Hello all,
Today I will continue my overview of the Sino - Tibetan peoples by talking about the Yi people. The Yi number some 9.5 million people who speak a large number of related languages in the Yi language family. They were formerly called the Lolo. They revere the tiger, and have an especial devotion to the element of fire. They live mostly in Yunnan, southern Sichuan, and western Guizhou Provinces. A few are also found in western Guangxi, as well as northeastern Laos and northwestern Vietnam, where they are still referred to as Lolo. They live mostly in mountainous areas, as do most of the ethnic minorities. When first conquered by the Chinese, they had a very structured and stratified society, with levels from aristocracy down to slaves. The aristocratic Yi believe that they are distinguished from others by having black bones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_people

Here is a map showing the distribution of Yi villages in China. Yunnan is in the middle, Sichuan to the north, Guizhou to the northeast, Guangxi to the southeast, and Laos and Vietnam to the south.

You can see that there are several nodes of population. The Chinese government has taken the various Yi tribes and languages and grouped them into 6 officially recognized cultural/linguistic groups.

Yi costumes are usually rich in ornamentation, including applique, reverse applique, 'plain embroidery', by which the Chinese mean satin stitch, and also counted thread embroidery, including cross stitch. Here is a Yi cross stitched medallion featuring eight guardian tigers.

Nuosu or Northern Yi

This group is also called the Liangshan Yi, or the Sichuan Yi. They are mostly found in Liangshan prefecture in southern Sichuan. Here is a rough map of their distribution. 'Bai Yi' is not an ethnic grouping, but rather a caste.

The image at the head of this article shows various costumes of the Nuosu. There are three large groups as well as several smaller ones, that make up the Nuosu. Here is a rough map of their distribution in Sichuan. The Yinuo in red, the Shynra in yellow, and the Suondi and Adur in green. They are also found across the border into Yunnan to some extent.

Yynuo

The Yynuo or Yinuo live in the eastern part of this region, in the county of Meigu and to the east. This is also called the 'wide pants region', because the men's trouser legs are each 1.5 to 2 meters wide.

The men's jackets have a broad band of appliqued ornament across the edge of the front opening, as well as on the sleeves, but not on the lower edge.

The cape Caerwa, is very traditional, and varies from county to county, but generally does not have fringe in this group.

The young man above is wearing a 'hero's belt' across one shoulder which is ornamented with shell.

This kind of shoulder bag is also worn by young men.

Men generally wear turbans with a point sticking out in front, different subgroups have different shaped and directed knots.

The women wear long skirts, with a waistband, a cylindrical middle section, and a wide, heavily gathered bottom section. Yinuo women wear a top with a wide zigzag shaped ornament across the front.

As you can see, young unmarried women wear a headdress of folded cloth held in place on top of the head by a braid, usually fake. The cloth is not embroidered, and is stiff enough to stand straight out. Married women wear hats, most typically the lotus leaf hat, but there are regional variations.

Other styles of upper garment are also worn. This first one is for a young girl.

Brides wear a large headdress of cloth wrapped around a bamboo frame and ornamented with silver. Traditionally the bride is carried to the groom's house by one of her male relatives.

Just a couple more images of Yinuo garments.

Skirts from Leibo province are ornamented with patchwork.

The girl on the right is Yinuo, the woman on the left is Adu.

Shynra and Galo

The Shynra live in Xide county and regions north of that. Their territory lies northwest of the Yinuo. The Han Chinese sometimes call them the Shengzha.This is called the 'medium pants region', because Shynra men wear pants, which while still full, have each leg no more than one meter wide.

The men's shirts are ornamented not only on the front opening and sleeves, but also on the hem.

Sometimes a vest is worn over the jacket.

The cape Caerwa is worn here as well, but it usually has fringes.

In other respects the attire resembles that of the Yynuo.

The women's costume is also similar to that of the Yinuo, except that a right closing vest is worn over the jacket. Here is an image of an unmarried girl on the left, a bride in the center, and a married woman on the right, both helping to put the veil and jewelry on the bride. Note the three types of headdress.

Here is an outfit of a middle aged woman.

And an older woman.

The unmarried girls' headdress is like that of the Yinuo except that it is thinner and embroidered, so that the back of it hangs down behind the head.

A subgroup called the Galo, which live in the northern county of Ganluo, wear a vest with an opening in the center.

Married women wear a large hat with a cloth folded and pinned over it.

A third headdress is used for festive occasions, including weddings, especially in the counties of Jinyang.

and Zhaojue.

Here are some more images of the Shynra.

This subgroup group is called the Shama, from Jinyang county.

Suondi and Adu

These groups live in the southwest of this region, in the county of Butuo and to the west and south. This is also called the 'narrow pants region' because the men wear pants that are of usual dimensions. They also wear jackets with minimal ornament except for silver buttons and loops on the side. This man is wearing a Caerwa made of the skins of 5 goats.

The women's costume is similar to that of the other Nuosu, but they wear a vest with short sleeves which is highly ornamented over the jacket, which is often longer. Sometimes the skirts have more complex patchwork designs.

You can see that thes girl is wearing a headdress that somewhat resemblea those of the Shynra.

Married women wear a vertical headdress that is shaped somewhat like an envelope placed over a vertical support.

Women who are older and have children, sometimes wear a headdress which consists of a turban wrapped around a bamboo frame, especially for festive occasions, when it may be ornamented with jewelry.

Here is an image of a bride and her two attendants.

The women is this group wear heavy short mantles with vestigial sleeves.
For ordinary occasions they often wear simple hats instead of traditional headwear, or just cloths on the head.

These mantles can be very plain, black or natural colored, but some show surprisingly modern looking abstract designs.

For festivals, they carry yellow umbrellas and wear highly ornamented outfits, with jewelry on the large bamboo framed turbans or vertical headdresses. They have a tradition of processional singing, walking in single file, each woman holding the tasseled triangular bag which hangs from the waist of the woman in front.

Just a few more images of this group.

Here are a couple of videos about the Nuosu. This first one is a bit of a travelogue about the region. The picture quality is not good, but it is interestisng.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ed7IW2Zqqs

This one shows scenes from life among the Nuosu. It is overdubbed with music, with subtitles in Nuosu, Italian, and English. It features bullfighting, which is very popular in southeast Asia, but here the bulls fight each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHI_z7ZgUpM

I will stop here for today, and continue to cover the costumes of the Yi people in the next few articles.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Unknown Author, 'The Costumes and Adornments of Chinese Yi Nationality Picture Album', Beijing, 1990
Stevan Harrell et al, 'Mountain Patterns - The Survival of Nuosu Culture in China', Seattle, 2000
Susan Gary Walters, 'A Practical Guide to Everything Nuosu', London, 2015
Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993
Unknown Author, 'Ethnic Festivals and Costumes of Sichuan', Sichuan, 2004
Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,
Today I will continue my coverage of the costumes of the various Yi peoples.

