What is different about ethnic minority women's costumes in the Western region of Nghe An?
(Baonghean.vn) - Since ancient times, women of ethnic minorities in Nghe An have known how to raise silkworms, weave fabrics, and embroider beautiful, graceful dresses. Ethnic women's costumes are also a dowry for each girl when she gets married.
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| Thai people in Nghe AnThere are about more than 300 thousand people. As the second largest ethnic group in Nghe An province (after the Kinh people), Thai culture has its own unique and outstanding features among the ethnic groups in Western Nghe An. The two main groups of costumes of Thai women in Western Nghe An are the costumes of Thai women of the Tay Muong (White Thai) lineage and women of the Tay Thanh (Black Thai) lineage. (In the photo: Thai women of the Tay Muong lineage in Que Phong). Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| Thai ethnic groups such as the Black Thai and White Thai have many things in common in their costumes, but still have their own easily distinguishable features. A traditional Thai women's costume includes: short shirt (xua com), long dress (xua chai and xua luong), skirt (xin), belt (xai com), scarf (pieu), hat (cup), leggings (pepăn khạ), various types of earrings, necklaces, bracelets and xa tích. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| The difference between the costumes of the Black Thai and White Thai women is shown during festivals. On those occasions, White Thai women often wear black ao dai. This is a straight, loose ao dai without armholes, decorated with "tight" fabric, with tassels covering the middle of the body from the shoulders down to the chest, the armpits are decorated in a way of meeting two patterns in a triangular layout. Meanwhile, Black Thai women often wear ao dai with open armholes, pullovers, decorated richly and diversely in color. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| The skirt is the most recognizable feature of Thai women's clothing. The skirts of Thai Tay Muong women are often colorful, multi-colored, have many symbols, and are more elaborate than the skirts of Thai Tay Thanh women. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| Mong ethnic women's costumesalways very colorful, unique and unusual. To make a complete costume, the grandmothers, mothers and sisters spend a lot of time and effort. The talent of Mong women is that they can make their ethnic costumes with their skillful hands. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| The Mong women's clothing includes a hand-woven headscarf and woolen scarf (also a headdress); the skirt and bib are hand-embroidered. The costume is decorated with very elaborate and meticulous beads. Because of the meticulousness in each sewing and embroidery stage, it takes a lot of time to complete a Mong women's costume. Just sewing the rough part alone takes 2-3 days, and the embroidery part takes up to 2 weeks. A sophisticated outfit takes up to a whole month. For that reason, the price of a Mong women's costume is not small. There are Mong women's dresses that cost more than 30 million VND. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| The patterns and motifs on Mong people's costumes are more about color. It is a combination of hot colors, creating a prominent and impressive feeling. Not paying too much attention to patterns and motifs, Mong people's dresses focus on color coordination as well as changing materials with plain panels (patchwork), embossed panels (embroidery) or details that make the decorative art on Mong people's costumes unique and different from some other ethnic groups. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| Costumes of the Khmu peopleThe current structure is very similar to the Thai costume. Khmu women wear a short shirt, a bib inside, a cloth belt around the waist, a long skirt, leggings on their legs, and a scarf on their heads. Khmu jewelry includes bracelets, earrings, necklaces... mainly made of silver (can wear many bracelets). Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| The Khmu women's skirts do not have any distinct characteristics but have many similarities with the Laotian skirts. In general, Khmu women's costumes are quite "complicated", a mixture of many characteristics of other ethnic groups. Surveying the Khmu women's costumes, it is easy to see the outstanding "adoption" factor, even too much innovation. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| Not as elaborate as the costumes of the Mong, Thai, etc.Turkish women's clothingRelatively simple, with many borrowed features, but it is not difficult to recognize some differences... The Tho people in Nghe An reside in the western districts of the province such as Nghia Dan, Quy Hop, Tan Ky. The Tho people live close to the Thai people, so their daily life and culture are "Thaiized". Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| Since ancient times, the Tho people have had a traditional cotton growing profession but did not master the techniques of weaving, dyeing, and embroidery. Most of the Tho women used skirts of the Thai people (Thai Man Thanh group or also known as Thai - Thanh). With cotton fiber, indigo dyed, with horizontal stripes at the bottom of the skirt, when worn, the stripes of the skirt form parallel circles around the body axis. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| For a long time now,O Du women's costumesused closely to Thai costumes and influenced by Thai culture. The skirts, belts and headscarves of the O Du people are all woven from silk thread. However, while the skirts of Thai women are often embroidered with many types of patterns, mostly simulating natural images such as flowers, leaves, animals, the sun, and colorful shapes, the skirts of O Du women are often embroidered with zigzag shapes and are smaller than those of Thai women. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| The skirt and shirt of the O Du women are usually black. The O Du women's shirt has long right sleeves, there are no short sleeve shirts. However, the length of the shirt is just past the chest, just touching the waist. The shirt has no buttons, but is tied with 4 diagonal strings; the belt and headscarf are not embroidered with patterns. It is known that the current selling price of a complete outfit including: skirt, shirt, belt, headscarf is from 700,000 - 1,000,000 VND. Photo: Ho Phuong |
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| However, in the long process of cultural exchange, along with modern innovation, their traditional costumes have also diversified and changed somewhat. However, the characteristic of traditional costumes of the mountainous regions is the identity that the people are trying to preserve. Photo: Ho Phuong |
