Xa Pho ethnic women work on brocade products in Nam Sai commune of Sa Pa township, Lao Cai province. (Photo: VNA)  

Brocade making has been central to the culture of ethnic minorities in Vietnam for thousands of years. Today, the craft is still maintained by these communities in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai as it is deeply imbued with distinctive characteristics of highlanders.

Stories of brocades

Visitors to the region become well acquainted with the prominent women of the mountainous areas of Lao Cai like Sa Pa, Bac Ha, and Bat Xat from the Mong, Dao, Tay, Nung, and Xa Pho ethnic groups. These women are typically absorbed in embroidering brocades in front of their houses, at markets, or next to their roadside handicraft stalls.

In Vietnamese, “tho cam” (brocade) is a type of beautifully woven fabric (“cam”) of local ethnic minorities (“tho”), so brocades are considered a vivid demonstration of the diverse cultural and spiritual life, as well as the worldview and outlook on life of ethnic minority groups in Lao Cai. In particular, patterns on brocades of Mong people display their unique and meticulous techniques.

Vang Thuy Dung from the Mong Den branch of the Mong ethnic group in Trung Leng Ho commune, Bat Xat district, said almost all Mong women and girls know how to cultivate flax, weave fabric, and make garments for themselves. At the age of 12, they are able to strip flax, embroider flowers, and draw wax patterns.

To the Mong people, costumes are not only for daily use but also linked with the spiritual life, she said, noting that when a person passes away, his/her funeral clothes are also their daily attire, which reminds descendants of their origin as ancestors reach the afterlife.

She went on to say that it takes many steps to complete a brocade product, from growing flax, harvesting to stripping, pounding, spinning and boiling fibre to setting looms. Fabric is mainly made of raw cotton or flax fibre dyed in natural colours. For example, black comes from the colour of “cham” (Indigofera tinctoria), blue from grilled shells of stream snails mixed with limewater, and red-brown from the boiled mixture of bark, vinegar, and alum.

Each minority has its own brocade making techniques as well as different patterns and pattern arrangements.

For example, highlights of Mong Den people’s upper garments lie at elbows of sleeves and collars. While elbows are decorated with blue lozenges and horizontally-placed pieces of coloured cloth, collars bordered in red and embroidered with lozenge, triangle, or sawtooth shapes using mainly blue and black threads.

Meanwhile, brocades of the Tay people are made of cotton. Scarves, pillows, and blankets have their brims decorated with the shapes of rectangle, lozenge, triangle, or tortoise, among others, which are arranged symmetrically, according to Nguyen Thi San, a resident in Na Khuong village.

The Xa Pho people in Lien Minh commune, Sa Pa township, attach beads onto brocade patterns of garments.

It is the diversity of patterns and dyeing techniques that contributes to the beauty of brocades of ethnic minorities in Lao Cai.

Beauty of brocades honoured

Brocades have become a heritage attracting visitors from far and wide to Lao Cai. To honour and promote their value in the cultures of local ethnic groups, the province has been taking various measures to preserve traditional costumes and the craft of making brocades.

This year, Lao Cai organised a week of traditional costumes from ethic groups for the first time, from April 15 to 19, which received warm support from people across the province.

From 2021 to 2023, it opened more than 30 classes taught by community artisans to pass down traditional costume making skills and techniques to locals. Six models for preserving patterns, jewellery, and costumes of minorities were also established, said Vice Chairwoman of the provincial People’s Committee Giang Thi Dung.

Notably, a brocade festival is scheduled to take place in Sa Pa township from November 8 to 10 to introduce local brocades to visitors and stimulate travel after Typhoon Yagi. Activities will include displays of typical brocade products of the Mong, Dao, Tay, Giay, and Xa Pho ethnic groups, the introduction of community-based and craft village tourism of Lao Cai, along with a demonstration of the brocade production process.

The event is a chance for Lao Cai to popularise its brocades and turn the festival into a tourism product aligned with the preservation and promotion of ethnic minorities’ cultural values. It is also part of the province’s efforts to carry out the plans on maintaining and bringing into play minorities’ traditional costumes and cultural values./.