Nasu or Eastern Yi

These people live in the northeast of Yunnan province, southeastern Sichuan, and western Guizhou. I am following the official groups recognized by the Chinese government. The groups which arise from linguistic analysis are much more complicated. Be aware that they do not always coincide, as the Chinese also take cultural characteristics into account. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasu_people

This group is also called the Wumeng Mountain Yi. There are roughly 900,000 of these people. The image above shows the Nasu taking part in a parade in somewhat modernized costumes.

The Nasu, like all the various Yi groups are well known for the ornamentation on their clothing, especially cross stitch and applique.

Bed valences are commonly ornamented.

Weining

This style is worn in a rather large area in the northern part of this region. Here is a map which shows roughly the area in which this is found.

Young and middle aged men in the past wore wide legged trousers as the Nuosu do.

Both short jackets and long robes are worn by men today, usually with a black turban wrapped around a topknot. Here is a boy's outfit. note the vest with many pockets which is typical of everyday and work clothing.

Here is a work garment for adults.

Wool jackets and capes are part of the clothing tradition here as well.

Ornamented shoulder bags and sandals are worn for festive attire.

In the time of the Qing dynasty, some items of clothing were borrowed from the Han or the Manchu, like this man's vest in Manchu style.

Women in the Weining region wear pants and over them long gowns, an apron and black turbans.

The gown has a round design around the shoulders which extends to the right opening. here is an example shown with an apron.

The ornament also extends on the sides and hem of the gown. This example shows three tiger heads on the hem with the typical spiral designs of the Yi, the black representing Mother Earth, and the white Father Sky.

This gown is from Nayong county.

Here are a couple of more ornate aprons.

For festive occasions the pants and the shoes may also be embroidered.

Here is a bride from the Guizhou portion of this area [Bijie]. Note the capelike collar with pendants in the shape of the Lingzhi fungus, which may be a borrowing from the Han.

The turban is covered with a long headdress which is traditionally cross stitched.

For parts of the ceremony a veil with tiger designs is worn over the head.

Here is an image of a girl from Bijie. All of the various peoples in this whole area make fantastic caps for their children as protection.

A few more images of this costume.

Majie

The village of Majie, in Weining Autonomous County, located in the westernmost extension of Guizhou close to the Yunnan border, has a costume which has elements of both the Weining costume and the Nosuo costume.

These embroidered bands are wrapped around the headdress.

Panlong

This costume style is found to the south of the Weining. Specifically from the southern part of Panxian county in Guizhou to Longlin County in Guangxi. Here is a rough map.

This style is rather simple, with some similarity to the Majie and Weining styles. The men wore plain pants and robe, like this example from Longlin.

The women wear pants, long gown and black apron, like these examples from Panxian County.

These groups are from Qinglong county, just east of Panxian.

Previously skirts were worn with this outfit as we see in these examples from Longlin. This type of skirt was also worn by the Han, especially in the south of China.

Here is a baby carrier from this region.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,

Today I continue my coverage of the costumes of the Yi people by talking about the Sani, also called the Southeastern Yi.
The people in this group live in southeastern Yunnan, fron Shilin in Kunming to the south and east, and just over the border into Guangxi. Here is a rough map of the area inhabited by this group.

Lunan style

This style of costume is worn in the northwestern parts of this area, the counties of Shilin, northern Mile and Qiubei.

Shilinor Stone Forest Yi

This costume is well known because it is worn by the Sani Yi community who live around the famous Stone Forest of Kunming. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Forest

This place is very significant for the Sani, who celebrate traditional rituals in the Stone Forest, or the Forest of Ashima. Today they also give cultural perfomances for tourists in that location.

This costume consists of pants, a knee length gown with wide sleeves, sash, apron folded to the right, a small symbolic mantle worn over the shoulder, and a distinctive hoop shaped headdress.

Older women usually wear a blue gown, whereas girls wear a white one.

The girls' and womens' headdresses also differ in color and ornamentation. Here we see an older woman's headdress on the left, and a young woman's headdress on the right.

Pointed embroidered shoes are worn for festive occasions.

The small mantle worn over the shoulder is traditionally made with a sheepskin backing. This must be a symbolic remnant of an ancient garment.

The Sani, like all the Yi, are known for their embroidery, including cross stitch.

Here is a baby carrier from this region.

Shoulder bags are also embroidered.

Men's attire tends to be simple and plain, based on cloth woven from fire weed, Gerbera delavayi.
https://nmnh.typepad.com/the_plant_press/2018/03/preservation-of-a-chinese-plant-and-the-culture-around-it.html

The Torch festival is held in the Stone Forest on the 24th day of the 6th month. This includes many rituals including the veneration of the element of fire.

Dancing is an important part of the traditional festivals.

This is the traditional Moon Dance.

Just a few more images of this costume.

Here are a few videos of the Sani dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLFCC29n_1k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvMRxBg3ALg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-7iM7LnWKk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHwGH-LBv6U

West Mile Mountain Axi

The costume is worn in the mountainous regions of western Mile County. These people are called Axi. The costume consists of short pants, a black and white gown which is long in the back and short in the front, a short apron and a shoulder bag. The men's costume resembles that worn by the Shilin Sani.

pants

gown

apron

sash

The bag is embroidered for young and middle aged women, and of plain knotted linen for older women.

Children wear caps to protect them that are imaginative creations.

Just a couple more images of this costume.

The Axi men celebrate the festival of fire on the third day of the second month, commemorating the story of the gift of fire to man. They paint their naked bodies red, yellow, and black, offer sacrifices and jump bonfires to remind themselves how life was like before man found fire.

Qiubei County

The Yi people in Qiubei originally came from Guishan. The costume is rather distinct. Nevertheless it resembles both of the above costumes. The old costume includes a very ornate apron pieced together from different colors of fabric.

Mile County Style

This style of costume is found to the south of the first style in south Mile County, as well as in Huaning, Luxi, Wenshan, Yanshan and part of Qiubei

This costume is characterized by a short jacket rather than a knee length gown. The apron has a bib and is highly ornamented with emvroidery, applique and silver jewelry. The headdress varies.

