Orchards of Tân Bình (Nùng)
2020 7m HD 16:9
Heritage Shorts #6
In the sixth of a new series of short films from Heritage Centre Sapa in association with Open Cinematic, we visit the orchards of Tân Bình in Quang Bình district. Nùng women are best known for their distinctive clothing, traditional handicrafts and skill at farming a variety of crops. Here we witness skills passed on between generations and a unique process of shining cotton.
The Nùng are Vietnam’s sixth largest minority ethnic group, living primarily in the northeastern highlands. Their animal husbandry is highly developed, while activities such as foraging, carpentry, paper making and weaving are widely practiced. Supporting themselves through agriculture, the Nùng produce rice, maize, pomelos, persimmons and anise.
The Nùng choose the position of their homes carefully and believe that a mountain peak is like an arrow, which if pointed at a house might injure its residents. Trees meanwhile are associated with fierce beasts and thought to bring bad luck to livestock. Nearby streams are thought to cause money to flow away from a house.
The Nùng are known for their handicrafts, making items from bamboo and rattan and producing intricate embroidery. Nùng women wear clothes dyed with indigo. They wax calendar cotton to create a beautiful sheen on their jackets and wear buttoned robes with silver details and a high collar. The women wear a long pleated skirt and a headscarf with intricate embroidery.
Nùng villages are noted for their closely clustered houses and bountiful orchards.
