The La Chi are one of the ethnic groups with a tradition of making their own costumes, from growing cotton, weaving to sewing and embroidering. The costumes of the La Chi are simple, but contain a treasure trove of culture and folk knowledge. However, with the strong development of the modern industrial era, the costumes are gradually disappearing, and the La Chi are also struggling to preserve and pass on their craft to the next generations.
Miracle of cotton growing and weaving
Nam Khanh Commune, Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province is one of the residential areas of the La Chi ethnic group. In many stilt houses, squares of newly dyed linen are seen hanging out to dry. This is also the place where many La Chi people still maintain the habit of wearing traditional costumes in their daily activities.
Mrs. Vang Thi Mia at the cotton spinning loom.
Ms. Vang Thi Mia is one of the few people who have mastered the traditional weaving and sewing techniques of the La Chi ethnic group. In 2020, at the age of 80, she still sits diligently at the loom, diligently pulling the shuttle to weave fabric. She said that nowadays young people only like to wear modern clothes, jeans and T-shirts, in the village now only the elderly preserve and wear traditional costumes. Therefore, she tries to keep the daily weaving and sewing work, so that young people can see, can understand and when the time comes, they will return to love wearing traditional costumes.
According to Ms. Vang Thi Mia, growing cotton, weaving, and sewing clothes are some of the standards that La Chi women in the community must have. Since ancient times, women have always been closely associated with growing cotton, weaving, sewing, and embroidering. Growing cotton and weaving is a habit, a part of the life of the La Chi people.
Living in the high mountains, with little arable land and little water, the La Chi people grow cotton between terraced fields. Cotton plants can grow well in harsh conditions without much effort, only having to pick weeds. However, in difficult conditions, the La Chi people still reserve the best fields for growing cotton. The characteristic of growing cotton is that the land must be left to rest for a season, this year cotton is grown in one place, then next year cotton must be grown in another place, otherwise the plants will not yield high yields.
Cotton bolls when harvested.
Cotton is only grown once a year. Every year, cotton is sown and planted in early May. Around September and October, the cotton blooms white in the fields, at the same time as the rice harvest, so at this time of year, La Chi families often have to mobilize all their labor to go to the fields to pick cotton and then harvest rice. During this time, the weather is sunny, so La Chi people also take advantage of the time to dry the cotton, select and classify the cotton. The yellowed cotton is due to rotten or waterlogged seeds, which can easily break when spinning.
During the day, they work in the fields, and in the evening, La Chi women take the time to separate cotton seeds, then spin and spin the thread before weaving it into fabric. La Chi people also created a rudimentary cotton seed separator, made of ironwood or other hard woods, based on the principle of a hand crank pressing two round wooden bars together, the soft cotton is pressed to one side, the seeds will fall to this side.
The work of growing cotton and weaving is closely associated with La Chi women, but La Chi men also participate in some stages to help their mothers and wives, such as sowing seeds, weeding, separating cotton seeds...
After the cotton is separated from the seeds, the La Chi people will use a cotton popping tool, also known as a cotton bow, to pop (shoot) the cotton to loosen it and remove dirt from the cotton. To prevent the cotton from flying all over the house, they use a thin curtain to cover the area where the cotton is popped. The cotton is then rolled into small, long cotton balls for easy spinning.
Spinning requires women's dexterity and flexibility.
The spinning stage is the most difficult and requires the dexterity and softness of the woman. The spinning wheel must be used evenly and flexibly to make the thread long, unbroken, and even, then rolled into skeins, boiled, dried, and then woven into fabric. The spinning wheel includes the spinning wheel and the silk reel. After spinning, the thread is rolled into skeins, then starched with rice porridge or millet water before being placed on the drying table. After drying, the thread is rolled into shuttles and stretched.
The weaving process is also quite interesting. A set of shuttles is pulled through pre-made weaving frames in the yard, and the weft yarn is then strung across the warp yarn, which has an upper and lower layer. The weaving of the weft yarn across the warp yarn to create the fabric surface is created on the upper layer during the weaving process. The finished yarn is inserted into the appropriate loom to create the fabric widths that suit the needs of use. When weaving, the hands and feet must coordinate rhythmically to avoid tangling the yarn.
The La Chi people's costumes have indigo as the main color. The La Chi people believe that costumes made from self-woven cotton and self-dyed indigo show the beauty and ingenuity of La Chi women.
The fabrics are dried after dyeing.
After weaving, the fabric must be dyed at least 5 times. After each dyeing, it must be dried before being dyed again so that the color is evenly absorbed into the fabric and the fabric has the right color.
To complete a traditional costume, it must go through 13 stages, of which the indigo dyeing stage takes the most time. The entire process is done by hand with rudimentary tools. Normally, to create a set of clothes, La Chi women have to work continuously for many months to complete.
