Every traveler, even you, has noticed this small fragrant stick, if not by directly seeing it, your nose will have picked up its light smell when walking in some houses, temples, pagodas and other monuments. As it seems it’s such a small item, but its lifetime is still very complex and it holds a very important position in Vietnamese society.
First of all, let’s remember what incense is; a thin stick of bamboo covered with a resin of Sandalwood which is finally used during many ceremonies and rituals of the daily life of Vietnamese people. Therefore, here is its life and the story of its production in Hue.
Indeed, Hué, ancient capital of Vietnam, former city of the kings hides in its surroundings all the precious ingredients required to prepare the incense stick.
While you go upstream the Perfume River, as far as the tomb of Gia Long, first king of the Nguyen Dynasty, you will discover where the Sandalwood trees grow before being harvesting and prepared to elaborate the small colorful stick.
As soon as it is harvested by the people living nearby the forest, the trees will be taken care of by numerous villagers who will carefully remove its flesh to reveal its pure heart after days of hard work.
Usually, this pure heart isn’t used to produce incense as it’s very precious. Indeed, one tree can produce maximum 1 kg of this pure essence which provides only a few milliliters of oil. Therefore, this oil is very rare and may cost several thousand dollars for one liter depending on the tree species used to produce it.
Nevertheless, all the flesh of the tree will be carefully removed from the heart, collected then grinded before being mixed with a few other elements to create a very fragrant paste. The fabrication recipes are kept secret, as the ingredients used and their proportion ensure the unicity of the incense stick depending on how it’s produced.
While the trees are harvested and prepared along the Perfume River, some villagers up the hill are preparing the bamboo sticks which must have the perfect shape to create an incense stick. Too thin and the stick won’t hold itself, too thick and the stick won’t burn properly. Small boys and women in the surrounding villages will take care patiently and carefully of cutting the bamboo to create the perfect support for the incense stick.
In other villages in the surroundings of Hué, some villagers gather the precious paste and the bamboo stick to combine it properly in its well-known colorful and fragrant form; an incense stick. After patient work that was long ago made only by hand before the creation of an ingenious machine which now allows them to make up to 15.000 of them every day, the aromatic stick comes to life. Then, after being dried in the sun for one day, the sticks will be ready to be packed.
Then, they will be sold in the local markets, or people will directly come to buy them in the families where they are produced before joining some dedicated households, pagodas or monuments where they will free their lovely fragrance for special occasion throughout the year according to the lunar calendar.
In Hue, many families burn them every day to honor their ancestors, during offering for the full moon and the new moon, so twice a month, and for many other ceremonies, such as the Vietnamese New Year, house blessings, births, weddings, death and many others.
For ceremonies and offerings, generally there is also some celebrations and many votive papers are also burnt then meals are shared with family and friends…
The travel agency Senteurs du Vietnam recommends you to spend a day with its guide to relive the complete history of this baguette.
