In 2017, Trieu Khuc village (Thanh Tri – Hanoi) was reported by the French AFP news agency by getting rich from a unique profession: chicken feather broom. Today, in this village only nearly 10 households still keep this traditional profession.
“The soft, smooth chicken feather brooms, hanging behind bicycles for many generations, are familiar to Vietnamese people for generations,” according to AFP news agency.
Chicken feather brooms are very sophisticatedly handcrafted, and many people in the village contribute to creating the broom. Professionals who go to the markets buy chicken feathers, then they sell them to a few elderly people in the village to dry and classify the feathers, then thread the feathers on the umbrella and then the stage to wrap the bamboo sticks.
The villagers of Trieu Khuc village said that this is an “ancient” profession dating back hundreds of years. Due to the increasing number of cheap plastic brooms, chicken feather brooms have gradually lost their foothold. Currently, there are only about 10 families in the village making feather brooms.
Ms. Vu Thi Lanh from Le village, Trieu Khuc, the 4th generation of a chicken feather broom-making family in Trieu Khuc, said: “I used to do the process of stitching feathers on an umbrella, but now I have time to go. The market sells brooms, so I buy the stitched feathers, wash them, and then wrap them on the broom handle “.
The broom is made mainly of rooster feathers, in particular, the bigger the rooster, the longer the feathers, the beautiful color, can make full use of its feathers, the feathers near the tail are the most beautiful and expensive. The hen’s feathers can also be made with brooms, but the price is not high.
Ms. Lanh bought the chicken feathers, washed it with laundry detergent to remove all the remaining odors and organic matter, then dried it and wrapped it in the handle of the broom. She uses the machine to wash and wring hair so it saves a lot of time.
Ms. Lanh added: “The feathers that came to my hand to wrap the finished product have” passed through “3 other people before: The person who buys the chicken feathers, the person who dries and sorts it, the person stitches the feathers.
At the age of 10, Ms. Lanh knew how to classify chicken feathers. In the past, her ancestors exported feather brooms to Japan and France, selling thousands of them each time.
“Now the number of brooms is selling a little, but I do reputation, so I still have broom exports to Thailand and Laos. A few days ago I moved to Thailand 600 medium-sized brooms, with a price tag. sold from 80,000 – 100,000 VND “, said Lanh.
Mrs. Lan from Le hamlet, Trieu Khuc sat diligently to sort the feathers. Her yard was exposed to feathers that she had just bought from the villagers.
She categorized the feathers and said: “This process is mainly done by the elderly because it takes a lot of time. It takes persistence to be able to do it. People often call it the profession of the elderly, in the village also. There are few people who do “.
The feathers of a chicken will be classified into 5 categories: most feathers (near tail feathers), fur (neck feathers), black feathers, fluff and baby feathers. To make the most feather broom, it is necessary to have feathers of at least 50 chickens, selling for 200,000-400,000 VND / broom.
Brushes are made of many different sizes, an average of about 200 grams – 300 grams of feather / 1 broom.
Workers tie chicken feathers to the end of the bamboo stick, sweep the bitumen to the base of the feather to stick and then cleverly wrap the hair around the bamboo stick.
Since the chicken feather brooms were published in the French newspaper, the villagers felt proud when the profession left by their ancestors was spread out to the world. Chicken feather broom makers are concerned about the future as consumers are turning to cheaper brooms.
The mass-produced plastic brooms are flooding the market, gradually occupying the “foothold” of the traditional brooms.
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