VietNamNet Bridge – A festival to worship the ancestor of Thanh Ha Pottery Village in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province was held at Nam Dieu Temple in Thanh Ha Ward Wednesday morning on the tenth day of the lunar calendar.
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| Young men prepare for the ceremony of the Thanh Ha Pottery Village Festival. |
From early morning, the villagers prepared for the feast to worship the ancestor at home to take part in the procession from Thanh Chiem Communal House to Nam Dieu Temple.
The worship ceremony was celebrated in a boisterous sound of gongs and drums surrounded by fragrant smells of aloe wood. Elders and villagers presented offerings to worship the ancestor of the pottery profession for his great contribution to build the village and to teach and preserve the traditional profession. People also prayed for good weather, peace and development for their career.
The festival includes traditional boat racing and many contests such as polishing pottery, shaping 12 animal designations, rice cooking in an earthen pot, breaking earthenware pots and singing folk songs.
The 500 hundred year old village is three kilometers from Hoi An City. The ancestors of this pottery village were the Thanh Hoa people coming to settle down.
Some famous and sophisticated products of the village are earthen pots, basins, teapots, jars, mortar and candlesticks. Artisans of Thanh Ha Village also made bricks and tiles to build many architectural constructions in ancient urban Hoi An. These artisans were invited by kings of the Nguyen dynasty to Hue to manipulate special products for the imperial palace’s daily activities. Since the 16th century, Thanh Ha Village has confirmed its prosperity and fame in pottery products.
Thanks to the development of Hoi An’s tourism, this traditional craft village has recovered with the great desire of artisans to revive it. Many designs and products are created to answer the demand of customers and the tourism sector such as to he in shapes of 12 animals, red-pottery lanterns, flower pottery bricks, bas-reliefs and masks to decorate walls and fences, in which some are exported to foreign countries.
Since 2001, Thanh Ha Pottery Village has been a tour for people visiting Hoi An City. Tourists not only contemplate the landscape but also shape and polish pottery products. About 10,000 domestic and international tourists visit the village each year.
VietNamNet/SGT | 