This version is worn in southern Mile County, in the areas of Wushanxiang, Xunjianshizhen and Jiangbianxiang.

The headdress, compare with image above.

The jacket and pants.

Apron

Another jacket from Luxi County.

Another group in Luxi County, Qiubei County and the Dongshan region of Mile County wears outfits of natural linen color with colorful cross stitch embroidery.

Here is an image of the back of a vest which is worn over the garments shown above.

Another version is worn in Dongshan district of Wenshan County. Here are the jacket, headdress, apron and leggings of that costume.

A very distinctive costume is worn in Wushan district of Mile county as well as part of neighboring Luxi. This group originally came from Zhaotong long ago.

Wenxi Style

This style of costume is worn in the eastern part of this region, in extreme southeastern Yunnan and over the border into Pingbian County and Guangxi Province. Here is a very rough map.

These ladies are from Wenshan.

These women are from Yanshan County.

In part of Pingbian County, Honghe prefecture, from around Wantang, Baihe east to the border, this costume is worn by the Yi.

Ribbons to hang down in back.

Pieces of the headdress

Jacket, waistband and skirt

The costume worn in Xichou County relies heavily on patchwork.

This costume is worn in Maguan County. Note the similarity of the skirts to those of Malipo County.

In Malipo County the costume relies heavily on patchwork and batik ornament. This group is called the Bailuo.

Woman's jacket, headdress and skirt

These are popular with collectors.

The men's costume is also heavily batiked.

Originally the men's pants were embroidered in a similar manner to the women's skirts.

Here is a closeup of a man's jacket.

A few more images from this group.

Common to many Yi groups is the square gown, a highly ornamented ritual garment put on by the bride on the day after the wedding to greet her family.

A video showing the batik work of the Bailuo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2keOxZ6vl00

Funing County, Yunan and Napo County, Guangxi.

This costume is found in the southeasternmost county of Yunan and over the border into Guangxi. It also depends heavily on batik ornament.

The men's costume has some similarity to that of Malipo.

The women will layer garments for festive dress.

A simpler costume with a short white jacket is also used in this area.

A bark hoop covered with cloth is a traditional part of this costume.

That concludes this section of the overview of the Yi Costumes. As you can see there are more variants that I have only found hints of.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Unknown Author, 'The Costumes and Adornments of Chinese Yi Nationality Picture Album', Beijing, 1990
Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993

Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,

Today I will talk about the Nisu, or Southern Yi to continue my series on Sino Tibetan Costumes. In the southern part of this region, the dominant ethnicity is the Hani, and there has been a certain amount of Hani influence on the dress of the Yi in the southern counties in this region

This group lives in southern Yunan, mostly in Honghe Prefecture. Here is a rough map of this area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Yi

There are three main branches of this group, each of which has sub branches.

Shiping Style

This is the easternmost of the three styles, being found in Shiping county in scattered spots southeast down to the border.

Shiping County

This group is often called the Huayao Yi [Flowery waisted] by the Han. [not to be confused with the Huayao Dai] I have also found them referred to as the Suni Yi. This costume is exceptionally colorful, even for the Yi. They are found in Shiping County and part of Eshan County. The image at the head of the article shows women from this group doing a dragon dance. Here is another image from the dragon festival.

The woman's costume consists of a long sleeved gown over which is worn a vest which is open on the sides. The front part of the gown under the overlap has ornament, so it is pulled to the side and tucked in to the waist. A complex headdress, ties hanging from the waist and ornamented pants complete the outfit.

gown

vest

headdress

waist ornaments

The back hem often features embroidered flame designs. More evidence of the Yi reverence for the element of fire.

The men's festive outfit includes an embroidered jacket, belt, leggings and sandals. This couple is serenading each other, the man on the pipa, and the girl is playing a leaf.

Here is an embroidered baby carrier.

A few more images of this costume.

Here is a short movie set in this region about a young couple. The dialogue, I believe is in Nisu, with Mandarin and English Subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCGrUqkJQ4

Kaiyuan County

The costume in this county has a similar structure, short jacket and pants with a vest and apron over it. The costume has been especially conserved in the village of Beyge.
The men traditionally wore a jacket with side opening, as well as embroidered sash and apron

Women's pants and jacket

vest and apron worn over the pants.

back of the vest.

In Beyge village, the headdress used to consist of a mass of fake hair.

In Kaiyuan county today, the women wer a tall cap covered with silver bulbs.

Gejiu County

Jiasha town in Gejiu County has a distinctive costume

The shirt is fastened on the right side, but the vest closes in the middle. The hair is wrapped in red yarn, a band with coins is fastened across the forehead, and an embroidered cloth is often wrapped over all.

Pingbian and Mengzi Counties

This costume consists of a shirt which attaches at the side and is longer in the back, a vest which likewise is long in the back, a colorful apron, and a headdress of tassels which stick up like a peacock's tail.

Older women wear a veil over the headdress. This symbolizes the triumph of wisdom and prudence over vanity.

Jinping County

In contrast to the above costumes this one is mostly black with the main ornament being silver bulbs attached to the clothing.

Jianshui Style

This is the central style of costume, being found in a band from Jianshui to the southeast. This style shows the most assimilation to modern Han clothing. This type of wear is very common within this area.

This example is from Guanting Village, Gaoshan mountain area. Traditionally, there is a shirt and pants.

Over which is worn a vest,

and an apron.

The headdress consists of red yarn wound around the hair, as in Gejiu County above, then covered with a black kerchief.

Here is an example of a man's jacket from this region.

Many people, especially younger ones, replace part of this ensemble with modern clothing, especially the shirt and/or pants, and wearing a towel on the head.

Older women from Eshan, Xingping, Shuangbai and Yimen wear looser fitting clothing which hearkens back to the Qing Dynasty.

Some areas have kept unique headdresses.

Mengzi County. they use various cloths, but still wrap them in a unique fashion.

Laochang village in Gejiu

Anlongbao of Shuangbai.

Yuanyang Style

This is worn in the southwest part of this area, from Honghe County south to Yuanyang.

Yuanyang County

This costume is also worn in parts of Jinping County.

Like the costume of Jinping County, and Wushan of Mile County, this one has many silver bulbs attached.

The basal layer consists of a shirt and pants with ornamented cuffs and lower sleeves.

The second layer consists of a long gown with half sleeves, over which is worn a vest with many silver ornaments.

Another vest.

