TL;DR: Thôn Cao incense village (Bảo Khê commune, Hưng Yên city) is the largest incense-making craft village in northern Vietnam, with a history dating to the 18th century linked to the craft founder Đào Thị Khương. Incense making here is not only a livelihood but also a cultural and spiritual tradition preserved across generations. Today very few households still make incense entirely by hand; most use incense rolling machines and powder mixers, but the herbal blending formulas are still passed down from elders in the family, and the incense is still sun-dried on bamboo racks.
How many years of history does Thôn Cao incense village have?
Located about 40km from the centre of Hanoi, right beside the dyke on the left bank of the Red River, Thôn Cao incense village in Bảo Khê commune, Hưng Yên city (Hưng Yên province) has long been known as one of the largest traditional incense-making craft villages in the North. What sets Thôn Cao incense apart is its light, gentle fragrance that lingers for a long time, matched by few other places, thanks to the secret of blending herbs passed down through many generations.
Origin and legend of the craft's founding mother
According to legend, in the 18th century, Mrs. Đào Thị Khương, on a long trading trip, learned the craft of making incense and brought it home to teach the villagers. To remember her debt of gratitude, on the 22nd day of the 8th lunar month every year, the people of Thôn Cao hold the craft's founding anniversary, both an occasion to remember the person who founded the craft and a chance for the craft village community to gather and recall its traditions. Today, nearly 200 households in the village still keep the traditional incense-making craft, despite the ups and downs of the times and the encroachment of industrial goods.
A summary table of information about Thôn Cao incense village across the aspects covered in this article.
| Aspect | Information |
|---|---|
| Location | About 40km from the centre of Hanoi, beside the dyke on the left bank of the Red River, in Bảo Khê commune, Hưng Yên city |
| Founder of the craft | Mrs. Đào Thị Khương, in the 18th century |
| Craft founding anniversary | The 22nd day of the 8th lunar month every year |
| Number of households still keeping the craft | Nearly 200 households |
| Parts of an incense stick | Incense stick core, incense powder, binding glue |
| Ingredients of incense powder | Agarwood, cinnamon bark, hương bài, tùng bạch chỉ, trắc bách diệp, star anise, liquorice and other medicinal herbs |
| Binding agent | Melaleuca glue or bời lời glue |
| Export markets | Cambodia, India, China |
| Income of small workshops | About 20 million dong per month |
| Income of large workshops | Hundreds of millions of dong per month |
Placed beside other incense villages, this helps readers position Thôn Cao more clearly.
| Incense village | Locality | Notable features |
|---|---|---|
| Thôn Cao | Bảo Khê commune, Hưng Yên city | the largest traditional incense-making craft village in the North, keeper of the secret of herb blending |
| Quảng Phú Cầu | Hanoi | known for its scale of production |
| Thủy Xuân | Hue | oriented towards craft village tourism, tied to the sight of incense drying on bamboo racks |
What is the secret behind Thôn Cao incense?
What are the three parts of an incense stick?
What makes the Thôn Cao incense brand is its meticulous production process and its special ingredient-blending formula. Each incense stick is made up of three main parts:
- Incense stick core: Made from bamboo stems split thin and shaved evenly by hand. This stage demands skill so that the cores are uniform in length and thickness and do not warp.
- Incense powder: This is the soul of the incense stick, a mixture of wood powders ground from many different herbs such as agarwood, cinnamon bark, hương bài, tùng bạch chỉ, trắc bách diệp, star anise, liquorice and other medicinal herbs. Each family has its own recipe, regarded as a family secret, creating distinctive characteristics that cannot be mistaken for any other.
- Binding glue: Usually melaleuca glue or bời lời glue, which helps the incense powder cling tightly to the core and creates a natural bond.
The difference comes from family secrets
The special thing about Thôn Cao incense is that every family owns its own herb-blending formula, treated as a sacred secret passed down only to people within the family and clan. For this reason, the workers at the workshops are almost all relatives, creating a tight bond in production. Mr. Mai Văn Trọng, the owner of an incense workshop here, shared that regularly handling natural herbs is also the reason the skin of the people here always looks fresh and rosy.
How has incense making changed people's lives?
Economic value from the traditional craft
Over hundreds of years, incense making has not been merely a livelihood but has become the main source of income, changing the lives of many families in Thôn Cao. According to Mrs. Trần Thị Tươi, the owner of one of the largest workshops in the village, her family's revenue has at times reached nearly a hundred million dong per month, especially high during Lunar New Year and major holidays. Mr. Nguyễn Như Khanh, Vice Chairman of the Thôn Cao Traditional Craft Village Association, said that even the smallest workshops earn about 20 million dong per month, while large workshops can reach hundreds of millions.
Adaptation in the modern context
Not standing outside the trend, the people of Thôn Cao have keenly applied modern machinery to some stages of production to raise labour productivity, while still keeping the traditional secrets in blending ingredients. This helps Thôn Cao incense serve not only the domestic market but also reach many countries such as Cambodia, India and China, affirming the craft village's standing on the international market.
Looking more closely at how the work is done today, the number of households still making incense entirely by hand can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Most households now use incense rolling machines and powder mixing machines. Yet one stage still keeps the old way: once rolled, the incense is dried on bamboo racks, drying naturally in the sun rather than in an industrial dryer. The villagers say that sun-dried incense burns with a longer-lasting, gentler fragrance than quickly dried incense.
Does Thôn Cao incense village still make incense by hand?
Very few households still work entirely by hand. Most now use incense rolling machines and powder mixing machines, but the herb-blending formula is still passed down by the elders in the family, and the incense is still dried in the sun on bamboo racks. In other words, what has been kept is the soul of the craft, not every hand movement.
The spirit of the craft and its cultural and belief value
The heart in every incense stick
For the people of Thôn Cao, making incense is not only a livelihood but also a beautiful aspect of spiritual culture. They always hold to the thought that incense is a product connecting people with the spiritual world and with their ancestors, so it must not be made carelessly. Every incense stick made contains the heart of the maker, directed towards purity and reverence. At a time when the market has many kinds of fake and poor-quality incense that affect consumers' health, the people of Thôn Cao remain steadfast in their principle of safe production, using natural ingredients and building a reputable brand trusted by many.
In folk belief, incense smoke is believed to be able to drive away evil spirits and bring peace to the household, a widespread notion in East Asian culture. This is a folk belief, not something that has been verified.
The craft village in the flow of Vietnamese culture
Though facing many difficulties, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when festivals and pagodas had to close, the people of Thôn Cao still diligently maintained production. They understand that incense making has become an inseparable part of the belief life of Vietnamese people, from ancestor worship and remembrance of heroic martyrs to important spiritual rituals. Incense making is also a thread binding the community, as many people, though far away making a living, still return to their home village to carry on the work of their forebears. The endurance of Thôn Cao incense village is living proof of the preservation and promotion of the fine traditional cultural values of the Vietnamese nation.
Overview article on the topic: What traditional Vietnamese crafts are there?
