John & Sun-Ling Wander the Earth: Northern Vietnam: Bac Ha Markets

Thursday, February 01, 2024

Northern Vietnam: Bac Ha Markets

On Saturday we got to Can Cau soon after 7am as the market just got going. During our two-hour stay, there were only about a few dozen visitors, Vietnamese included, in total. The local people were very much at ease, which puts me at ease somewhat. Ethnic markets are complicated minefields most of the time.

The majority of the local women were in native costume which makes for a colorful sight. Furthermore, there were a great number of vendors selling new costumes. They were doing brisk business too. John reminded me that since the Lunar New Year is coming up, people must be lining up new outfits for the new year. Judging by the wares on offer, the days of handmade, natural fiber, and individually made outfits are gone; mass produced synthetic costumes rule. Yet when I saw the joyous smile of each person, young or old, trying on new clothes as their loved ones looked on approvingly, who am I to lament factory made clothes?! I am grateful that the mass produced clothes have made decent, affordable, clothes accessible to everyone, in whatever corner of the world. In fact, it is amazing to see that the village women must be more enthusiastic about their native costumes than their grandmothers' time because the costumes are more affordable and accessible.

Most of the hill tribes are Hmong, of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down fame, or related groups, even though the costumes from two different hills can look quite distinct. Different tribes living in different political countries can have different names. However they are all connected by the Hmong-Mien language with varying degrees of intelligibility. This is an independent, ancient language, and is neither Sino-Tibetan (e.g. Chinese) nor Austroasiatic (e.g. Vietnamese), with fewer than 10 million speakers, dispersed across multiple countries. Is there a people better at schismogenesis???!!! No wonder their womenfolk unambiguously reject the more practical modern universal dressing and overwhelmingly prefer their native costumes which have been evol

Can Cau was a fabulous market visit. Ba Ha was much bigger and had many outside visitors, e.g. people coming from Hanoi for the weekend to shop. Although this makes the market less color intense, these shoppers are very good for the local economy. Villagers are doing well enough. Given their climate, any agricultural product can really flourish here. A little extra cash means more options.

The Can Cau Market is literally right on the main road. Although unlike markets we've experienced in China, the vehicle traffic did NOT come to a standstill.