Ranan Village (1)
From Mars Village, we passed through Tsen Town and headed toward Ranan Village.
Ranan Village was known for selling baskets and other crafts made from a plant that wasn’t bamboo.
In my previous life, this kind of craft was called rattan work.
I was looking forward to seeing what kind of things they made.
We began to see wheat fields and other farmland, so the village must have been nearby—but strangely, all I could see ahead was something like a bamboo grove, with no sign of a village.
Just as I was wondering where the village was, we discovered that it was actually inside what looked like the bamboo grove.
It seemed they used those bamboo-like plants as a sort of living fence around the settlement.
What’s more, the trees had thorns, so it was best not to get too close.
Once inside, I saw that the thorny trees were enclosed with wooden planks, so people wouldn’t accidentally brush against them.
Apparently, that’s how they made it safe to walk around inside the village.
At the entrance, the village chief and a man named Gil—whom I’d seen at the exhibition—were waiting for us.
Gil was the village chief’s son and apparently the next in line to succeed him.
“Thank you for coming all this way. I must admit, we were quite surprised to hear that you wanted to see our Ranan crafts.”
“Chief, we’ll be in your care for a day or two. By the way, are Ranan crafts unique to this village?”
“Yes. The trees that make up our village’s walls are Ranan trees. Ranan only grows around this area.”
We were led to the village meeting hall, which was apparently where we’d be staying.
Inside the room were a table, chairs, and beds—but the chairs seemed to be made not of wood, but of Ranan.
When I sat down, it was noticeably more comfortable than a wooden chair.
The backrest had a coarser weave than the seat, but even leaning back against it didn’t feel hard.
Wasn’t this the same as rattan furniture?
The bed frame, too, appeared to be made of Ranan, with a mattress laid on top.
Honestly, I wanted to take a closer look at how that bed frame was built—or better yet, get to the Ranan workshop right away.
After about an hour’s rest, I went downstairs to the first floor of the meeting hall and found a dining area with long tables and benches.
The tables were wooden, but the benches were made from Ranan.
I pushed one with my hand, sat on it, then crouched down to look at the support posts underneath.
“Hardt, what on earth are you doing?” Brother Chris asked in an exasperated tone.
“Brother Chris, these benches are made from Ranan crafts. They’re much softer than wooden ones when you sit down, and I’m curious how they bend the wood for the supports.”
Brother Chris came closer and examined one of the supports, which curved like a sideways S.
“You’re right. The technique to bend a single piece of wood like that is impressive,” he said, clearly impressed.
Gil, acting as our guide, took us to the Ranan workshop, which had a chimney puffing out smoke.
When we went inside, the windows were wide open, but the heat was intense.
“We boil the Ranan in large kettles. Boiling it increases its strength, and while it’s still hot, we can bend it into shape.”
“Are there different sizes of Ranan?”
“Yes, we categorize them by growth stage.”
For chairs, the seat and back parts were made from one-year-old Ranan.
The support posts (the base) were made from three- to five-year-old Ranan.
The ones used for the village walls were at least ten years old.
“I noticed Ranan has thorns—how do you deal with those?”
“We only use the peeled parts for processing.”
They showed us a demonstration of peeling both one-year and three-year Ranan still covered in thorns.
First, the one-year Ranan.
After trimming off the thorns with a small knife and peeling the skin, twelve round rods about one to two millimeters thick emerged.
Next, the three-year Ranan.
After peeling, twelve rods about three centimeters thick appeared—but these didn’t separate from one another.
“So, Ranan is like a bundle of fibers fused together?”
“That’s right. As you can see, even after peeling, the twelve rods don’t come apart. They only separate after being boiled in hot water.”
“So they’re held together by some kind of sticky sap?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Next, we moved to the area where the Ranan was flattened after being removed from the pot.
“Is that done by hand?”
“Yes. Only the thin, one- or two-year-old Ranan needs to be flattened. While it’s hot, we hammer it with wooden mallets to make it flat.”
If they had rollers, it’d be easier to make them evenly flat—but I suppose machinery like that would cost too much.
After watching the furniture workshop where they made chairs and beds, we went outside and found someone crushing Ranan bark into powder.
“Gil, they’re grinding Ranan bark—what’s that used for?”
“Ah, we harden it and use it as a fire starter.”
“A fire starter?”
“Would you like to see?” He asked, then led us to a warehouse and brought out an object about 5 cm square and 3 cm tall.
“This is the fire starter?”
“Yes. You place it on top of the firewood and light it—it catches instantly and ignites the wood right away.”
““What!?””
What do you think about this chapter?
