Dao Tien people and how to make beeswax

Hoai Khao hamlet is located in Quang Thanh commune, Nguyen Binh district, Cao Bang province. This place still preserves primeval forests, endowed by nature with natural beehives in the deep forest that have been associated with the Hoai Khao people for hundreds of years.

Hoai Khao hamlet currently has 34 households, all of whom are Dao Tien ethnic people. Every year in the 7th lunar month, Dao Tien people in Hoai Khao hamlet organize the harvesting of Khoai honeycombs to cook into pure beeswax. The pure beeswax obtained after cooking is the raw material for printing patterns on Dao Tien women's costumes.

Join Vietnam.vn to experience the beeswax making process of the Dao Tien people here through the photo series "Dao Tien people and how to make Khoai beeswax". To have unique patterns on traditional costumes, the Dao Tien people in Hoai Khao hamlet, Quang Thanh commune, Nguyen Binh district, Cao Bang province had to go through many difficult stages: From going into the forest to exploit giant Khoai bee hives to processing beeswax and printing patterns on the fabric... The photo series was sent by the author to participate in the Photo and Video Contest "Happy Vietnam - Happy Vietnam", organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The fresh climate and primeval forests in Hoai Khao are ideal conditions for the bees to build their nests. The hamlet has two areas where the bees come to build their nests, Chan Venh and Ta Lac, each with about 30 nests. The bees build their nests precariously on cliffs in the forest at a height of about 20m - 30m above the ground.

Every year, in the warm spring, bees return to build nests and make honey, and in the cold autumn, bees fly away to find a warm place to winter. While the bees are building nests and making honey, the villagers always assign people to protect the bees so that no one harms them. When the honey runs out and the bees fly away, the village meets to choose a day and assigns people to harvest beeswax.

At the right time, the Dao Tien women invite each other to go up the mountain to collect beeswax.

Beeswax classification at the village cultural house.

The beehives are quite large, with a diameter of 1m - 1.5m. The beeswax is transported and gathered at the village cultural house. Here, the beeswax is classified and screened, the yellower ones are kept separately, the blacker ones are kept separately. Before processing, the beeswax is classified, during the classification process, the soil and leaves attached to the beeswax will be removed. Yellow beeswax is from beehives that have just flown away, has better wax quality, and produces more wax. Black wax clumps are from beehives that have flown away earlier or have been exposed to rain, so the amount of wax produced will be less.

After being sorted, the beeswax is put into a large pan to cook. During the cooking process, the women have to stir continuously to avoid burning and to melt the wax evenly. When the wax boils, put it in a pressing basket, the beeswax essence and water fall down. The remaining unmelted wax on the basket is collected and taken to a separate place to continue cooking. With the yellow wax, it is usually boiled and filtered about 3 times to lose all the essence; with the black wax, it is boiled and filtered about 2 times to lose all the essence.

People are happy with beeswax pieces in their hands.

After many pressing and filtering times, when the wax essence is gone, the beeswax shell and impurities are discarded. The beeswax essence obtained from these pressing and filtering times still has many impurities, the wax is squeezed into fist-sized balls. Next, this wax is poured into a pan to concentrate to produce pure yellow beeswax products. The pure beeswax obtained is divided equally among all households in the hamlet, each family gets about 1.5 to 2kg to decorate and print patterns for the whole year. Harvesting the beeswax only takes place once a year. The process of harvesting and processing the beeswax is carried out continuously day and night, this process takes about 2 days. For the people of Hoai Khao hamlet, harvesting the beeswax is like a big festival for the people in the hamlet. During the 2 days of harvesting the beeswax, people contribute chicken, rice, and vegetables to cook and eat together amidst the cheerful laughter of the people and tourists. This is also an opportunity to increase solidarity, unity and cohesion of the Dao Tien community in Hoai Khao.

Strong, skillful, and good climbers were assigned to climb into the forest, climbing cliffs and tree branches to poke the beehives that fell below. Meanwhile, the women below collected the blocks of beeswax, tied them up, and brought them back to the gathering place in the village.

Beeswax essence is used by the Dao Tien people to print decorative patterns on fabric.

Up to now, Hoai Khao hamlet still preserves many traditional cultural values typical of the Dao ethnic group. The hamlet has a peaceful and poetic natural landscape, ancient wooden house architecture, yin-yang tiled roofs, each family has a wooden granary separate from the main house, there is a terraced rice valley, beeswax pattern printing, sophisticated silver carving and traditional medicine recipes that are good for health... With the unique cultural values of the Tien Dao people in Hoai Khao, this place is one of the attractive destinations of the Cao Bang mountainous region. In 2024, the Photo and Video Contest "Happy Vietnam" continues to be organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications in coordination with the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists on the website https://happy.vietnam.vn is open to all Vietnamese citizens and foreigners aged 15 and over. The contest aims to honor individuals and groups with positive information products, making practical contributions to the propaganda and promotion of a beautiful image of Vietnam to the world. Thereby helping people in the country, compatriots abroad and international friends access authentic images of the country, Vietnamese people, Vietnam's achievements in ensuring human rights, towards a happy Vietnam. Each contest category (photo and video) has the following prizes and prize values: - 01 Gold Medal: 70,000,000 VND - 02 Silver Medals: 20,000,000 VND - 03 Bronze Medals: 10,000,000 VND - 10 Encouragement Prizes: 5,000,000 VND - 01 most voted work: 5,000,000 VND The winning authors will be invited by the Organizing Committee to attend the Announcement Ceremony and Award Ceremony and Certificate on live television of Vietnam Television.

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