(VOVWORLD) - The Red Dao women in Cao Bang province wear indigo clothes adorned with colorful embroidered images. Red, the dominant color of their clothes, distinguishes them from other groups. The clothes of Red Dao men, by contrast, are plainer and are mainly black and indigo.
 Red Dao women in traditional clothes (Photo: Ngoc Anh) |
The traditional costume of a Red Dao woman includes a headscarf, a shirt, a camisole, a belt, and a pair of pants. Silver buttons, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings are also indispensable accessories.
Red Dao women’s clothes are embroidered and decorated with tassels of red, blue, yellow, white, and indigo, with red predominating. The Red Dao believe the color red brings happiness, prosperity, and luck and creates positive energy.
Hoang Thi Hong Vuong, a Red Dao woman in Phan Thanh commune, Nguyen Binh district, said that red is the representative color the Red Dao group and their indigo clothes are colorfully decorated with hand-embroidered motifs.
“A Red Dao woman wears a large hat and silver bracelets. Before getting married, a girl will make her own set of traditional clothes, which she wears on important occasions, including her own wedding, other people’s weddings, religious ceremonies, and New Year’s festivals,” said Vuong.
 (Photo: Ngoc Anh) |
The most recognizable accessory of a Red Dao woman is her headscarf. The larger the headscarf, the better. The hem of the scarf is hand-embroidered with plant and flower motifs.
The shirt has a removable collar. It’s considered the most difficult item to make because it must satisfy strict aesthetic requirements. It has silver motifs attached and a red cotton sash that wraps around the neck and drapes in front of the shirt.
“It takes three days to make the neck piece because the buttons are so time-consuming,” said a Red Dao woman. “When a Dao girl gets married, the husband's family must make her a necklace, a bracelet, and silver buttons for her clothes.”
The costume making of the Red Dao in Vu Minh commune, Nguyen Binh district, was recognized in 2023 as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
Dispensing with the usual embroidery frame to flatten the cloth being embroidered, a Red Dao woman holds the piece of cloth in her hands. She doesn’t pre-draw the patterns, but freely embroiders from her imagination, creativity, and life experience.
 The Red Dao community is established to preserve and promote their time-honored traditional cultural traditions. (Photo: Ngoc Anh) |
“Young people have to make traditional costumes. Old people try to pass on the craft to young people to preserve our culture. We make our clothes by hand and beautify them with embroidery, fabric flowers, and beads,” Ly Mui Sinh, a Red Dao woman in Phan Thanh commune, said.
While the women's costumes are elaborate, the men's clothes are quite plain and use only three colors – black, blue, and brown. A man wears a turban, shirt, and pants, as do the Tay, Nung, Lo Lo, and San Chi groups.
“The man wears a black shirt with 4 pockets and black pans. In the past the men used to wear 3, 5, or even 7 shirts at a time. The turban is also black or indigo. The buttons are made of cloth,” Ban Duc Thang, Deputy Secretary of the Phan Thanh communal Party Committee and Chairman of the communal People's Committee, said.
According to Red Dao belief, a woman’s traditional costume is buried with her so her ancestors can welcome her properly.