Vietnamese conical hat – the charming beauty of Vietnamese women
Vietnamese conical hat is one of the most famous symbols of Vietnamese women. The image of a Vietnamese farmer hat is familiar, rustic, and fragile but extremely charming. If you are the person who loves to experience Vietnam, do not forget to watch this hat.
The history of Vietnamese conical hat
Vietnamese conical hat was carved on Ngoc Lu and Dong Son bronze drum and Dao Thinh bronze jar in 2500-3000 BC. The old Vietnamese people had known how to take leaves interlinked to make the thing covering rain and sunshine. In the past, the Vietnamese conical hat was used more popularly.
Throughout the slashing war years, hat-making has been maintained until today. There are some traditional conical villages in Hue such as Dong Di (Phu Vang), Da Le (Huong Thuy), especially Phu Cam (Hue). These conical villages have created many qualified products, which is one of the things attracting tourists to come and visit.
Vietnamese conical hat – the charming beauty of Vietnamese women
The construction of the Vietnamese conical hat
The hats are usually woven by different types of leaves such as palm leaves, lettuce leaves, straw, bamboo leaves, and etc. However, they are usually made from palm leaves. The conical hat often has a strap made of soft or velvet fabric and silk to hold on the neck. The conical hat has a spiky pyramid; however, some are broad with a flat top. The palm leaves are arranged on a frame consisting of small bamboo laths curved into an arc, pinned with threads or silk threads.
How to make a conical hat
The hat is made from many different materials but mainly made from palm leaves. The hats are trimmed into each supple small piece of bamboo and then curved into a circle with a 50cm diameter. The next circles get smaller, and the final circle is as small as a coin. All of them are arranged in a pyramid-shape frame. Palm leaves which are taken from the forest will be dried and then arranged alternately in plastic bags to avoid the mold.
When making women's hat, the craftsmen take each leaf alternately, make them flat, cuts them crossing, and then arranges them into the frame. Because the leaves are thin and easy to be broken down, the craftsmen make the advantage of dry sheaths to make middle layers between two palm leaves layers, which helps make the conical hats hard and durable. If taking Vietnam group travel, tourists will have an interesting experience - making your own conical hat.
At the next step, the craftsmen use the cord tie to taper palm leaves which have been spread on the frame with the hat frame and then they begin sewing them. The craftsmen put the leaves on the side of the hat and use the monofilament and the needle to make the pyramid of the hat. After having finished the hat, the conical hat will be painted a gloss oil layer to increase the strength and the aesthetics (it can be decorated with many beautiful patterns). In the middle of the third lath and the fourth lath, the craftsmen use the double threads to knit symmetrically. The strap is usually made of velvet, silk with purple, red...
The classification of Vietnamese conical hat
There are many types of conical hats such as Phu Gia conical hat, Go Gang conical hat (Binh Dinh province) made of pineapple leaves and used when horse riding, Quai Thao hat which is used popularly in the North, Bai Tho conical hat in Hue (the thin white hat with some verses on it), Dau conical hat (the hat with the spiky pyramid of the soldiers in the feudalism), the straw conical hat (made of the hard straw), Coi conical hat ( the hat which is torn fringed in the edge), Go conical hat (the hat made of straw was used for the soldiers in the past), lotus leaf conical hat, and etc. However, the pyramid conical hats are the most popular.
The advantage of the conical hat
Vietnamese conical hat – the charming beauty of Vietnamese women
The conical hat is used to cover sunshine, rain and used as a fan when it is hot. Besides, it can be used as a thing to draw the water or the holder. In addition, the conical hat is still used to dance by girls. Nowadays, Vietnamese conical hat is considered a special gift for tourists when coming to visit Vietnam.
Wearing a conical hat in the festival season will make Vietnamese girls more charming. What is more beautiful than the image of a young girl wearing the Ao Dai and the conical hat and moving gracefully in a hat dance? The conical hat has truly become a vivid symbol of Vietnamese women who are gentle, hard-working, charming, heroic, indomitable, loyal, and modest.
Today, the image of Vietnamese conical hat has not been popular than in the past. The conical hat has been replacing the beautiful and colorful hats with luxury clothes. But in the mind of Vietnamese people, the image of the conical hat will stay forever and it is the endless beauty of Vietnam’s unique traditional culture.
With other traditional items, the conical hat has contributed to the highlights of Vietnam Hanoi cultural tours for travelers. Do not visit our website to get more information. Please share the post if you find it useful. Have a nice trip!
