In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, when the spring atmosphere begins to spread throughout the streets of Da Nang, many families are busy cleaning their houses, wiping ancestral altars to prepare to welcome the new year. The profession of selling white sand to replace incense burners is also becoming bustling, bringing in a significant source of income for many small traders.
Recorded at Hoa Khanh market (Da Nang City), strollers carrying bags of pure white sand, with a sign "cat lu huong" attached in front, attract a large number of people to visit and buy. Customers come continuously, retailers buy for tens of thousands of VND, wholesalers buy hundreds of bags to bring back for resale or for many families.
According to small traders, replacing incense burner sand is a familiar custom of many families every Tet holiday, with the desire to wash away old things and welcome a smooth and lucky new year. Grasping this need, the incense burner sand selling profession only flourished for a short time but brought high income.
Having been attached to the white sand selling profession for more than 10 years every Tet holiday, Ms. Than Thi Hoa (Hoa Khanh ward, Da Nang city) said: "From the 10th day of the twelfth lunar month, I started bringing sand to sell, most crowded on the 25th and 26th days of the lunar calendar. The closer to Tet, the more customers, some days I sell for 2-3 million VND".
The price of sand depends on the needs of each family. A small house buys 1 bag of 10,000 VND (3 cans of sand), a large house buys 50,000 - 100,000 VND. On peak days, Ms. Hoa wholesales more than 200 bags of sand, earning over 1 million VND.
Ms. Le Thi Trang (Thanh Khe ward, Da Nang city) said that every year her family buys new sand to replace incense burners near Tet.
Replacing incense burner sand is very important for my family. Sand in the market is bought ready-made, has been washed and dried, so it is very convenient, and the price is not expensive. Just buying a bag of sand for 10,000 VND is just enough to replace it," Ms. Trang said.
Although it is only a seasonal job, selling sand instead of incense burners in Da Nang helps people have a significant additional income every Tet holiday, contributing to creating a very unique bustling and busy atmosphere of the last days of the year.