The headdress is shaped like a cockscomb, and is also covered with silver ornaments. These examples are from Jinping.

In this image, the upper hat is from Honghe County, and the two lower ones are from Yuanyang County.

Various waist ornaments are an important part of the costume, which are also studded with silver.

Starting in the 1970's, the silver bulbs began to be replaced by white cashmere embroidery, which was cheaper and lighter. In the above image you can see the silver on the woman in the middle, and the white embroidery on the woman on the right. Here are some more examples.

These waist ornaments remain an important part of the costume.

As you can see, the cockscomb caps are still worn, but narrow cloths with embroidered ends are also worn. The front part of the long gown is often pulled to the back. This may show off the ornament.

Little girls still like the caps.

A video showing some scenes of daily life in Yuanyang. Narrated in French.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kf6d78os_0

A video of Yuanyang Yi doing a dance in simplified modern costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5Er57FupWY

Another dance video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Osfl7HZ9Gs

Honghe County

This costume is similar, but has its own distinct details. Here is the basic costume of Honghe.

In this above image, you can see the caps with open centers, as was shown above in the image of the three caps. The waist ornaments are also distinct.

Here is a baby carrier, also from Honghe.

Xinping County

This costume is worn in the Mopan and Lukui Mountain areas of Xinping County.

This costume is similar to that of Yuanyang, although simpler in ornament. There is a pair of loose pants and a shirt, over which is worn a long gown whose front part is pulled around to the back.

There is a waistband, a sash, a very short apron and a waist ornament worn over these. The apron is at the top of this image.

A turban with embroidered ends which stick up to the sides, and embroidered shoes complete the outfit.

Here you can see the short aprons, the turbans, and also the triangular kerchief which is worn by some of the women.

I have one image of a woman from a different group in Xinping, but I have no more information on this costume.

Jiangcheng County

This county lies in the extreme southeast of Puer Prefecture. The costume is similar, but quite understated. A vest is worn over the long gown, which again is pulled around to the back.

Lüchun County

This costume is another of the same general type, worn in the border region of Honghe and Lüchun Counties. This one has very distinct ornamental embroidery. Note their own version of the cockscomb cap. Again we see pants, a shirt, and a long gown with the front pulled around to the back.

This concludes my treatment of the costumes of the southern Yi.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Unknown Author, 'The Costumes and Adornments of Chinese Yi Nationality Picture Album', Beijing, 1990
Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993
Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,

The Yi are mostly confined to the Chinese Empire, but a small number live in northern Vietnam and Laos. They live very close to the border, and are mostly called Lolo by the Vietnamese and Lao, although one group is called Phu La.

Lo Lo in Vietnam

In Vietnam, the group that is called Lô Lô by the Vietnamese live in northeastern HàGiang Province, mostly in the district of Mèo Vạc. This borders Napo County in Guangxi, and Funing and Malipo Counties in Yunnan. There are three of these costumes. These costumes firmly belong to the Wenxi style that I talked about in my article on the Southeastern Yi. They speak a Yi language called Mantsi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantsi_language

There are about 3,100 Lolo in Vietnam, but they have three distinct costume styles. These groups are generally called the Flowery Lolo, the Red Lolo, and the Black Lolo. All three are found in roughly the same district. The costumes are distinct but have much in common.

Flowery Lolo or Lo Lo Hua

The image at the head of the article is of Flowery Lolo. The jacket is similar to that worn in Napo, although the ornamentation is different, and the pants are similar to that worn by the men in Malipo. A cloth is wrapped around the waist from the back. There is a great deal of embroidery on the jackets, pants, and waist ornaments. Today commercially produced shirts are often worn under the jacket, where traditionally none was worn.

More information is available at this website by Haute Culture Fashion, which features many stories about traditional attire in Asia.

https://hauteculturefashion.com/flower-lolo-ethnic-minority-vietnam/

Here is a video from Haute Culture which shows a little bit about putting on and making a Flowery Lolo costume.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib4gccdH8yU

Black Lolo or Lo Lo Den

The Black Lolo wear a very similar jacket, but shorter, and with much less ornament. There is a panel in the center of the back, and narrow stripes of applique on the sleeves. The rest of the costume is mostly plain black.

For more information about the Black Lolo see here.

https://hauteculturefashion.com/ethnic-travel-vietnam-black-lolo/

Here is a video about visiting a Black Lolo village. Narrated in French.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=37&v=JlfamWY7FtY&feature=emb_logo

Red Lolo or Lo Lo Trang

This group is often lumped in with the Flowery Lolo, but the costume is distinct, having more loose pieces with streamers attatched. The headdress is also distinct.

More information is available about one particular village of this group here.

https://hauteculturefashion.com/lung-cu-lolo-ethnic-minority-vietnam/

Phu La

This group is found in the next province to the west, Lào Cai. This province borders Hekou County in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan.

The Phu La are made up of two different groups with very different costumes. Each group speaks a few different languages of the Yi language family, with the two groups not necessarily being closely related.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ph%C3%B9_L%C3%A1_people

Phù Lá Hán

This is what the Vietnamese call them. These people live in the northern districts of Lào Cai Province, right next to the Yunnan border. There are perhaps 8000 of these people in Vietnam, with a further 4000 in Yunnan. This costume falls into the Jianshui Style of the Southern Yi. [See my last article] The costume consists of pants, a shirt that fastens on the side, a bib type apron, and a kerchief or wreath on the head. This would look familiar from my other articles on Yi costume.

The full costume is not always worn. Here we have Phu La women at the market. In the background of the first image is a woman of the Flowery Hmong.

Here is a video of some Phu La Han girls singing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUbz7NWCAH4

Phù Lá Lão

This group is also called Xá Phó or Laghuu. There are about 1000 of these people, some of whom live south of the Phu La Han in this province, and others who have migrated further south. The costume, while very ornate and beautiful, is not of any Yi type. It rather resembles the costumes of Khmer and Tai related peoples of the area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laghuu_language

Lolo in Laos

The Lolo of Laos number about 1400, and live mostly in the north of Phongsali Province.This borders on Jiangcheng and Mengla Counties in Yunnan.

Some of these people are called Alu. The costume belongs to the Yuanyang Style of the Southern Yi [see my last article], and is similar to the costume of Jiangcheng. It includes a knee length gown which may be tucked into a wrap skirt. Pants are worn less commonly, because of the climate and influence of surrounding peoples. The younger women affix ornamental medallions to their turbans. No vest is worn.

