Black Mong ethnic costumes - Cao Bang electronic newspaper

The traditional costume of Black Mong women is mainly black, usually with a headdress, shirt, skirt, belt and leggings. The shirt has 3 panels, two flaps around the neck are decorated with patterns about 3 - 4 cm wide, can be colored lace or floral fabric. The seam between the front and back body is left with a slit about a span from the hem of the shirt up and the sleeves are also embroidered with beautiful patterns. When wearing the costume, the hem of the shirt is not hidden inside the skirt but worn flared out, the shirt has no buttons but is crossed over each other, then a belt with embroidered patterns is used to tie across to keep the shirt from spreading out. Because the shirt has a split chest, Black Mong women often wear a yếm. The collar of the yếm is embroidered with patterns, each side of the collar is decorated with 1 - 2 white silver coins. When worn, the patterns between the shirt and the yếm create harmony between the inner and outer shirt.

Many costume details must be meticulously hand-sewn.

The skirt of the Black Mong women has a round waistband, the skirt is lightly pleated, creating a graceful and youthful look for the outfit. The skirt is worn with a decorative embroidered fabric belt in the middle. The main black color of the outfit combined with colorful patterns on the shirt flap, collar... creates highlights for the traditional costume of the Black Mong women, making the outfit, although mainly black, lively and impressive, giving the wearer a healthy beauty.

The motifs in the costumes of the Black Mong people are mainly spiral, square, rectangular, zigzag patterns... The Mong people believe that the more meticulous and firm the embroidery is, the more it shows the ingenuity in cultivating happiness as well as wealth and prosperity of the family. The costumes of the Black Mong men are very simple with round-necked shirts and open chests. Pants are sewn in a lame style, wide waistband, low crotch, wide legs. With the main color being black, along with unique cuts.

The traditional costumes of the Black Mong people are made from the main materials of cotton, silk, linen and indigo dyed entirely by hand, mainly by the skillful hands of the women. Each way of creating decorative shapes and color combinations shows the sophistication in aesthetics, thereby showing the spiritual life of the whole nation in harmony, the awareness of protecting and being closely attached to the natural landscape. In the past, the Black Mong girls were taught by their grandmothers and mothers how to sew and embroider. When they reached adulthood and knew how to be charming, they were also proficient in making traditional costumes for their family and themselves before going to their husband's house.

The Black Mong ethnic group is mainly concentrated in Thuy Hung commune, Thach An district. Currently, in the trend of integration, people's lives are increasingly improved along with cultural exchanges between ethnic groups, so the traditional costumes of the Black Mong people are facing the risk of being lost. Black Mong women in Thach An no longer grow cotton or weave fabric themselves, but buy ready-made indigo fabric at the markets. In addition to the details that need to be hand-sewn, they mainly use sewing machines. In daily life, only a few Black Mong women still use traditional costumes, mainly the elderly; while men's costumes have almost been lost.

The costumes of the Mong people in general and the Black Mong people in particular reflect a rich aesthetic and creative artistic thinking. If each costume is like a beautiful flower, the Black Mong community is proud to have contributed to adding more color to the colorful flower garden of the ethnic communities of the province in particular and Vietnam in general, with beautiful flowers that need to be preserved and promoted.

Thanh Loan

Source: https://baocaobang.vn/trang-phuc-dan-toc-mong-den-3177389.html