Nowadays, La Chi girls are no longer required to know how to weave and sew clothes.
La Chi girls from 7 or 8 years old are taught the first steps of weaving by their mothers. When the season comes, the girls follow their mothers to the fields to plant cotton, and are then taught by their mothers and sisters in detail how to weave, embroider and sew their own clothes. This is also a way for generations of La Chi people to preserve the traditional weaving craft of the nation.
La Chi's unique costume
La Chi people's costumes are not colorful or elaborate. La Chi men wear calf-length five-panel shirts, leaf-shaped pants, and head scarves. Men's sleeves are usually wider than women's.
La Chi women wear a long dress with four panels split in the middle, embroidered with patterns on the yem and collar, creating a soft look for women's clothing, with belts, yem, long scarves, skirts, and leggings. They beautify themselves with small jewelry such as earrings, bracelets, and prefer to wear a head scarf nearly 3 meters long. During Tet and holidays, La Chi women wear three long dresses nested together.
The women's costume is designed in the style of a four-panel ao dai. The body of the ao dai is cut long past the heels to create a soft shape. The two front flaps are slit on both sides, extending to near the waist. When wearing the ao dai, La Chi people often wrap the two back flaps around the waist. The two front flaps are folded 10-30 cm, then tied with a belt to create a decorative strip in the front.
La Chi women often wear short skirts, made in the style of tube skirts, without a waistband. The upper part of the skirt is slimmed down, while the skirt is slightly flared. When wearing, they use a belt to tie the waistband of the skirt to the waist. With the above styling, the women's outfit is cut loosely, creating comfort for the wearer, while also highlighting the woman's strength.
La Chi women's costumes are not decorated with as many patterns as Mong and Dao people, but are decorated with some simple patterns on the collar and bib. The patterns include geometric patterns, floral patterns, borders and dots.
The shaman has his own clothes when performing rituals. It is a loose, ankle-length garment, split in the middle, with a cloth belt, and a wide cloth hat with straps. In some rituals, the shaman wears a piece of dried buffalo skin or a hat.
Although not sophisticated, the textile products such as skirts, shirts, scarves, and bibs of the La Chi people are considered to have reached a fairly high technical level, especially in the layout and design of patterns on the edges of shirts and bibs...
Keeping the profession from extinction
In almost every stilt house of the La Chi people in Bac Ha, there is a wooden loom for weaving. Here, La Chi women are taught from a young age how to make their own clothes for themselves and their families. This work is also a criterion for evaluating the ingenuity and diligence of women in the community. From generation to generation, the La Chi people still grow cotton, weave fabric, and use cotton fibers to make clothes for the whole family. This has created a unique identity for the La Chi community, and also helps the La Chi people preserve the heritage left by their ancestors.
La Chi women's costumes.
However, the development of modern life as well as convenience has made many young people in La Chi today choose modern clothes instead of traditional clothes. The niece of Mrs. Vang Thi Mia in Nam Khanh said that for jobs that require a lot of movement such as going to the fields, weeding, planting, especially when traveling by motorbike, modern clothes are more suitable, easier to buy and easier to use. In addition, young people in La Chi also want to catch up with new, modern trends in clothing. Mrs. Vang Thi Mia is almost the only person in the village who knows all the techniques of weaving, dyeing, and sewing clothes in all stages.
That is the reason why today, not many La Chi people do not choose traditional costumes in their daily lives. Many La Chi women no longer know how to grow cotton, weave fabric, and sew clothes like previous generations. Therefore, to avoid the risk of losing the traditional weaving and costume making profession of the La Chi people, in 2022, Lao Cai province has developed a program to restore and preserve the brocade weaving profession of the La Chi people. Accordingly, the Department of Culture and Sports of Lao Cai province and local organizations propagate to people to understand the purpose and meaning of the program. When people understand, the Department's officials and local women set up conservation groups, training young women in spinning, weaving, sewing and embroidering, thereby creating not only ordinary clothing but also decorative products, souvenirs... for tourism.
A La Chi woman chooses to buy fabric at the market.
Bac Ha is one of the favorite destinations in the Northwest region with unique cultural features of the highland ethnic groups. With the weaving craft of the La Chi people, if preserved, maintained and exploited well, it is completely possible to create values associated with effective tourism development.
For many generations, the craft of weaving and sewing costumes has been closely associated with the lives of the La Chi people, which also contributes to the cultural identity of the La Chi people. Helping the La Chi people earn a living from weaving and sewing costumes will help the La Chi people preserve and conserve their unique cultural identity.
Tuyet Loan/Nhan Dan Newspaper
Source: https://baophutho.vn/nguoi-la-chi-giu-nghe-det-218186.htm
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