Each ethnic group has its own traditional costumes with its own identity, which are a “language” product reflecting rich aesthetic thinking and creative art, expressing the value of traditional cultural heritage. Through unique costumes with their own unique marks, the Mong ethnic community is proud to contribute to adding more color to the ethnic groups in the province.
The Mong ethnic community in Cao Bang accounts for nearly 12% of the province's population, including 3 groups: White Mong, Flower Mong and Black Mong. The traditional costumes of the Mong people are made from the main materials of cotton, silk, linen and indigo dyed entirely by hand, mainly by the skillful hands of women. Each Mong ethnic group has its own cultural features, but the basic costume design is similar. The way of creating decorative shapes and color combinations shows the sophistication in aesthetics, thereby revealing a part of the spiritual life of the whole nation, the sense of protection, and the harmonious attachment to the natural landscape.
Mong women's costumes are more elaborate and eye-catching than men's costumes, including shirts, skirts, belts, xe (cloth covering the front of the skirt), leggings, scarves/headdresses. Each part of the costume is structured and decorated differently, creating a whole for the costume that contains and reflects the concept of life and worldview through the colors and patterns on the costume. The 3-panel shirt, the two flaps around the collar are decorated with patterns about 3 - 4 cm wide, which can be colored lace or floral fabric. The seam between the front and back panels is left with a slit about 1 span from the hem of the shirt up and the sleeves are also embroidered with beautiful patterns. When wearing the costume, the hem of the shirt is not hidden inside the skirt but is worn flared out, the shirt has no buttons but is crossed over each other, then a belt with embroidered patterns is used to tie across to keep the shirt from flared out. Because the shirt has a split chest, Mong women often wear yếm. The collar is embroidered with patterns, with silver coins attached to each side of the collar. When worn, the pattern between the shirt and the bib creates harmony between the inner and outer shirt.
The skirt of Mong ethnic women (called purple) has a waistband that hugs the waist, the skirt is lightly pleated, creating a graceful and youthful look for the outfit. The shirt and skirt are fixed and decorated with a belt as long as the waist, embroidered with flowers to help the shirt and skirt stay in place, not shifting when moving, but also contributing to the decoration, covering the waistband of the skirt, creating harmony for the outfit. Mong women wear an extra piece of cloth in front of the skirt and wrap leggings around the legs, showing the modesty and modesty of women.
The patterns and motifs on Mong costumes tend to be colorful, which is a combination of hot colors, creating a prominent, impressive feeling; the patterns on Mong dresses are a combination of colors as well as interweaving, changing materials with smooth panels (patchwork), raised panels (embroidery) or details that make the decorative art on Mong costumes more unique and different from some other ethnic groups. Mong people believe that the more meticulous and firm the embroidered blocks on costumes are, the more they demonstrate the ingenuity in cultivating happiness as well as wealth and prosperity of the family. Mong women often have long hair wrapped around their heads, some Mong groups wrap scarves on their heads to form blocks. Along with the costumes, women wear silver jewelry such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, rings to add charm.
The traditional costumes of men of all three Mong ethnic groups are very simple, dyed indigo or black, with unique features that are not mixed with other ethnic groups. The short blouse, at or below the waist, narrow body, round neck, chest slit, slightly wide sleeves, has 4 pockets in the front. The shirt usually has 2 types: 5 panels and 4 panels, sewn with two layers of fabric to suit the highland climate, always cool in summer and warm in winter. The pants are sewn with a lame leg style, wide waistband, low crotch, wide legs with the main color black, with unique cuts, convenient for climbing hills, mountains and dancing the Khen easily.
Skirts and shirts are considered a measure of the talent of Mong women. Women who are good at embroidery are highly regarded and respected by the whole community. In the past, Mong girls were taught by their grandmothers and mothers how to sew and embroider; when they reached adulthood, they knew how to be charming and were also proficient in making traditional costumes for their family and themselves before going to their husband's house.
Nowadays, in the trend of integration, people's lives are increasingly improved along with cultural exchanges between ethnic groups, so Mong ethnic costumes have improved compared to tradition. Most Mong people now rarely grow cotton or weave fabric themselves, but buy fabric and decorative accessories sold at markets. In addition to details that need to be hand-sewn, they mainly use sewing machines, but still preserve the original shaping techniques and patterns on costumes. In daily life, mainly elderly Mong women use traditional costumes, while young people and men also wear costumes like Kinh people. However, during market days, Tet holidays, and major ethnic festivals, Mong people still wear colorful, graceful, and flexible traditional costumes. In many localities in the province, costumes not only serve Mong people but are also produced by some households, becoming goods sold to tourists as souvenirs. Each normal costume costs from 1 to 2 million VND, while elaborate traditional costumes with full details embroidered and woven by ethnic people cost tens of millions of VND. These are encouraging signs because the Mong people in particular and ethnic minorities in the province in general are increasingly raising awareness in the work of self-preservation, promotion and development of their traditional cultural identity, especially the cultural values crystallized in traditional costumes.
TK (According to baocaobang.vn)
Source: https://baophutho.vn/dac-sac-trang-phuc-dan-toc-mong-221416.htm
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