Painting village in season of altar paper works

Located in the northern province of Bac Ninh, Dong Ho village, which is widely known for its folk paintings, is seeing more and more of its artisans become altar paper work makers.

There is one month before lunar July’s full-moon day, commonly known as the Day of Forgiveness for Wandering Ghosts, when lots of altar paper works are bought and burned. And everywhere in Dong Ho village, people are busily preparing for this most profitable occasion of the year.

Along Duong River, motorbikes and trucks transporting paper puppets, hats, refrigerators and TVs these days are driving to and from the traditional painting village, the production activity of which no longer fits its name.

“Altar paper work making and painting went hand in hand for a long time here. From lunar January to July, people produced altar paper works. And from lunar August to Tet, they made folk paintings.

“But for the last decade, things have been different,” said artisan Nguyen Dang Che, one of the only three artisans of the village along with artisan Nguyen Huu Sam and Tran Nhat So who are still determined to preserve their traditional art and profession.

In the meantime, there are as many as 238 households in the village engaged in altar paper works all year round. These households often produce what they are best at, so some of them only make paper puppets, while in others, “underworld” motorbikes are all over the place.

Nguyen Van Ninh, who specialises in making paper vehicles, said, “Workers are members of the family ranging from old people to little kids. I sell my products to many provinces including Hoa Binh, Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho. But Hanoi and Hai Phong cities buy the most.”

A Honda SH paper motorbike, for instance, costs VND40,000 while the price for a painting of Mouse’s Wedding, a classic topic of Dong Hong folk paintings, is only VND2,000. “Nobody would believe me but the wooden slates used to make paintings by my grandpa have all been turned into chicken coops.

Folk paintings don’t sell so these wooden slates have to be put to other uses,” said Nguyen Duc Phong, another villager. To those like artisan Nguyen Dang Che, who is still treasuring his diverse collection of wooden slates, such a use of these precious slates is heart-breaking.

“Since 1995, I have searched for and bought the village’s last wooden slates. I know I have to hold on to these things,” said he. Each of these engraved wooden slates can only be used for one colour, so there are as many of them as the numbers of colours appearing on a painting. ]

Mr. Che’s collection includes a 200-year-old set and more than 100 other sets from 60 to 100 years of age. His dream is to build a museum of sorts to display them as well as over hundred-eye-old Dong Ho paintings before he dies.

Another local effort to help preserve the art is to reopen painting fairs at Dong Ho, or painting communal houses, where vibrant painting market sessions were once held every lunar December before Tet.

“People’s way of thinking is different now, so for the past year, the communal house has been standing there still, but nobody seems to remember painting markets,” said Ha Duy Phu, head of the local communal house vestige management board.