Here is a video of a man visiting a Lolo village in Laos and asking to see old clothing. A couple of the women are wearing traditional costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8sUnSCbl_w

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Serena Lee, 'Redefining Borders and Identity: Ethnic Dress of the Lolo/Yi Across the Vietnam-China Border', Lincoln, Ne, 2014. See link here:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1910&context=tsaconf

Unknown Author, 'The Costumes and Adornments of Chinese Yi Nationality Picture Album', Beijing, 1990
Joachim Schliesinger, 'Hill Tribes of Vietnam, vol 2', Bangkok, 1998
Joachim Schliesinger, 'Ethnic Groups of Laos vol 4', Bangkok, 2003
Ngo Duc Thinh, 'Traditional Costumes of Vietnam', Hanoi, 2009
Michael C Howard, 'Textiles and Clothing of Vietnam', Jefferson, North Carolina, 2016
Nguyen Van Huy et al, 'The Great Family of Ethnic Groups in Vietnam', Hanoi, 2011
Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993
Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,

Today I will talk about the Western Yi. Also known as the Lalo. They live in the western part of Yunnan, from Lincang County up to Weishan. Here is a rough map of the area they inhabit.

Jingdong style

This costume is worn in the southern part of this area, from Jingdong County up to Nanjian.
The men's traditional costume includes a vest made from two goatskins, often worn with no shirt. Women sometimes wear this as well.

Jinggu County and Pu'er City

This is the everyday costume followed by the formal costume of this area

Jingdong County

Nanjian County

This costume is from the Wuliang Mountain region of Nanjian County. Here are a couple more images showing this style.

This image shows the costume from the village of Gonglang in Nanjian County.

In this region, and also in the areas further north, there is a tradition called Tiaocai. This is a form of dance which is used to present dishes during a festive banquet. There has recently been a resurgence of this tradition.

The men in particular have invented stage costumes to accompany this practice.

Here is a video about this tradition and its resurgence. Narrated in French.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn2UgauIRJU

Weishan Style

Costumes of this style are also worn in part of Nanjian County

Weishan and Midu Counties

The costume from this region is characterized by the 'guobei', a pad which is worn on the back. Similar mantles of various sizes are worn in many costumes of this area, by Tibetans, Naxi, Bai, and other branches of Yi. The guobei in this area are circular or oval, and come in two types, plain felt with a couple of embroidered motifs, and fully embroidered.

This first type is the more famous. The two rectangular motifs are eyes, which serve to scare demons. The other two motifs are spiders. It happened once that some Yi girls were being pursued by enemy soldiers, and took refuge in a cave. Some spiders saw what was going on, and quickly spun webs over the opening. The soldiers saw the cave, but also saw that the opening was covered with cobwebs, which indicated that the girls could not possibly have entered. The Yi girls in this area embroidered the spiders on the pad to commemorate this saving action.

Other girls put more embroidery on the guobei.

This girls above are from Midu County. The costume is similar to that of Weishan county but shorter.

The costume of Dongshan district of Weishan County is very colorful.

The costume from Ma-an-shan of Weishan is a little different.

As you can see from the woman above, baby carriers in this area somewhat resemble the guobei, being rounded and smaller than they are in other areas.

Here are a few more images from this area. Some of these resemble the above costumes, others do not, but there are so many different costumes that I do not have good information for them all.

In this image, the girl on the left seems to be wearing a Miao or Dong style headdress. This is not part of any Yi costume, and in fact, belongs to eastern Guizhou Province.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman Kozak

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Jim Goodman, 'The Exploration of Yunnan', Kunming, 2006

Unknown Author, 'The Costumes and Adornments of Chinese Yi Nationality Picture Album', Beijing, 1990
Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993
Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,
This will be my last article in this series about the Yi people. This article will talk about the Central Yi, or Luoluopo, also called the Chuxiong Yi. The image above shows some of the costumes of this region
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolopo_language

These people inhabit the central portion of Yi territory, including the eastern part of Chuxiong Prefecture, and the northwest part of Kunming Prefecture. Here is a rough map of the area covered.

Dayao Style

This is found in the northwestern part of this region, in Dayao, Yaoan and Yongren Counties.

Here is an image of some girls from Dayao, showing off the abundant applique and embroidery of their outfits. Note in particular the heavily cross stitched shoulder bags.

Here we have the general costume pieces, but very heavily ornamented with embroidery, soutache, and applique. Here is a woman's outfit.

A vest is sometimes worn, as are embroidered waist streamers and elaborately ornamented reticules.

Often colorful embroidered kerchiefs top the headdress.

The ornament on the costume varies by locality. Here are some women from the village of Shuwala

Highly embroidered shoulder bags are carried by both men and women.

Men dress more simply.

A few more images of this style.

Here we see at least three different styles of costume. The three girls with their backs to us
are in the Dayao Costume.

Here is a baby carrier from this region.

Unfortunately the Mao cap has replaced the traditional headdress to some extent.

Guihua

Although it lies in this area, Guihua has a unique and very different costume, based on applique and patchwork.

This girl is wearing a Guihua coat, although the rest of the outfit does not match. The cap is from Zhijiu in Wuding County. The bag is in the Dayao style.

Here the woman on the right is wearing the Guihua costume

Luongchan Style

This style is found in the southwest of Chuxiong Prefecture, including the Counties of Chuxiong, Muoding, Nanhua and Shuangbai along the Longchuan River.

This costume has an apron with a relatively narrow bib and silver chains holding it around the neck.

Here is a typical outfit. Again, this will vary in details by locality.

In the Daguokou and Shuangbai districts of Chuxiong Municipality, an elegant variant of this is worn.

These girls are from Muliu in Chuxiong

Men's costumes are similar to other regions. Note that the goatskin vest is worn here as well. The instrument, xianzi, is typical for the Yi in this area.

In this area, unusually, the men sometimes wear leather or embroidered aprons with pockets.

Just a couple more images of what I believe to be this style.

On the 8th day of the 2nd month, the Yi of Chuxiong celebrate the Flower Arranging Festival. In this first image a Bimo, a priest of the Yi indigenous religion blesses the festival.

Wuding Style

This style is worn in the Counties of Wuding, Yongren, Yuanmou, and Shuangbai in Chuxiong Prefecture, as well as the counties of Luquan, Fuming and Xundian, found in Kunming and Qujiang Prefectures.

The shirts have round ornament around the shoulders, edged with silver dangles, which more recently have been replaced with fringe, and especially elaborately ornamented pants with ribbons and especially with cross stitched dancers.

