Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village is the most vibrant destination in the ancient capital of Hue every spring. The paper flowers of Thanh Tien not only stand out for their bright colors but also for being crafted by the skillful hands of talented artisans. Visiting Hue without holding a paper lotus from this village is truly regrettable. Let’s explore this unique craft village with DanangPrivateCar.com.
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Overview of Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village
- Location: Phu Mau Commune, Phu Vang District, Thua Thien – Hue Province
Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village, with a history dating back over 300 years, is considered a distinctive folk belief of Hue, captivating anyone passionate about exploring the city.
This unique craft village is situated along the southern bank, downstream of the Perfume River, approximately 7 km from the city center of Hue. To reach Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village, you can pass through Dong Ba Market from the city center, go down Huynh Thuc Khang Street for about 5 km, and you will approach Bao Vinh ancient town. Taking a ferry to the opposite bank – Tien Non Village, and traveling an additional 1 km will bring you to the destination.
Around the lunar months from September to December, you will see people busy preparing handmade paper flowers, specifically known as Thanh Tien flowers.
There are two types of Thanh Tien flowers: Lotus flowers and Multicolored flowers. While lotus flowers are commonly used for year-round decoration during festivals and cultural exchange events, multicolored flowers are only made in October of the lunar calendar each year for altar decorations in temples, pagodas, ancestral shrines, and for the Kitchen Gods Festival.
In addition, you can also see the vibrant colors of multicolored paper flowers arranged in bookstores, private homes, or cafes. Particularly, foreign tourists often visit Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village to buy flowers as souvenirs for their loved ones.
Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village is a worthwhile destination to include in your independent exploration itinerary of Hue.
If you are planning to visit Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village in Hue, don’t forget to choose the private car rental service in Hue from DanangPrivateCar.com. With their door-to-door service, professional drivers, and years of experience, you will have the most comfortable travel experience in Hue. Additionally, if you are in Da Nang or Hoi An and wish to explore Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village in a day, book a day trip from Da Nang to Hue or a day trip from Hoi An to Hue right away.
Everything about Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village
Paper Flower Craft
The craft of making paper flowers originated from the folk worship of the people in the ancient capital of Hue. Due to the challenging climate conditions, intense sunlight, and heavy rainstorms, fresh flowers in Hue could not maintain their original beauty.
As a result, the people of Thanh Tien Village creatively invented paper flowers for worship and decoration during the Tet festival, gradually turning it into the renowned Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village, a cultural and spiritual essence of the entire population of Hue every spring.
Explore Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village
The materials needed to create paper flowers in Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village are not hard to find. With just bamboo and rattan, the artisans of Thanh Tien Village can unleash their creativity. They replicate images of various natural flowers such as trumpet flowers, daisies, wallflowers, lotus flowers, wild sunflowers, etc., with such precision and realism that, from a distance, it’s hard to distinguish between real and paper flowers.
While usually only 1 or 2 people work on paper flowers on regular days, on full moon days and Tet holidays, artisans in the village mobilize their relatives and even hire additional help to collectively make paper flowers. Almost everyone in the village, including children, is skilled in the steps to create the distinctive Thanh Tien paper flowers.
The process of making paper flowers is entirely manual and requires extensive preparation, often starting months in advance. Only with considerable effort can a beautiful and lifelike masterpiece be completed. Bamboo must be selected for its flexibility, split into small sections, and then rounded to create branches or flower stems. The most crucial step is choosing durable paper and natural dye colors to ensure freshness, as artificial colors or harmful chemicals are not used.
The final steps involve meticulous cutting, trimming, creating folds for the flowers to appear lively and vibrant, similar to real flowers. Then, adhesive glue is used to attach the flowers to the stems. The most challenging aspect is creating the veining for lotus petals, requiring a great deal of skill and experience from the artisans. Each step demands precision, dedication, and diligence, allowing an artisan to produce only 15 to 20 flowers at most in a day. Despite the meticulous work, the cost of Thanh Tien paper flowers is quite affordable, ranging from 5,000 VND to 7,000 VND per pair (for simple flowers like roses, daisies, orchids) and 20,000 VND per flower (for more complex flowers like lotus). This makes it possible for you to purchase these flowers as memorable souvenirs.
Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village in general, and the paper flower artisans in the village in particular, contribute to the cultural and spiritual values of Vietnam reaching far beyond the world. It would undoubtedly be wonderful if we could set foot in Hue at least once to have the opportunity to visit, enriching our understanding of this ancient, tranquil, and charming land. DanangPrivateCar.com wishes you and your family a meaningful time exploring and enjoying Hue, and don’t forget to share those memorable moments with DanangPrivateCar.com.
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