Traditional prints

Vietnamese people love decorating the house for the Tet festival. Peach or apricot blossoms and kumquat trees are the most common and traditional of sights. But another popular, if slightly more alternative, decoration my friend is fond of is traditional woodblock prints from Dong Ho village
Even her modest apartment is transformed by this colourful and charming artwork, which glitters in the sunlight. Every year I admire them.
“These animals symbolise honour and wealth,” explains Van, pointing at a picture depicting a boy and a girl with a cockerel and a duck. All the animals featured in Dong Ho pictures are depicted in a lively and animated fashion, which verges on the cartoonish.
Another picture features two imposing figures by the entrance of a pagoda. Besides her fondness for the beauty of such traditional arts, Van also believes the men will ward off evil spirits and bring happiness to her family. Every year, one month before Tet, Van makes her pilgrimage to Dong Ho village to select new pieces for her apartment. The paintings reveal a slice of Vietnamese religious beliefs and cultural patterns as well as reflect the dreams, wishes and aspirations of the people. Van’s passion for traditional prints, considered unusual for a 32-year old in this day and age, has driven her to try and convert others. She has already persuaded her kid’s kindergarten teacher to decorate the class with Dong Ho paintings.
As we approach the threshold of the New Lunar Year, Van wants the pictures to feature rats. She volunteers to buy woodblocks and invite the craftsmen from Dong Ho to come to the city to create the pictures for the school. I decide to tag along to find out more about these ancient prints and we set off through the cold and wet January weather. Thankfully it takes just an hour to get to Dong Ho, which is along the Duong river, just outside Hanoi. Dong Ho is a typical northern village with red-brown tiled roofs and a confusing network of alleys. Although she regularly visits the village, Van still takes wrong turns in the mini-labyrinth trying to find the enclave of households that produce the woodblock prints.
There are only five households in the village that practice the traditional crafts as a lot of families have quit printing to produce votive paper and objects for offerings – an industry that there’s no end to, as you might imagine. As far back as the 16th century, Dong Ho village is said to have been famed for its woodblock prints and thereafter enjoyed a healthy prosperity as a result of the prints’ popularity.
In the past, as Tet approached the village would be crowded with people around the country coming to barter or buy prints. The market in front of Dong Ho temple would have been as jubilant, colourful and crowded as a festival. The Dong Ho prints were considered the height of sophistication and lauded for their artistic content.
All woodblocks were chiseled by the craftsmen. All the coloured-powders were ground from natural substances – black came from the ash of bamboo leaf, green from indigo leaves, blue from copper rust, amber from pine resin, yellow from saphora flowers and gardenia seeds, scarlet from ochre, coral from red wood and white from egg shells. The colours are durable as well as water proof. The prints were made on do paper and coated with a thin protective layer.
Hitherto 1945, there were around 150 households making prints. While the occupation has dwindled, there are still a few dedicated artists.
Nguyen Huu Sam is a 68-year old print maker. He welcomes us in a hale and hearty fashion dressed in a black chiffon ao dai with a matching black hat on his head. “Our ancestors were very profound and subtle,” says Sam. “Hidden in the simple, natural and spontaneous appearances are human values. Our woodblock prints are not only used for decorative purposes, but they reflect the dreams and aspirations for a happy and prosperous life. Some pictures teach us the way to be a good person. Others attack bad behaviour or habits with satirical imagines.”Sam’s daughter sits in a heap of finished prints, trying her best to classify the pictures and keep everything in order.
“I have just received 30 teachers and students from Hue,” she says with a smile. “They selected and ordered nearly a hundred prints.”
As it’s the Year of the Rat, Sam shows us a few different prints with the said rodent. One features a rat wedding with a bride on a flowery palanquin and a groom on horseback. Fellow rats in the procession play flutes and offer fish and a bird to curry favour with a fat cat surveying the scene. In two others a rat performs a dragon dance and a unicorn dance respectively. In another a successful examination candidate, also a rat, is returning home. All the prints are vivid, playful and almost innocent. One of the largest villas in the middle of village is the showroom of Nguyen Dang Che and his family. Che’s house seems to be flooded with colourful prints of all sizes. “This coming year will be the Year of the Rat so we have a lot of orders to make calendars, handbooks, postcards and large-sized paintings with rats,” says Hoa, Che’s daughter-in-law. “The most popular picture is definitely the Rat Wedding. This week I sold five large ones already.”
According to Che the Rat Wedding has always been a popular choice and is one of the most famous Dong Ho block prints. Thematically it reflects a society under the feudal oppression: The cat represents the heartless ruling class while the rats represent the great unwashed.
The picture says that despite being hard working the poor still have to bribe their rulers. It is a painting that is still relevant in a society plagued with bribery and corruption. In Che’s workshop-cum-showroom each member of the family from the grandmothers to the grandkids are involved in the process of producing prints. There’s plenty of life in the art form yet and Che wants to ensure it not only survives but thrives in future.
“I am developing a space with a few ancient styled houses where you will be able to see craftsmen work and create your print,” says Che.
I select a print of the rat performing a dragon dance which I hope will bring me joy and luck while Van selects a print of the Rat Wedding in the hope that the new year will be free of corruption.

(Source: Timeout)