The caps vary widely by locality. Here are a couple of girls wearing the 'parrot beak' cap of Wuding.

Here is a little girl's outfit from Wuding and Lufeng. Note the silver ornaments, the apron without a bib, the fancy pants and a fanciful cap so typical for small children.

Here is an outfit for an older woman from Wuding.

Some details of embroidery and applique.

Butterfly Cap of Lufeng

Oriental Cherry Cap of Yuanmou

Unusual knitted cap of Luquan.

Zhijiu District of Yongren County

This costume is famous and often seen, but has a limited distribution. It is highly ornamented, and females of all ages wear a distinctive cockscomb shaped cap. This cap is set crossways on the head.

This woman is wearing the goatskin vest which is found in this area and also in the west of Yunnan.

Here we see the back of one of these caps.

Here are some men from this region doing a left foot dance, wearing the goatskin vests.

Maojie of Wuding

In this region we see long coats, and fireweed [Gerbera delavayi] cloth is again common. Also the mantle worn over the shoulder reappears in this area, woven of fireweed cloth and embroidered.

Fireweed vest worn by men.

Xundian

This lies in the easternmost part of this area, including the counties of Xundian, Songming, Shizong and Luoping of Kunming Prefecture.

In this region, they have retained an older and completely different way of dressing, Which is shared with some Hmong communities in the area. The most distinctive garment is a sort of poncho which is pulled over the head and then cinched at the waist. This is worn over a skirt.

The men wear wide pants, a wide sleeved coat, and over that a vest, together with a black turban.

This concludes my writings on the Yi people for now. This series of articles, in spite of their length, did not include every costume of the Yi people. I have several images which I have collected which do not match any of the styles which I have covered. If anyone can point me towards more information I would be grateful.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative. Perhaps some of you will be inspired to use Yi embroidery designs in some of your projects and bring some of this beauty to your homes.

Roman Kozak

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Unknown Author. 'Dress and Festivals of the Minority Peoples of Yunnan', Yunnan, 2004

Dr Florian Knothe et al, 'Embroidered Identities Ornately Decorated Textiles and Accessories of Chinese Ethnic Minorities' 2014, Hong Kong

Jim Goodman, 'The Exploration of Yunnan', Kunming, 2006

Unknown Author, 'The Costumes and Adornments of Chinese Yi Nationality Picture Album', Beijing, 1990
Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993
Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,
Today I will talk a bit about the Turya Ту́р'яriver valley region of Zakarpattia. This region is shown on the map above as number 3. The Turiya river flows into the Uzh at Perechyn.
The polychrome embroidery is not similar to that of the neighboring valleys, but does resemble Rusyn embroidery from further west in Slovakia.

Here is an embroidered woman's shirt from the village of Poroshkovo.

Here is the front of a woman's shirt from the village of Tur'ya Polyana.

Here is a chemise from this area being shown at an exhibit in the1920's. Note that the opening on this garment is on the side.

Here is embroidery from a man's shirt from the village of Poroshkovo.

This is a reconstruction of the shirt

This is a married woman's cap, chepets, from this valley.

I believe that this costume is from this region, even though the skirt is white. Compare the chepets.

This photo may be from this region.

This photograph was labelled Irshava region, but it must be from this valley, as it does not resemble the Irshava costume.

The following images are taken from Amalie Kozminova's 'Podkarpatska Rus -Prace a zivot', published in Czechoslovakia in 1922. they depict this region.

Here we see the entire costume, boots, skirt, apron, chemise, chepets, and one woman is wearing a shoulder shawl.

Here we see a couple standing in front of a painted barn.

Here we see women embroidering inside a painted barn.

Woven rushnyky from this region, from the village of Kamianytsia. They also seem to be in the image above.

Here are images of embroidery from this area from Amalie's book.

Shirt embroideries from this valley.

The following are from 'L'Art Populaire en Russie Subcarpathique' by S. Makovski, printed in Prague in 1926.

Sleeve embroidery from the village of Solochyn.

Embroidery from the villages of Holubyna and Poroshkovo

Embroideries, the first two from Poroshkovo, the third from Turya Bystra.

Embroideries from Poroshkovo, Ploske, and two from Holubyne.

Embroidery, two from Poroshkovo, and one from Holubyne. The top and bottom ones are probably cuffs, or maybe collars.

The following embroideries are all from the village of Zarichovo, on the Uzh river just upstream of the confluence with the Turiya.

Shoulder inset of a woman's shirt.

Collar of woman's shirt.

The rest of these are embroideries from mens' shirts, cuff, collar, and front opening.

Some of these last show influence of Hutsul embroidery, which was imitated over a wide area of Ukraine.

here are a couple images from a Transcarpathian fashion show, possibly showing garments from this region. Compare to images above.

The hair should not be hanging down under the chepets, but rather braided or twisted and tucked up underneath it.

And that is all that I have on this costume. I do not know if it, or the memory of it, survives in the Turya valley today, but this is an interesting costume and deserves to be remembered.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,

Today I will talk a bit about the various peoples and costumes of Burma, or Myanmar.

First off, Myanmar is pronounced with only two syllables, in fact, the Bamar have always called their land 'Myanmar', but the British heard it as 'Burma'. Thus Mee-anmar is wrong, and so is Mie-anmar. The Y is pronounced as a consonant, not a vowel. Say Yanmar, and then add the M./ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/ (

listen)

The Union of Burma has always recognized that it is multicultural. This is acknowledged in the constitution, although not always followed in fact. This map shows the various divisions of Myanmar, some of which are called Regions and others States. States are regions in which the dominant ethnicity is not that of the majority. This map shows the locations of the States.

Most of the regional peoples are made up of many groups, but are often lumped together on the basis of geography, language and culture. This will be a very quick introduction to the various groups. Here is a very rough map of the languages and ethicities of Myanmar.

Bamar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamar_people

The Bamar are the dominant ethnicity of Myanmar, 68%, and often called simply Burmese.
They are represented by medium orange on the map above and speak a Sino-Tibetan language. They live mostly on the Irrawady plain and the coasts. The image at the head of the article shows Bamar women in modern costume. One notable feature of the wrap around hipcloths, longyi, is the curvilinear designs traditionally woven in the technique called luntaya acheik, or 'thousand shuttles'. This is essentially a very fine tapestry technique, and true handwoven luntaya acheik is very expensive. This is often copied in other techniques, I recently saw one for sale in town that was done in machine embroidery. I have already written a more in depth article on this topic.
https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2018/04/burmese-costume-and-luntaya-acheik.html

The men also knot a longyi around the waist, but in a different manner, and usually of plain or plaid cloth.

