Lao Cai (VNS/VNA) - Traditional craft villages in the northernprovince of Lao Cai not only help preserve the unique cultural values ofethnic groups but also improve the lives of people, particularly women.

Lao Cai province currently has 30 craft villages, of those 20, such as brocadeweaving, embroidery, silver carving, incense making, bamboo and rattan see amajority of female managers and workers.

The success of female leadership is proven in models like the sewing andbrocade embroidery villages in Ngai Tro village (Y Ty commune, Bat Xat district);brocade sewing and embroidery village in Ni Xi Village (Pha Long commune, MuongKhuong district); brocade weaving village of Tay people (Nghia Do commune, BaoYen district); brocade weaving village of Giay people (Ta Van commune, Sa Pa town);and the weaving village of Thu Lao people (Ta Gia Khau commune, Muong Khuong district).

For the Dao Ho ethnic group in the province, clothes made from self-wovenfabrics play an important role in their daily lives, especially in specialrituals.

Dao Ho women in Tra Trau village, Son Ha commune, Bao Thang district, have longkept the traditional way of weaving for generations. Almost every household inthe village has a loom.

A local resident Trieu Thi Ha, 60 years old, said that she learned how to weavewhen she was a child.

Previously, the Dao people in Tra Trau grew cotton and weaved cloth bythemselves, she said.

Now they could easily buy cotton at the market to make clothes.

“Cotton bought at the market still has to be processed through many stages,”she said.

After spinning, handfuls of yarn are put into a pot of boiling water and boiledfor six hours.

A large pot of porridge with plain rice is poured into the yarn, then thematerial is rubbed. The yarn is then dried in the sun so that it does not breakwhen spinning.

After weaving and dyeing indigo, the cloth is cut and sewn. Finally, Dao womenmeticulously embroider and create accents for the outfit.

Head of the Culture and Information Department of Bao Thang district Le Hai Thanhsaid that after the weaving profession of the Dao Ho people in the district wasrecognised as a national intangible cultural heritage, the locality activelypromoted it.

They opened classes to teach young people about the traditional weaving craft,he said.

In Sai Duan village, Phin Ngan commune, Bat Xat district, a local woman named ChaoCoi May called on doctors to join her team which provides bathing herbs andhomestays for tourists.

May said that she followed her mother to the forest to find medicinal leaveswhen she was a child.

She was taught about traditional medicine and mastered dozens of traditionalherbal remedies of the Red Dao ethnic group.

“I have been looking for and recording remedies and passed them on to mygrandchildren,” she said, adding that she always told people to keep forests,so that they could preserve medicinal plants and earn from the plants.

May’s initiative has attracted and created jobs for fifteen women in thevillage with stable incomes. The introduction of baths with medicinal plantshas developed the potential of using herbal medicine of the Red Dao people in SaiDuan village.

Meanwhile, Lu Thi Tuoi, a 32-year-old woman from the Tay ethnic group in Bac Hadistrict, chose to start her business with green rice flakes – a dish that wasonly available during the holidays to celebrate the new rice of the Tay peoplein Na Lo village, Ta Chai commune.

Bac Ha green rice flakes are made from local glutinous rice varieties grown inthe cold climate.

Thanks to a longer growing period, the flakes are soft and have a special tastecompared to those in other localities. The product is enjoyed by visitors.

Tuoi said she started the business in 2020.

With her family's experience in the traditional profession, she always uses thebest rice varieties so that the green rice flakes are sticky and fragrant.

Realising the increasing demand of consumers for products with clear origin andfood safety, before last year’s crop, Tuoi completed procedures for her productto be recognised as satisfying hygiene and safety standards, with clearpackaging, labels, and QR codes.

Accessing social networks such as Facebook or Zalo, Tuoi usually got stableoutput for her products, she said, adding that she sometimes sold out ofproducts for consumers in Hanoi, Lao Cai city or Phu Tho province.

As the market is expanding, Tuoi gradually established a co-operation group andbuilt a brand for Na Lo – Bac Ha green rice flakes.

Tuoi said that the consumption this year was good, with the price of the greenrice ranging from 140,000 – 150,000 VND per kilo.

Her co-operative group had sold nearly ten tonnes of green rice, earning anaverage income of 15-25 million VND per household per crop./.