Flower Hands

Yao Woman

TEXTILE TRADITIONS:

Although not having the opportunity to travel into hill tribe areas, I did want to explore (virtually!) Vietnam's textile traditions, in particular those of various hill tribes.  Among the ethnic minorities, there is a strong and flourishing tradition of textile techniques.  I had read about hoa tay, which means "flower hand" and it aptly describes the creative work, artistic skill and beauty that comes from the hands of these artisans.

Collectively called Montagnards by the French and Moi (meaning "savages" in pre-colonial times), the ethnic minorities produce textiles and crafts that are incredibly rich and clearly demonstrate a high level of technical skill. Textiles are heavily imbued with meaning - for example, the Hmong use indigo to ward off evil spirits. Clothing is means of marking ethnic identity and textile production has ensured precious traditions and skills survive for future generations.

Northern Hill Tribes:
Textile production/decoration by Northern Hill tribes is largely undertaken among the Hmong-Dao and Tay-Tai ethnic groups.  Museums in Hanoi worth visiting for their textile and costume collections are the Ethnology Museum, Vietnam Women's Museum and the Museum of Arts.  An interesting site to explore is tribaltextiles and another by Pamela Cross, who has photo documented her research into ethnic textiles.

Black H'mong

Hmong (or Miao) are renown for their use of indigo.  Black Hmong make a distinctive blue and white batiked cloth from hemp or cotton, which is grown and prepared locally.  Geometric patterns are drawn onto the cloth with "china" pens dipped in beeswax.  This cloth is then submerged in indigo vats. White (or Flower) Hmong also grow "linen" and weave it into white skirts.  Hmong are also renown decorative embroiderers, although they use it sparingly by comparison to other ethnic groups.  They have a preference for chain stitch and reverse applique.  Hmong can be found in Cat Cat village, within walking distance of Sapa.  To the Hmong, textile decoration is more than superficial attractiveness! fibre2fabric describes the meaning behind Hmong clothing and textiles (the research was done in Laos).

Red Dao (or Zhao, Mien, Yao) stitch a dense cross stitch, which is so well executed it is impossible to tell the right side from the wrong.  The Dao prefer colourful weavings and have a preference for tassels and fringing.   Styles differ greatly from tribe to tribe. Red Dao live in Ta Phin village.

Tai (or Thai) are considered master weavers and skilled embroiderers.  Aside from geometric patterns they also embroider flowers, birds, animals and dragons.  Practitioners use traditional methods and weave on ancient looms.  Fibres are dyed using natural vegetable dyes.  Various techniques used include cross stitch, surface embroidery, reverse applique and applique.  White Tai live in Ban Lac and Mai Chau village, south-west of Hanoi. 

Central Highlands:

The Central Highlands are in part, peopled by Malayo-Polynesian and Mon Khmer ethnic groups.  These ethnic minorities have a legacy of skilled sericulture (silk farming) and weaving.  Cham weavers have in recent years rediscovered ancient patterns although they dress simply in white cotton sarongs.  The Chil (K'ho tribe, Lang Ga village) are also skilled weavers and use simple geometric patterns from their daily lives eg, stripes (rice paddy), diamonds (tiger's eye).  Maa dye cotton cloth using vegetables and bark.  The Co Tu are adept at cotton weaving using beads.  Jarai decorate their sarongs and loincloths with woven bands of geometric patterning using a  supplementary weft technique.  

Mekong Delta:

Xinh Mun_Mon Khmer

In the Mekong Delta, Tan Chau village is famous for its silk industry, particularly satins woven from natural dyes. Needless to say, production is now on power-looms. At the base of Nui Sam mountain is the Temple of Lady Chua Xu (the green stone statue is said to date from the 6th century) where bales of cloth are left by devotees. 

In a nearby area, Khmer silk weavers from Sray Skoth village produce colourful sarongs from designs made on weft yarns before weaving (ikat). They weave traditional designs on traditional looms and can use up to 3 layers of coloured silk fibres, resulting in a lustrous plain jacquards or colourful ikats.

TEXTILE TECHNIQUES:

Van Phuc Silk Shop

Silk: Van Phuc village (45 mins out of Hanoi) is considered to be the cradle of silk weaving in Vietnam with a history of production that can be traced back thousands of years.  Its specialty is brocade (Ha Dong silk) and the making and selling of quilts a colourful feature.  

Close by is Co Do where a temple has been built to honour a Princess from the first Dynasty, said to be the first Vietnamese silk maker.  Further into the Red River delta, Nam Cao village has a history of weaving tussore silk dating back some 400 years.

Hemp grows wild in the northern hills. It is processed and spun before being woven on simple looms in traditional widths of 30cm to lengths of 8 to 10 metres.

Tribal weaving is generally completed on backstrap (body tension) and simple frame looms.  Silks are generally mass produced on power looms, although essentially remain a cottage industry.

Wax resist or batik: Melted bees wax is applied on to hemp or cotton with a ladao knife (chinese knife).  The design is then immersed in a vat of cooled indigo. This process is repeated until the desired depth of colour is achieved - as many as 30 immersions.

Hand Spinning

Dyeing: Indigo dyed cotton is the predominant textile used by hill tribes.  Locally grown and processed, indigo is culturally significant to Hmong.  It is a rare treat to find natural indigo in use as it has largely been replaced by its chemical counterpart.  Valarie Kirk provides information on preparation and dyeing of indigo. Other vegetable dyes, including roots, leaves, bark and mud can be used. Generally, natural dyes are duller than vivid colours produced from chemical dyes.

It is sad at any time to see traditional embroidered textiles, symbols of ethnic culture, cut up and remade into tourist goods.  However, a number of organisations are running programs aimed at conserving Vietnam's rich textile heritage and should be applauded for acknowledging flower hands and supporting quality workmanship.  These programs keep alive an important textile heritage, foster respect for the artisans and allow visitors to share in and support skilled hand work.   

It was an quite an effort to work out ethnic minority specifics given variations on spelling and not a lot of helpful resource material: much of it too generic to be useful. So, if you are interested in reading more about the Vietnamese ethnic minorities, the Vets with a Mission site is well worth a browse. Photos of the Viet tribes comes from Vietnam Tourism or VietNamNet. Referral to various sites is only in the interests of their textile content. It is not my intention to support commerce, political or religious ideologies or any other purpose.