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once a flourishing craft of pottery making.
Muong Chanh commune in Mai Son district is considered the center of ancient pottery of the Black Thai ethnic group in Son La province. During the years 1979-1985, Muong Chanh pottery reached its peak, appearing in all districts and towns of the province and even in some localities of Lai Chau province, becoming famous throughout the Northwest region. The pottery-making craft spread to every household, transforming the area into a large-scale traditional craft village, sufficient to support the entire community.
“Our ancestors have been making pottery for generations. When I was born, I saw my grandfather and father sitting and molding pottery. They worked all day and still couldn't finish their tasks; after dinner, they would quickly sit and mold again. Later, as firewood for the kiln became increasingly scarce, many people abandoned the craft,” shared Mr. Hoang Van Phuong, a pottery maker in Muong Chanh.
Although no one knows exactly when this pottery craft originated, the materials, processes, and decoration methods of Muong Chanh pottery are believed to have many similarities with prehistoric pottery, dating back about 2,000 years.
Muong Chanh pottery is unglazed, and the products typically come in two main colors: dark gray or dark gray with a silver sheen. After firing, to achieve the dark gray color, the people of Muong Chanh add fresh chestnut leaves to the kiln to create a smoky effect. The pottery is smooth and durable, with the advantage of being difficult to break and leak-proof. Therefore, the Thai people have traditionally used it for brewing wine, making fish sauce, storing pickled bamboo shoots, storing seeds, rice, cassava, food, and as tools for raising poultry. They also produce some valuable pottery items such as large jars and small antique vases used as dowry for daughters getting married.(According to Dr. Le Thanh Son, Culture and Arts Magazine)
Muong Chanh pottery has a distinctive dark gray color. Creating a pottery product requires three stages: preparing the raw materials, shaping, and firing. Men handle the stages of preparing the clay, shaping, decorating, and firing; women operate the potter's wheel.
The kilns in Muong Chanh are sunken kilns, meaning they are dug deep underground with only a hole large enough to crawl down to place the product to be fired and to provide space for burning firewood.
The firing process is considered the most important; the craftsman must know how to regulate the temperature inside the kiln. It must be increased gradually, otherwise everything will be ruined and broken.
With the diverse development of modern ceramic products, the traditional handcrafted pottery making in Muong Chanh is gradually declining; what was once the main occupation is now only a secondary occupation, organized on a household basis.
In fact, more and more people are abandoning pottery making in Muong Chanh not only because of the lack of firewood or the difficulty of the work, but also for another reason: the clay. Pottery-making clay in Muong Chanh must be a type of malleable clay mixed with kaolin, with a black-yellow-reddish color. However, kaolin clay is now scarce. Hoang Van Man, born into a family with a pottery tradition, says that this type of clay still exists in Muong Chanh, but it's located quite deep; one has to dig 5-6 meters by hand to find even a small amount.
Visit Son La and experience the traditional pottery making of Muong Chanh.
Perhaps the most well-known pottery makers in Muong Chanh are Mr. Hoang Van Nam and Mrs. Vi Thi Lanh in Noong Ten village – two of the few remaining people who still make a living from pottery. Having been involved in pottery making since 1977, their family primarily produces items for daily life such as jars, pots, and containers, as well as animal figurines for children's toys.
But pottery making alone isn't enough to make a living. Fortunately, the commune's People's Committee has developed and implemented a model for experiencing traditional pottery making art every weekend, so that city parents or tourists from afar can bring their children to explore.
As a favorite activity in the program, Mr. Nam and Ms. Lanh meticulously guided the children through each basic step of making a pottery product: from preparing the clay, creating the base mold, assembling the sides, shaping the rim, and then decorating with patterns... The children were also eager to mold and shape pieces of clay on the potter's wheel with their own hands.
Mr. Hoang Van Nam inspects traditional ceramic products.
Since 2020, this model of experiencing traditional pottery making has attracted more than 50 tourist groups from within and outside the province, with product sales revenue increasing by approximately double compared to previous years. Furthermore, for each visiting group, Mr. Nam's family only charges a service fee of 200,000 - 400,000 VND, which serves as an incentive for them to maintain their passion for the craft. Independent tourists visiting Muong Chanh commune only need to ask for Mr. Nam and Mrs. Lanh's pottery workshop to be directed there.
Besides Mr. Hoang Van Nam's family, Muong Chanh commune also has a few other potters, such as Mrs. Vi Thi Danh, who is old and frail and only occasionally touches clay to ease her longing for the craft; and the family of Mr. Hoang Van Phuong.
Because the pottery is handcrafted and fired manually, not every batch is perfectly fired to 100% as desired. Each Muong Chanh pottery product is therefore all the more precious. Precious not only for the effort and talent of the artisans, but also for the long-standing cultural value of the Thai ethnic people. Perhaps, in the future, if pottery-making experience models for tourists continue to develop, it will help preserve a little of the pride of the ethnic people in the highlands of Son La province.
