Historic Hmong Snippet: The Hmongs are the most popular ethnic minority within the Indo-China region (Thai, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam). Like the Dao people (see previous post), the Hmong people originated from southern China, but once again, due to the struggles against feudalist China, they emigrated to the areas of northern Vietnam. This occurred in the 19th century and it is here they began to build hamlets in the regions of Lao Cai and Ha Giang (the northern-most regions of Vietnam).
As the Hmong people ventured out to various regions, they began to develop and differentiate themselves from one another and thus, built various sub-groups. A common language (Hmong) albeit different dialects is spoken, culturally very similar, but a large visual difference - and that is, again, their
textiles and dress.
Note: These sub-groups don't seem to have any disputes with one another and seem to get along, just fine! ;)
Discovering & exploring: Being highly captivated by these various dress styles and detail, I managed to find various tribes in the region. Focusing on the Hmong people, I discovered a couple of them, but sure I'll focus on them one by one. It's here I give you...
The Black Hmong. Ah, the famous Black Hmong. I've mentioned this hill tribe in a previous post
http://maysanw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/hmong-robots.html. Yep, they continue to pester and sell their clothing and accessories, but this is clearly their livelihood.
Textiles: "It is believed that whether their houses are beautiful and of good quality depends on the husbands, and whether they are wearing beautiful clothes and their children are taken care of or not depends upon the wives". Thus, the women must hone good embroidery skills to present their skilfulness and ability to work hard. In addition, handmaking their cloth from scratch - using the
hemp they grow in their beautiful rice-terraced fields and hand-dyeing using indigo plants grown amongst the hemp.
Their colour is
distinct and although is stated as 'black', it tends to be more of a dark, dark indigo colour - hence, being grown from indigo plants. Hand and natural dyeing is a tradition, however, it seems that due to tourism, the Hmongs know too well that chemical dyeing and buying cloth from the market (imported from China usually) is a speedier way of creating these profitable textiled products! This seems to have made its mark in the product market. But behold! Tradition still stands - as below indicates...Yet again, women are responsible for the dyeing process.
Traditional fabric: Fabric is made from the strong and resisting fibre; Hemp. The hemp plant surrounds the Hmong villages and is often grown in March of the lunar calender and due to its speedy growth - is harvested after two months.
Once harvested, the following takes place....
.The hemp is air-dried and peeled into threads.
.The threads are then ground in a mortar.
.They are then are then hung on beams within their homes and flattened.
.Two or three days later, they are rolled into big rolls, then eventually spun.
.The hemp is then boiled and spun into rolls of thread by a reel. [1kg of hemp threads can take two or three days].
.Hemp threads are joined and spun into threads.
[Women learn at the tender age of 6 or 7 years old to spin the hemp - and learnt either by their mothers, grandmothers, sisters, or self-taught!]
.To strain hemp threads into longer ones, the spun hemp threads are boiled with wax many times.
.Once removed from the liquid, they are flattened by a stone or a piece of wood, and air-dried until the yarns are shiny and smooth.
.The yarn is then spun onto a large reel (khau li ) to make longer yarns which are then stretched on the loom. [This type of process is only performed on sunny days to prevent tangling of yarns].
Weaving: Most women are apt on weaving. Not all families will own a loom. Those without a loom, are to rent a loom or weaver.
Tailoring clothes: The women are also skilled to tailor clothing and traditionally stick by the lunar calender. Therefore, dresses and trousers are made in September or November at the latest, in time for the Tet holiday (new year).
Once woven...
How the Black Hmong become 'black'
Welllll...not quite black. Indigo!
Indigo plants are the instigator for the black coloured clothing. Indigo plant seeds are often planted in April or May and harvested in June. The Hmong follow an auspicious calendar, that said, the indigo must be planted at the beginning of the month i.e. the lucky days, to avoid worms and diseases that may come about if planted at the end of the month. In addition, the indigo must be harvested at the correct time. Failing to do so may lead to, weak older leaves and the resin will not be good as expected.
From plant - to resin - to dye
Once the indigo is cut, it is soaked in water for 2-3 days. As soon as the water turns black, dissolved powdered lime is mixed and stirred in for thirty minutes which turns the water into a shiny black. After three hours, indigo resin condenses to the bottom of the bucket. This is put into a pack and filtered into a dry resin.
The resin is then mixed with water in wooden or plastic buckets and sediments are then filtered. Once again, this may take place on auspicious days - specific days may be chosen, such as days of tigers, buffaloes, dragons, chickens or horses, instead of days of pigs.
Hmong tradition also suggests that pregnant women are not to touch the buckets of indigo resin as they will cause the indigo to die (note: alive buckets of indigo will form a foam). When mixing the indigo, men are not allowed to stay in the house, except the woman's husband.
Indigo dyeing
Yet again, women are responsible for the dyeing process. When dyeing the fabric, the indigo must be consistently stirred. If there is no trace of foam (i.e. indigo has died), the process must be restarted. After each dyeing stage which can take 30 minutes, the cloth is air-dried and is continued another twenty times or so, or at least until the Hmongs are content. They may press their fingers onto the surface of the cloth. If no white gaps are present, this means that the piece of cloth has been beautifully dyed.
Embroidery
Like the Red Daos, the Black Hmong also enjoy embroidering and believe that all women should be involved and know how to embroider to show skilfulness and ability. Different patterns are embroidered on Hmong peoples' clothing.
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Spiral patterns are common on belts, collars of female clothing. Patterns on belts are larger than those on collars.
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Pumpkin flower patterns are common on collars of male clothing. Male costume patterns are usually smaller.
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Patterns on sleeves are created on female clothing. The patterns are often smaller and different patterns are created such as
dragons, stars and more recently,
hearts.
Wax patterns
In Hmong history, Hmong people who went into the forest to collect honey came across forests of indigo. They found that wax would stick to their clothing and indigo would dye their clothing. As they peeled away the wax, the original white coloured hemp was left on those areas of the cloth. This was considered to be beautiful. Hmong people would thank the bees for this discovery which leads to another style, and process..Wax patterns. Wax drawings are drawn onto the un-dyed hemp cloth. A paintbrush is immersed into the melted wax and is then used to draw onto the fabric. Numerous brushes are used to draw different patterns. Since bees were the path to their discovery, they are popularly featured on the clothing patterns.
Other decorative features...
Earrings
Hmong girls adorned with large hooped metal earrings also signify that this girl is married. The earrings are traditionally made by their husbands where they will batter and emboss the metal. Intricate and detailed, heavy and jingly. Other jewellery is worn for decoration, such as heavy necklaces and bracelets.
Hats
Round black hollow hats are again not compulsory in the costume but for extra decoration, and to veer off the cold conditions that the Hmongs experience through winter months. They tend to be more popular amongst the older female population.
Hairstyles
Girls leave their hair growing long , extremely healthy looking. Once the girl has married, she will tie her hair in an intricate manner, as shown below.
Note: As the girls do not wash their hair too often, it becomes oilier, thus the natural oils help maintain the married Hmong girl's hairstyle and shape.
Discovered
So, that was a small summary of the beautiful Black Hmong. Their mountain beauty is projected well through their costumes. I very much enjoyed integrating and finding out the information. See below for my experience with embroidery on the 3 step patterns - it was not easy, and I'm definitely not up to their speed!
