The beauty of Dao Tien women's costumes

Implementing Project 6 on "Preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities associated with tourism development" under the National Target Program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2021-2030 (abbreviated as National Target Program 1719), in recent years, Yen Luong commune, Thanh Son district has always made efforts to preserve the traditional cultural features of ethnic minorities, including the traditional costumes of Dao Tien women.

During their free time, Dao Tien women in Bo Xo area, Yen Luong commune, Thanh Son district often exchange experiences on fabric dyeing and embroider together to make beautiful costumes.

The traditional costumes of Dao Tien women are elegant, sophisticated and contain many unique cultural values. Unlike the costumes of Dao Quan Chet women with many prominent patterns, mainly red, the costumes of Dao Tien women have the main colors of indigo and white, very harmonious. Through the story with Dao Tien women in Bo Xo area, we learned that to have a satisfactory costume, it is necessary to go through many stages such as growing cotton, spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing patterns with beeswax, cutting, sewing, embroidering... The tools for carving patterns are pens with copper tips or bamboo sticks bent into triangles. The large type is for trimming flowers and leaves, the medium type is for drawing squares, circles, birds, snails. After melting the beeswax, they will dip the tip of the pen to draw patterns on the fabric. After drawing, the fabric is dyed with indigo. When the dyeing process is completed, it is soaked in hot water to melt the wax and the patterns will appear.

While skillfully embroidering each needle and thread on the indigo fabric, Ms. Ly Thi Mai in Bo Xo area shared: Dao Tien girls, from the age of 8-10, have been taught by their grandmothers and mothers how to sew and embroider their ethnic costumes. They start learning to embroider the smallest details from sleeves, shirt edges, scarves and even a shirt or skirt. When the needle and thread are proficient, the girls start making their own clothes. For Dao Tien women, beautiful clothes are treasured as a precious item in the family.

Dao Tien women's costumes are elegant, sophisticated and contain many unique cultural values.

A complete set of Dao Tien women's clothing includes: Shirt, bib, leggings, belt, head scarf, long skirt and silver jewelry. Dao Tien women's shirts do not have buttons but only have slits and a belt; at the back of the collar are strung some white silver coins from 6 to 9 coins and this is also considered a unique characteristic of the Dao Tien ethnic group. The belt is red mixed with white, representing the connection in the relationship between men and women. Dao Tien women's headscarves are white, with two square patterned patches at both ends. When wearing scarves, women often tie their hair in a bun to create a neat, harmonious look suitable for natural conditions.

To create charm in their costumes, Dao Tien women often adorn themselves with bracelets and necklaces made of silver with many sophisticated patterns. When going to festivals, Dao Tien girls often cross their scarves over their shoulders, creating charm and showing off their talented and resourceful hands through the details and lines of needlework and thread.

Comrade Dinh Van Phong - Chairman of Yen Luong Commune People's Committee said: The preservation of traditional costumes of Dao Tien women has always been of interest and importance to the commune so that the cultural beauty is not lost over time. At the same time, Dao Tien women are encouraged to actively teach the way of sewing and embroidering traditional costumes to their children and granddaughters in the family. This is also one of the ways to preserve traditional cultural values ​​associated with community tourism models that are developing in many localities in the district, attracting many tourists to learn about the customs and typical practices of the Dao ethnic group.

Dao Tien women attach great importance to dressing, even small children are dressed by their parents in clothes that are skillfully and elaborately sewn and embroidered. Nowadays, with the development of society, Dao Tien people only wear traditional costumes on holidays, Tet or important family occasions, so preserving, maintaining and promoting cultural identity through Dao Tien ethnic costumes is very necessary. From there, arouse pride and raise awareness of national culture for the younger generation.

Thanh An

Source: https://baophutho.vn/net-dep-trang-phuc-phu-nu-dao-tien-223287.htm