Bamar Court dance by women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDr_ygho7Ug

Traditional dance by Bamar men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuoXVRpumB4

Austro Asiatic Speaking Peoples:

Mon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_people

The Mon are the oldest people in this region, and had a high civilization in what is now Myanmar and Thailand before the Bamar or the Thai arrived from the northeast. They are responsible for Theraveda Buddhism being the dominant religion of this area. Their language belongs to the Austro Asiatic language family and is related to the Khmer language of Cambodia, Vietnamese, and many tribal languages of Southeast Asia. They, along with other Austro Asiatic peoples are shown in pale blue on the map above. They live mostly in Mon State, and nearby areas, as well as in parts of Thailand. Many have been assimilated in past centuries.

A video of Mon girls dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7nAhGQwIR4

A Video about Mon culture, showing boys dancing in the middle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=troVJnwY7-A

Besides States and Regions, Myanmar also has 'Self-Administered Zones' and 'Divisions'. These are for the recognition of some of the smaller groups who live in more restricted areas. Here is a map which shows them.

Wa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_people

The Wa are another Austro Asiatic people, who live mostly in the Wa Self Administered Division of Shan State, and adjacent parts of Yunnan Province in China. Like the Mon, they have lived in the region for a long time, however, they are a tribal people who only recently gave up headhunting. They mostly follow a traditional animist religion, and few are Buddhists.Wa costume is mostly in red and black.

Here are some Wa girls doing the famous hair swinging dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZIMiQN34fE

The Wa men dance as well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKETRqy3uMs

Palaung
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaung_people

The Palaung are a group of Austro Asiatic speaking peoples who live in the north part of Shan State, and adjacent regions of Yunnan Province in China. There is a Pa Laung Self Adimistered Zone, but many live outside it. They are also called Benglong, De'ang, Blang, and Ta'ang. There are other smaller groups, like the Riang who are related but speak distinct languages.

A video showing some of the traditions of the Palaung people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MWX5QEEe7I

Palaung girls doing a traditional dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDg5TXZUwKo

A Palaung fashion show followed by young people dancing. Accompanied by modern pop music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bLgZz0N-AU

Tai Speaking Peoples:

Shan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shan_people

All the resident Tai speaking peoples are called Shan by the Bamar. They include the Tai Yai, Tai Lue, Tai Mao, Tai Khoen, Tai Long and Khamti or Hkamti Tai. I have written a more in depth article on them here. https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2018/06/overview-of-costumes-of-tai-peoples.html. They live in extreme southern Myanmar, but otherwise mostly in Shan State and areas in the north in Sagaing Region and Kachin State.

Each of the above mentioned groups wears a top and a tubular wrap skirt called Pah sin, but each ornaments it in a different way. See my article on the Tai peoples above. Here are some examples. The men tend to wear pants rather than sarongs as most Tai men do.

Tai Lue

Tai Mao

Tai Khoen

Tai Yai, Tai Long

Videos of Shan dancing in various of the above costumes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iahPxBDVjGc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Op4JkCnlc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-1Hk71KOd0

Khamti or Hkamti Tai.These people live in the far north of Myanmar, and also over the border into India.

Khamti dance video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTRJkah3T0E

I think I will stop here for now, and finish this topic in a second article.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

Source Material:
Gittinger & Lefferts, 'Textiles and the Tai Experience in Southeast Asia', Washington, D.C., 1992,
Patricia Cheesman Naenna, 'Costume and Culture; Vanishing Textiles of some of the Tai groups in Laos', Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1990\
Prangwatthanakum and Naenna, 'Lan Na Textiles - Yuan Lue Lao', Bangkok, 1990
Nguyen Van Huy et al, 'The Great Family of Ethnic Groups in Vietnam', Vietnam, 2011
Dell and Dudley, 'Textiles from Burma', 2003, London
Maya McLean, 'Dress and Tai Yai Identity in Thoed Thai, Northern Thailand', 2012, Bangkok
Alexandra Green, 'Eclectic Collecting - Art from Burma in the Denison Museum', 2008, Honolulu
'Dress and Festivities of the Minority Peoples of Yunnan', 2004, China
Yos Santosombat, 'Lak Chang - a reconstruction of Tai identity in Daikong', 2001. Canberra
Frank LeBar, et al, 'Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia', New Haven Ct., 1964
Susan Conway, 'Thai Textiles', London, 1992
Richard K. Diran, 'The Vanishing Tribes of Burma', London, 1997
Unknown Author. 'Dress and Festivals of the Minority Peoples of Yunnan', Yunnan, 2004

Dr Florian Knothe et al, 'Embroidered Identities Ornately Decorated Textiles and Accessories of Chinese Ethnic Minorities' 2014, Hong Kong

Jim Goodman, 'The Exploration of Yunnan', Kunming, 2006

Unknown Author, 'The Costumes and Adornments of Chinese Yi Nationality Picture Album', Beijing, 1990
Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993
Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,

Today I will continue talking about the various peoples of Myanmar, or Burma.

Karenic Speaking Peoples

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karenic_languages

Karen or Kayin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_people

The Karen languages form a unique and very distinct branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. These people are made up of many groups which speak related languages, and are called, by outsiders, Karen, Kayin, Kariang, or Yang. They live in Karen or Kayin State, shown in yellow on the map above, inland Tanintharyi Region, across the border in Thailand, in enclaves in the Irrawady River Delta, and also scattered in parts of Shan State. The two major groups of the Karen people are the Sgaw and the Pwo, but there are others. The image at the head of the article is of Karen. Both Sgaw and Pwo are found throughout the Karen speaking area. The basic garment of the Karen is two woven pieces of cloth sewn together to each other, and also at the sides, forming a sort of tunic. Openings are left unsewn for the head and arms. Young people wear only a long garment of this type, married women wear a shorter tunic and a wrap skirt. Men used to wear only a somewhat shorter tunic and a loincloth, but nowadays often wear a longyi or pants on the lower body. These cloth panels are often intricately woven, and may also have embroidery and/or seedwork.

Karen young people dancing. Great music and performance, but they are in modern clothing, t shirts and longyi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSF_i1ZvlQw

Sgaw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%27gaw_Karen_language

This first image shows a bride on the left,and a bridesmaid on the right.

The following are closer views of Sgaw tunics, showing woven ormament, embroidery and seedwork.

