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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
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During my return to hometown of Hue, I asked my in-laws to help arranging me to visit a drying kiln. After waiting in several days, I’ve told they got enough leaves for a new batch to be processed the next day.
When I came, they displayed to me the first step: leaves need to be tied together before undergoing the second step as shown in today posting: they need to be crumpled up by feet.
In Vietnam the national chapeau is without question the non, or conical peasant hat. Along with the graceful silk ao dai, the non has become a sort of informal Vietnamese national symbol recognized worldwide.
Nobody knows when the first non came into fashion in Vietnam, but doubtless it dates back to the region's earliest civilizations thousands of years ago. The ingredients, after all, remain quite basic —bamboo and palm leaf-and the need for a sunhat would have obviously paralleled the first cultivation of rice. The non has been around a long time, and this distinctive hat may well be one of the most timeless aspects of the Vietnamese landscape.
Today the non is made throughout the country, from Hanoi to Saigon. Different regions put their own spin on the basic non design. The non of Hue remains famous for its lightness and supple thinness. The central province of Quang Binh makes its own Ba Don non, which is a sturdy version inlaid with elaborate decoration. The different countries of southeast Asia, in fact, have all designed their own unique versions of the basic palm-leaf hat. Thai women, for example, favor a palm-leaf hat that resembles an upside-down basket.
(By Steven K. Bailey)
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