Vietnam's 'incense village' blazes pink ahead of Tet lunar new year

HANOI - In Vietnam's "incense village", dozens are hard at work dying, drying and whittling down bamboo bark to make the fragrant sticks ahead of the busy lunar new year holiday.

It is the most frantic time of year for workers in the cottage industry in Quang Phu Cau village on the outskirts of Hanoi, where families have been making incense for more than a century - a great source of pride for many who live there.

"It is a traditional and spiritual job making these sticks," Dang Thi Hoa said, sitting amid bundles of bright pink incense sticks drying under the afternoon sun.