Visit the brocade village of Chau Phong

Located along the bank of Vinh An canal, opposite the town of Chau Doc, is the Chau Phong village of the Cham people. This is an old village which still preserves the characteristics of the Cham culture in the Mekong Delta.

Ancient Cham people had the custom of keeping girls of 10-12 years old at home to learn weaving. Cham girls were very skillful in weaving brocade. Today, this practice is no longer maintained, but Cham women in Chau Phong still preserve traditional crafts.

The main materials for weaving brocade are cotton yarns dyed with indigo and silk dyed with natural colors, extracted from latex, bark and fruit. The colors are only blue, white, yellow, and black, but they are always bright and impressive.

To save time, industrial silk is used more today. To deal with the weakness of industrial silk as thin and its tendency to lose color, the Cham create beautiful embroidery patterns so each product is unique.

Brocade is used to make bathing suits, floral sarongs, dresses, jewelry boxes, bags, and especially beautiful and interesting hair ties. Also, the Cham girls weave icat - a kind of towel as a dowry – before they get married.

With its rustic but exquisite and luxurious beauty, Chau Phong brocade has become more and more popular.