Quảng Phú Cầu, the incense village near Hanoi

Quảng Phú Cầu makes the bamboo core of incense: thin sticks split from bamboo, their ends dyed a deep red, then tied into bundles. To dry, each bundle is opened and fanned out like a flower, and on a good day whole yards, lanes and rooftops turn red.

The set follows that path in order:

• The drying yard. Bundles fanned out in the sun, the colour that made the village one of the most photographed scenes of the north.
• Hands at work. Seen from above, a woman arranges the bundles one by one. Every flower in those yards is set out by hand.
• Colour. Not every batch is red; some bundles are dyed in several shades and dried side by side.
• For sale. Finished incense stacked on racks, ready for markets and the busy months before Tết.
• At the temple. Coils of incense hanging under a temple roof, where the work of the village finally ends up as smoke.

Burning incense is part of everyday devotion in Vietnam, a way to greet ancestors and mark important days. Most people who light a stick never see where it was made; these photos are a small look at that side of it.

The full story is in the post Quảng Phú Cầu, the incense village near Hanoi.

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Photos: xuanduongvan87, vietfotos, tho, michoff and another contributor on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.