Unique traditional costumes of San Chi people

For the San Chi ethnic group in Cao Bang , traditional costumes are not only a distinctive feature of shape and aesthetic style, but also a testament to history, telling a story of lasting culture.

The traditional costume of San Chi women is a perfect combination of traditional beauty and sophistication in every seam. A traditional costume of San Chi women basically consists of the following elements: pants, inner shirt, outer shirt, belt and head scarf.

The pants in the woman's costume are made of indigo fabric, ankle-length. The shirt consists of two types: an inner shirt and an outer shirt. The inner shirt is usually a thin, light-colored shirt, the outer shirt is made of indigo fabric, the shirt has two pieces sewn diagonally to the right, the edges of the shirt are embroidered with a red stripe, the length of the shirt is the same as the pants.

The beauty of San Chi women in traditional costumes.

The unique highlight of the San Chi women's costume is the hair style and accessories that go with the head scarf. The hair is tied high, tied forward with three-leaf clips (about 100 - 120 depending on each person's head circumference) and clamped into 2 silver clips around the head. Below the silver three-leaf clips are neatly braided wigs (formerly real hair) wrapped around the head, usually 4 - 5 times. Finally, there is a hair scarf made of coarse fabric, in the middle of the fabric there are hand-made patterns decorated with motifs of trees, grass, flowers, triangles... covering the top of the head. Notably, women use silver hairpins (wooden hairpins) with silver rings, silver patterns as highlights on the hair, so just by looking at the hair style, it is easy to recognize San Chi ethnic women compared to other ethnic groups.

On holidays and Tet, the costumes of San Chi ethnic women will have belts, bibs and many silver jewelry. The bib in front of the outer shirt is made of many colorful threads connected from the neck down to the waist (including 12 - 14 large threads). The belt is braided from many colorful threads, every part of the belt is decorated with tassel threads, hanging down from 10 - 15 cm long. When wrapping the belt, two tassel threads will be on both sides of the shirt, creating a unique highlight. In addition, the outside of the belt is decorated with delicate silver patterns, wrapped around the body of the shirt from 2 - 3 times.

The colors of San Chi women's costumes are not bright but elegant and profound, expressing the personality of a sincere, calm and extremely delicate woman. The costumes of San Chi ethnic women do not distinguish between age or family background, but are all the same.

On the contrary, the San Chi men's costume is more rustic and simple but still exudes a strong, healthy look. Men's costumes are made of indigo fabric with a "ba ba" shirt, a shirt with two large pockets, long pants, wide and soft legs in design to facilitate labor, farming and livestock, and convenient for traveling, climbing...

San Chi girls wearing traditional costumes, like colorful flowers in the mountains and forests. San Chi women when wearing traditional costumes are gentle, graceful, soft and supple. Perhaps these are the things that make women always feel proud when wearing the traditional costumes of their people.

Nowadays, the San Chi women's traditional costume is not only limited to the villages of the San Chi people but also follows women to the market, to the fields, appears in festivals, on stage performances and gradually becomes a cultural beauty chosen by many San Chi girls on their wedding day. With its unique cultural values, the San Chi women's traditional costume is truly a unique and skillful work of art, demonstrating the women's perseverance and hard work, contributing to the diversity of national identity.

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