Unique Pieu scarf of Thai people

Every ethnic group in the world has its own unique cultural nuances through clothing. Along with language, clothing is the second most important information sign that helps us easily recognize this ethnic group and other ethnic groups whenever we come into contact.

Charming Thai girl with Pieu scarf

Thai people live in many places in our country but are most concentrated in the Northwestern provinces; Son La, Lai Chau and Western Nghe An.... In addition to the attractiveness of their costumes, the Pieu scarves of Thai women have a very attractive and unique feature: "I spin the thread into mulberry flower patterns. I weave the loom into cross-patterned brocade. I weave the silk into yellow flowers. People from all villages and wards want to cry. They all wish to have you embroider their scarves" (Thai folk song).

Except for a group of white Thai women who wear conical hats, the majority of Thai women in Muong Thanh (Lai Chau), Muong La (Son La), Muong Lo (Lao Cai) wear cloth scarves. The cloth scarves used to cover the heads of Thai people are called Pieu. There are many different types of Pieu, some are embroidered with colorful patterns, some are just indigo-dyed cotton fabric, depending on the region and locality, Pieu has its own nuances. Pieu has the function of covering the head when it is sunny and windy, warming the head in the cold winter... Pieu is also an important piece of jewelry for Thai girls in their daily activities, especially when going out or attending festivals...

Piêu is also an important jewelry for Thai girls in daily life, especially when going out or attending festivals...

The Thai people make Piêu from home-woven cotton. Before embroidering, the fabric chosen to make the headdress must be dyed indigo. Indigo is the base color on which Thai women embroider motifs and patterns using colored threads (blue, red, purple, yellow, orange...) at both ends of the headdress. It takes Thai women from two to four weeks to complete a Piêu.

Thai Piêu is not decorated on its entire surface but is concentrated on the two ends. Before embroidering the decorative patterns on the two ends of the scarf, Thai women join pieces of red cloth to make borders. The red borders cover the threads at the ends of the scarf to prevent them from unraveling, and also limit the decorative area at the ends of the scarf. The red fabric borders on the three ends of the scarf are about 1 cm wide. Thai women use a very skillful stitching method to minimize the exposed threads so that the red border and the indigo background of the scarf become one. Before embroidering, women make hooks to attach to the Piêu. Many Piêu hooks can be made at a time and used gradually. The Piêu hook is made from a piece of red cloth about 1 cm wide, wrapped inside with a thread core and then rolled up. The round roll of cloth is sewn into a circle, then the fabric string is wrapped in a spiral shape, and then colored threads are wrapped into segments in the circle. For the Piêu elbows, it requires meticulousness and sophistication, only skilled people know how to do it. After being finished, the elbows are skillfully attached to the Piêu head. The colored threads used in this way have both technical function and aesthetic value. Looking at the elbow attached to the Piêu head, it is difficult to guess the thread that sews the decorative lines together.
All types of stitches are created by Thai women themselves, with many styles: chain link, centipede foot, fish bone...

The Piêu are first placed on three straight segments of each end of the scarf. As for the four corners of the scarf, women use the remaining cord to braid into stylized flower shapes. Piêu are usually arranged in odd bunches (3, 5, 7) in evenly spaced positions at both ends of the scarf, so the Piêu on top of the Piêu is always a cluster of Piêu. Like many other items (buttons, window bars, steps of stilt houses...), Piêu are designed according to the concept of odd numbers. Normally, Thai women often wear Piêu with a cluster of three Piêu, but when giving Piêu to a superior, someone they respect and love, they give a Piêu with a cluster of five or more Piêu....

The Piêu is usually arranged in odd bunches (3, 5, 7) in evenly spaced positions at both ends of the scarf, so the bunches on the Piêu are always bunches.

After wrapping the edges and joining the Piêu edges, Thai women begin the Piêu embroidery. When embroidering diverse patterns on the two ends of the scarf, they look at the pattern, but do not follow it mechanically. During the embroidery process, they can create according to their own subjective wishes. The special feature is that Thai women do not embroider Piêu on the right side (like the usual embroidery method) but embroider from the left side, the patterns with complex patterns and colors appear on the right side, which is a traditional embroidery method with the imagination of skillful techniques and folk art. Piêu is created by threading or weaving colored threads into the fabric, but the difficulty is to calculate according to a certain principle to thread the thread on the left side and the pattern appears exactly on the right side. Piêu patterns are not simple, dotted but are a system of patterns with complex content layout, requiring Thai women to have a firm grasp of technical principles, and to know the pattern design with its right and left sides.

Thai girls from 6,7 years old must be familiar with cotton, thread, weaving; at 12, 13 years old they start to get acquainted with embroidery. Female members of the Thai community must know how to look at Piêu patterns, know how to recognize the layout of the pattern... Learning to embroider Piêu for Thai girls is a process of awareness and training their skillful hands to prepare for life. At first, girls can only embroider straight lines or simple pattern motifs, gradually progressing to knowing how to handle patterns, layouts, and handling colors in many pattern motifs in complex layouts. Learning to weave fabric and embroider Piêu scarves is a common, inevitable lesson for all female members in the lifestyle of the Thai ethnic community, so Piêu is also a social standard to evaluate a woman. Through the Piêu, we can know whether its owner is talented, diligent, hard-working or lazy, clumsy. The Piêu scarf of Thai women not only has aesthetic value but also social value. Together with skirts, shirts, hats, and belts, the Piêu contributes to creating a unique beauty and attractiveness of the traditional costumes of the Thai people.

Tran Hai