Lady in Red
The Pa Then, an ethnic minority people concentrated in northern Vietnam's Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang provinces, are known for their skill at producing cloth an clothing, there are about 5 ,000 Pa Then people in Vietnam today, all of whom live in mountainous segments. Like many minority groups in Vietnam, the Pa Then is traditionally nomadic. Their lives revolve around nature and the seasons, as they survive by farming, Cotton will be the crop.
Known for their skillful hand-weaving, sewing and embroidery, the Pa Then place a great deal of importance about their clothes, as revealed by a Pa Then legend. Within the this tale, a Pa Then woman once married puppy and bore his child. Sadly, child died, and female was so bereft that she popularized carrying a puppy wherever she took the subway. When the puppy grew larger it tore the girl's skirt, leaving a paw-shaped tear. Upon mending this rip, the woman pointed out that the mended area looked pretty and would serve as being a reminder of her lost baby. And after that she began to sew motifs resembling dogs' paws onto her clothes. Known as ta-leo, this pattern is typically embroidered onto the skirt hems of Pa Then women.
The Pa Thens' traditional clothing is bright red. To produce the red dye they chop the trunks of pa-xi-mung trees into pieces and boil them until the water turns red. Raw cloth is soaked into this water, and then dried in the sun's light. This process is repeated so that the desired shade of red is completed. Today, chemicals are sometimes put in the solutions to makes the red darker and colorfast.
Unlike lots of other ethnic groups, the Pa Then wears their everyday clothing at festivals. For this reason, rich and poor are indistinguishable. Even on her wedding day, a Pa Then girl will wear the clothes that she stitched for daily don. The top is named the Ke-o-po and also the skirt the Ket-tanh. Wedding guest might it in order to find identify the bride and bridesmaids.
Pa Then women wear a distinctive turban, containing two parts: an inner, indigo-dyed towel cloth, in order to as the Ke-so, measures about 0.3 meters by 5 meters especially folded widthwise five or six times and wound around the actual top. The outer scarf, known as su-chi, is approximately 1.5 meters long.
Pa Then girls are taught to weave and embroider from an young age. A little girl's outfit resembles that of adult but with simpler embroidery patterns. As the girl grows she is encouraged to express her creativity by embroidering new designs on her skirt, as well as learning traditional versions. For this reason, the clothing of Pa Then women follows similar designs bit with individual thrives.
The ket-tanh skirt is fashioned from pleated red cotton and has sophisticated embroidery patterns. Motifs include squares, lozenges, triangles, stars, combs, bridges, rooster legs, crabs, silkworms, calves, and dog's paws.
The belt or to-he-to measures 1.5 to 2 meters in size and is black or white. Black ones are needed every day and white ones your lunar Year or at festivals. Jewelry completes a Pa Then woman's outfit and reveals her abundance. Woman's from wealthy families may put on a half dozen silver bracelets and necklaces, and sport some eye-catching gold teeth.
The Pa Thens' clothes are very not the same as those worn by other Mong - Dao males. The Pa Then cut their clothing from large pieces of cloth and embroiders it with motifs set in horizontal series. White, blue, yellow and black designs stand out against a bright red background, making these clothes instantly recognizable as are in the Pa Then. Among the many a making outfits created by Vietnam's 54 minority groups, those within the Pa Then are on the list of most vivid.