The two-century-old Cao village in the northern province of Hung Yen is one of the largest incense making villages in Vietnam. For many local traders in the village, the trade was passed down from generations to generations. Cao village incense with medicinal ingredients has a natural smell and is safe for users. "Each household has their own recipe to create the aromatic incenses. Incense smells different depending on the amount of ingredients used and the way they are mixed," said Dao Duc Trieu, an incense maker in Bao Khe commune, Hung Yen city. "It takes a day to dry incense on sunny days. On rainy days, it takes 2-3 days or we have to put it in drier machines," ​Trieu added. Making incense requires consideration in every single step Nguyen Thi Hang, another incense maker in the village, said her family produced about 20,000-30,000 incense sticks per day. On peak days, her family produced hundreds of thousands of sticks. Offering incense to worship ancestors is an ancient Vietnamese tradition. The incense sticks connect people with their deceased family members, reminding them of their roots.-VNA