Van Giao Brocade Village in An Giang, Viet Nam

Van Giao Brocade Village is located in Van Giao Commune, Tinh Bien District, An Giang Province, Vietnam. Van Giao brocade symbolizes the beauty and rich cultural character of Khmer ethnic people.

The brocade in Vietnam is a kind of cloth made from cotton fibers. In the past, the colors of the brocade are taken completely from nature. In the recent, some places use chemical color. This cloth is very rich in patterns that are buoyant on the surface of the cloth. The Patterns of the brocade are mainly the pictures of flower, leaf, bird, and animal. In the past, people wove the cloth with handicraft, but now, people can weave it with machines. Most of the ethnic people in Vietnam know the way to weave the brocade. The children reaching the age of 9 or 10 are taught the work. Brocade of each ethnic group is different from pattern, color and style.

Van Giao brocade has multiform style, harmonious color, and fine pattern because weavers combined traditional method and modern technique. The specific dyeing technique of Van Giao Village is using natural dyes. It makes cloth shining, smooth and fast. For brocade shawls, Khmer people usually weave 3 layers of cotton fibers with 3 different colors. If looking straight, you will see blue. If looking from the left side, you will see orange. If looking from the right side, you will see red. For brocade picture or table-cover, the weaving technique is more difficult because the patterns usually base on fairy tales.

Khmer Women use brocade to make wedding dresses and dresses to wear to go to pagodas. Besides, brocade also used to decorate places to worship or use as head-wearing towels. In brocade clothes, women look more beautiful. Van Giao brocade is currently exported to many countries such as the United State, Australia, France, Cambodia, and Thailand with trade brand Khmer.

Van Giao Brocade Village is one of the famous traditional trade villages in the Mekong River Delta. If you have an opportunity to travel to An Giang Province, do not forget to visit this special trade village. By the way, you can also visit some other trade villages in the province such as  Carpentry Village in Cho Moi District, Salted Fish Village in Chau Doc Town, Silk village in Tan Chau Town.

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