Bau Truc Pottery Village is one of two traditional craft villages that preserve the traditional souls and identities of the Cham people that are still handed down to this day. When it comes to Ninh Thuan, not only the sun and wind, but this place was once the prosperous Panduranga land of the Cham people. Let’s join along Hello Phan Rang Travel to discover the Champa flow in Bau Truc Pottery village.
Location of Bau Truc Pottery Village
Located along National Highway 1A, about 10 km south of Phan Rang – Thap Cham city, Bau Truc Pottery Village belongs to Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district. This is one of the oldest villages in Southeast Asia, and is also the only village that entirely makes pottery by hand. Along with My Nghiep brocade weaving village, Bau Truc pottery village is also part of the program of preserving and developing traditional Cham villages, which has become one of the famous Ninh Thuan tourist destinations.
The origin of the name “Bau Truc”
“Bau” is a pond or lake with a relatively large area formed naturally. At the end of Bau Truc village, there is still a large pond, the water in the pond will be more or less depending on the season and rainfall each year. More specifically, around the pond, there are many bamboo trees, that’s why the people here have named the village “Bau Truc Village”.
According to the oldest people living in the village for a long time, the ancestor of Bau Truc is Mr. Poklong Chanh. At the heyday of the Poklong Garai dynasty, he refused to be a court mandarin to return to the village to teach Cham women how to mold and bake clay to create items for daily life. Cham women have breathed their soul into the earth, creating vibrant works and keeping the fire for traditional pottery for hundreds of years.
Bau Truc Pottery Village – Unique rotated ceramic
Along with the development of pottery villages, the use of ceramic products as an elegant hobby of many families, Bau Truc is gradually being known, loved and supported by many people. Unlike other pottery villages, in order for Bau Truc ceramic products to reach customers’ hands, all stages of pottery making are completely handmade, highly artistic with meticulous attention to detail to every carving. This place is also considered one of the oldest craft villages in Southeast Asia.
Instead of using modern turntables like other places, the artisans will move around the table, then use their hands to shape and bring life into the soil to create a desired product. People often joke with each other this method is the method of “hand crank – butt rotate” also known as ceramic man rotates.
In particular, Bau Truc ceramic products always have their own differences because each product has its own soul left from the process of finding raw materials until firing to create a finished product. That is an important factor in the pottery making profession of the Cham people, which has been passed down from the past to now and in the future.
The process of making unique Bau Truc ceramic prod
To create a unique work of art with its own characteristics, it is impossible not to mention the materials that make them. The main materials that make up the Bau Truc pottery village brand are clay taken from below the soil on the banks of the Quao River and fine sand.
After that, the clay is brought to dry, pounded to remove unnecessary impurities and kneaded with water to create plasticity and adhesion. Next, the worker will mix it with fine sand in a proportion to suit the shape and size of the item and leave it overnight.
After preparing the materials to make pottery, the next step is to shape the ceramic. At this stage, the artisan will knead the soil to shape the pottery, after creating the shape for the product, the artist will use a cloth soaked in water to create a smooth surface for the ceramic. And the most special thing, in many other pottery villages, people often use turntables to mold pottery.
However, here, the artisans will use their own skillful hands to create great products, to create the shape for the ceramics, the artisans will not use the turntable, they will leave the clay stay at one spot and walk backwards around it until they create the desired shape.
In addition to completing the ceramic shaping stage, it is the stage of decorating patterns for ceramic products, Bau Truc pottery village is decorated with free patterns, subtle hidden lines, carved lines, from simple and rudimentary items close to people’s daily life such as sticks, bamboo rings, shells, plants, flowers, etc. Moreover, fingerprints and fingernails are also used. The technique of smoking makes the color of the pottery cover rich in color, rustic, gentle and close, but also imbued with the traditional culture of Champa.
The final stage is to create a complete Bau Truc ceramic product that is “Ceramic firing”. After shaping and decorating the pattern, the artisan will bring the pottery to dry so that when firing the ceramic will not crack or break. When the ceramic has reached a certain degree of dryness, it will be fired, and the most special feature at this stage is the “Open-door” method, which means that it is fired outdoors.
Ceramics will be fired outdoors at high temperatures and depending on the size, can be fired for several hours or even days. Because it is fired “openly”, Bau Truc pottery village will retain the natural color of clay or the colors of red yellow, black and gray mixed with characteristic brown streaks, having a “unique” that is rare in other pottery villages.
What does Bau Truc Pottery Village have?
Bau Truc pottery village has about 400 households, and the majority of households continue to make pottery. Right in the center of the pottery village is a display area with many different products from flower vases, kettles to pots, jars, animals of the zodiac, rock formations… Especially here there are statue towers that simulate unique Apsara dancers.
Bau Truc ceramic products are created like no other product, each product is breathed by artists to bring their own images, stories, and messages that the artisans want to convey to the their guest.
In addition, when coming here, visitors not only admire the meticulously handcrafted products, they will also experience the hand-making of ceramic products according to their own creativity. It would be a wonderful experience, wouldn’t it? If you have the opportunity to come to Ninh Thuan Hello Phan Rang, hope that you will have a fun and interesting trip in Bau Truc pottery village.
Besides, Hello Phan Rang Travel also has a 1-day Ninh Thuan Joint Tour with a lot of interesting and interesting experiences. You can design your own group or family a suitable tour program through Design your own Ninh Thuan outing program here.The tour programs of Hello Phan Rang Travel are always designed to be the most attractive, the cheapest, and suitable for the conditions of many different ages.
Besides, you can choose your programs to experience the sun and wind in Phan Rang that are suitable for you so as not to affect the experience and conditions of each group – family. For specific advice, customers can message directly via Fanpage: Hello Phan Rang – Khám phá Ninh Thuận qua góc nhìn bản địa
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