Vietnamese Palm-leaf Conical Hat

Pictures taken at Chuông village – Phương Trung – Thanh Oai – Hà Tây (now named as Hanoi2).

One of the most distinguished features of the Vietnamese culture is the hat that people, mostly in the countryside, use to protect themselves when exposed to the rays of the sun, that in several period of the year may be scorching. Ages before scientific researchers proved how damaging for our health sun radiations may be, our people knew how to protect themselves!

The hat, which in Vietnamese is called "nón lá" if it has triangle shape or "nón quai thao" if it is flat. They can come in different materials and shapes.

Material: can be bamboo leaves; palm leaves and some local plants; straw
Shapes (can be conical or flat – shown in picture below)

In the following pictures, taken by a friend of mine, I want to share the different steps which take to the creation of the hat.

Enjoy it: and if you happen to be in my country, may sure you purchase one of these hats. You will have opportunities to use them when you will be back home, they will remind you of a nice journey you took, and you would have contributed to the sustain of the people who crafted those hats.

The material laid down to dry