It is customary for a Dao Tien girl to start her married life wearing the clothes which she made the year prior to the wedding, and silver jewelry items as dowry from her parents. Her dowry will then be treasured and handed down to her children.
It often takes them weeks, or even a month to make an outfit that consists of a brassie, leggings, a belt, a headscarf, a long skirt and jewelry. Dao Tien women’s charming radiant attire is attributed to their skills in decoration and indigo dying. The sparse embroideries revealing part of the black and indigo base material help to lessen the radiant and strong colours, bringing about the harmony in blended colours. The use of colours and patterns on clothing, especially women’s, represent an ethnicity’s cultural identity.
Dao Tien women often make a new costume at leisure after harvest time.
It takes a Dao Tien Girl much time to put on a headscarf. Their headscarf is 3m long and wound around the head many times.
According to Trieu Thi Hai in Phieng Luong Commune, Moc Chau, Son La, the headscarf not only helps Dao Tien women look more beautiful but also keeps them warm in cold weather.
Dao Tien women’s headscarf is often decorated with silver coins.
Dao Tien women also wear rings of silver coins.
Dao Tien women like decorating their headscarves and wristbands with red fringes and patterns because they think that red symbolizes the Sun Genie.
Like the Mong ethnic women, the Dao Tien use brocade to tie on their calves to make it look slimmer.
Dao Tien women in their traditional costumes participate in the festival to pray for a bumper crop in the spring.
Dao Tien women look graceful in their costume.
The striking feature of the costume is the headscarf which is 3m long and embroidered with square patterns and other designs. Their blouse has a small hem embroidered with red patterns and complicated carved silver coins. They also use a piece of triangular shaped cloth to clip near the collars of the blouse to serve as a brassie and make a belt, 2m long, to tie around the waist.
The Dao Tien people also pay much attention to the combination of ornaments on their clothes. The blouses and headscarves are decorated with courbary beads and silver coins while the colourful brocade collars, front closings and sleeves are decorated with patterned silver ornaments.
Dao Tien girls seem more beautiful in new radiant costumes and silver jewelry items that ripple with their steps. The Dao Tien’s patterned jewelry items and brocade costumes constitute the beauty of the scenic north-western region and their own cultural identity.
Story: Ngan Ha – Photos: Thong Thien
Đăng ký: VietNam News