That’s also the time when the scenery of Cua Be fishing village becomes more colorful with the green, white, red, blue… colors of the nets stretching from the yard to the alley. In our childhood memories, just when we see each net spreading out, each net rising high, the fishing village is entering the net mending season – the season of rest for fishermen and the season of fun for children.
A woman is sitting mending a three-screen net. Photo author provides
Even though we were born and raised in a fishing village, we still don’t know when the net mending profession first appeared. Is it possible that through the stories of women and aunts, this profession has been around for a long time? When boats went out to sea to cast nets, they caught rocks or corals under the sea, causing the nets to be torn or punctured, so they needed to be mended. Leave it for a new fishing trip. And the net mending profession was also born from there.
In the past, there were few boats, so if a house’s net was punctured, the house itself had to patch it up. Over time, with the development of the fisheries industry, boats became busier and increased in number and capacity, so the need to hire people in the village to mend nets in time for the season also gradually formed. A profession that requires meticulousness, care and skill from skilled workers who have been apprenticed since childhood.
You guys are sitting mending nets. Photo author provides
Cua Be fishing village in my hometown mainly uses light nets, gillnets, seine nets (bag nets), pounding rakes or raising cages… Almost every form of going offshore requires a net, and the type of net also depends on the fishing village. depends on the method of fishing. There are curtain nets, floating nets, wire nets, sharp nets, three-screen nets, each type of net will have a different way of mending.
This mesh mending job is not picky about workers, you just need to be careful and diligent and you can do it right away. Besides the women, it is not uncommon for men to know how to mend nets, so it is not difficult to see that image when passing through our fishing village. Perhaps the working speed of the women is still one step faster than the brothers, because their hands are skillful and quick, mending nets quickly and reliably.
Tools for mending nets include: wire, small knife, plastic mending needle and indispensable incense. Depending on the type of incense, it burns for 45 to 60 minutes. The purpose of this is for the mender to burn the mesh, making it compact and not twisting the mesh fibers. And since then, net mending has been associated with burning incense, with different meanings. But for many generations, incense sticks with faint smoke have been an indispensable part of this work.
The net for the light curtain is waiting for the repairman to mend it. Photo author provides
For large nets of several hundred meters, the most difficult thing is still searching for each mesh to find the break. If the break has only one eye, the worker does not need to patch it, but if there are three or more eyes, it must be patched so that the fish will enter the net and have no place to get out.
The shade of the tree spreads down, the sea breeze blows loudly, around the wide net for mending, the buzzing chatter of the diligent workers cannot completely dispel the pain of the back, the fatigue of the shoulders and the back. eyes, but they know they will have a little more money to send their children to school. Somewhere are more stories from the sisters and aunts, all talking about the past sea season, with the joy of going out to sea and winning tricks mixed with the sadness of losing oil after a failed trip.
No matter what the mood is, the women still give words of comfort and encouragement to each other, and work together again in the new sea season. The sea is endless, year after year, but no one gives up on the sea. Because it is a source of livelihood that has been attached to many generations of people here.
As for us children, our favorite thing is still running, jumping, and playing on piles of nets. The faint smell of new nets is unmistakable. It was so slippery that we fell down on the pile of nets and laughed happily. With high piles of nets, playing crocodile on the shore or playing hide and seek is still the best.
The meticulous needlework is woven by the brothers themselves. Photo author provides
After playing, everyone was panting because they were so tired. They sat down to rest by leaning their backs against the high net dunes and were ready to share each other’s sips of cool water. Sometimes I steal a few starfruit, guava, tamarind, mango… from houses in the village and bring a bowl of salt to crush a few Siamese chili peppers. It wasn’t a luxurious dish, but that day the children ate it deliciously. The sour taste of the young fruit made everyone’s face wrinkle like a monkey’s, but their hands still quickly dipped in salt and brought it to their mouths to eat deliciously.
All of our childhood memories are associated with the sandy beach at the end of the village, the blue sea and have more happy memories when the fishing village is in net mending season. Adults continue to diligently do the familiar job of mending nets, as if they are “patching” their dreams of changing their lives with each thread.
As for us children, we were engrossed in playing, running and jumping freely on the nets set out by adults to mend. The laughter and voices of children make adults more motivated and help the fishing village always be filled with joy.
Dan Viet electronic newspaper opened the column “Telling village stories” from March 4, 2020. This column is for all professional and amateur authors who have love for the countryside and want to share their true stories with readers.
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