The following are some Sgaw wrapskirts. Many feature an ikat 'python skin' design in the center.

Sgaw New Years Song. It is definitely been degraded by pop music influence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8NwlX7Fb0Y

Pwo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwo_Karen_languages

Some examples of Pwo tunics, again showing woven ornament, embroidery and seedwork.

Paku

The Paku speak a language related to Sgaw. The costume is somewhat distinct. They live in northern Kayin State and southern Kayah State.

Karen dance. Group not mentioned, but the girls are wearing Paku Karen type tops. The costume is modernized and adapted for stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=715m-vZSgKA

Bwe

The Bwe or Kayaw, are found in Karenni State, and to some extant over the border in Thailand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bwe_people

Bwe Karen traditional music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYCTnRqtNk

Bwe Karen swimming and catching fish to make fish sauce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njc39Npp5p8

Kayah

The Kayah are also known as the Karenni, which is Burmese for 'Red Karen'. They live in Kayah State, north of Kayin State which is shown in violet on the map above, and over the border into Shan State and Thailand as well. The Bwe are sometimes considered to be a subgroup of the Kayah. The women traditionally wore a cloth wrapped around the torso and a multitude of lacquered cotton rings around the legs.

A group performing Kayah dances to some awful pop songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llKVXVVCsDk

A performance of Kayah dance in Singapore, again to modern music, and in modern costume adaptation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRb6UFXB7gQ

Kayan

The Kayan are a subgroup of the Karenni. The Burmese call them Padaung. They are famous for the traditional habit of their women wearing multiple brass rings around their necks. Because of this they have been much photographed both in Burma and in Thailand, where they live.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayan_people_(Myanmar)

Kayan young people dancing. The music isnt too bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Y6XqgRZwM

A better view of modern style costumes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTZ4H2lodMI

Pa O

The Pa'O, or Thaungthu, speak languages that form yet another branch of the Karennic language family. They are quite numerous, and many live in western Shan State, shown in Green on the map above, in the Pa O Self Administered Zone, shown in green on the map below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pa%27O_people

The Pa O wear black or indigo outfits with colored turbans. They claim that they once wore colorful clothing, but at some point in the past were forced to wear black by a despotic local ruler.

Unfortunately, like many other southeast Asian peoples, they often replace the traditional turban with commercially produced towels.

Pa O girls dancing on stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9hkxMxL-wk

A Pa O music video. I could not find one with decent resolution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbFV3c2x0vs

One more showing boys and girls dancing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN_SrZvrTNs

Hill Tribes

These are various peoples who live in the eastern part of Shan State, and who arrived on the territory of Burma relatively recently [ie. within the last 200 yrs or so], in contrast to the peoples which I have covered so far. Most have their major centers of population to the east of Myanmar, and are often scattered through China, Thailand, Laos, and sometimes Vietnam.

Miao -Yao

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hmong%E2%80%93Mien_languages

This is a relatively small language family, which has not been convincingly linked to any other. It includes the languages of the Hmong and relatives, the Mien and relatives, as well as the She and the Pa Then. I have talked about all of these in other articles. I have not found statistics as to numbers, but there seem to be few of these people in Myanmar.

Hmong

The Hmong are the westernmost representatives of the Miao People. They are renowned everywhere they live for their embroidery, batik, and costumes. There are two groups found in Burma.They are part of the same population that are found in Laos and Thailand I have written about the Hmong here. https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2017/11/introduction-to-costumes-of.html

Blue or Green Hmong

White Hmong.

The white skirt for which this group is named is often no longer worn.

Hmong Procession in Myanmar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3U9CIFBOFI

Hmong New Year celebration in Myanmar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TQBNMDEoJk

Mien

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yao_people
The Mien are the westernmost members of the Yao People. Again, they form part of the same group which is found in Laos and Thailand. The Mien also have much embroidery on their costumes, especially on the womens' pants. I have written about the Mien here. https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2017/12/introduction-to-costumes-of_15.html

Loloish Group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loloish_languages
This group of peoples is originally native to Yunnan, but have spread south and west into other countries. There are many such small peoples, but two are counted among the hill tribes of eastern Shan State.

Lahu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahu_people
The Lahu are found in Yunnan, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand as well as eastern Shan State.They are known for silver ornaments as well as patchwork and applique on their clothing. There are two distinct groups of Lahu in Burma, each of which have subgroups. I have written about them here. https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2019/09/overview-of-costumes-of-lesser-known_22.html

Black Lahu or Lahu Na

Red Lahu or Lahu Nyi

A video of a Lahu song. They keep returning to shots of 5 young couples dancing in Shan, Bamar, Lahu, Lisu and Akha costumes. The people in the meeting house are in Lahu outfits. I dont get why the golf and pickups are there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th1gdra-52U

A visit to a Lahu Shi village in Myanmar, showing in part some traditional music and dance. Also showing off traditional costume of this subgroup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhB8zEX0C_E

Akha

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akha_people
The Akha are another Loloish speaking group that originated in Yunnan. They are found in Shan State, Yunnan, Northern Laos and Thailand. They have a particular devotion to their traditions, called 'The Akha Way'. Their costumes are rich in ornament, especially the traditional womens' headdresses. They are made up of several groups. I have written more about Akha costumes here.https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2019/10/overview-of-costumes-of-lesser-known.html

Akha girls dancing on stage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUeK-JHkZFU

Akha music video. The shots keep jumping between three different schlocky stage costumes and really beautiful traditional Akha costume of a different group than the first video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK2MIqhHQsE

It looks like I will have to have a part three to this article.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

Source Material:
Gittinger & Lefferts, 'Textiles and the Tai Experience in Southeast Asia', Washington, D.C., 1992,
Patricia Cheesman Naenna, 'Costume and Culture; Vanishing Textiles of some of the Tai groups in Laos', Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1990\
Prangwatthanakum and Naenna, 'Lan Na Textiles - Yuan Lue Lao', Bangkok, 1990
Nguyen Van Huy et al, 'The Great Family of Ethnic Groups in Vietnam', Vietnam, 2011
Dell and Dudley, 'Textiles from Burma', 2003, London
Maya McLean, 'Dress and Tai Yai Identity in Thoed Thai, Northern Thailand', 2012, Bangkok
Alexandra Green, 'Eclectic Collecting - Art from Burma in the Denison Museum', 2008, Honolulu
'Dress and Festivities of the Minority Peoples of Yunnan', 2004, China
Yos Santosombat, 'Lak Chang - a reconstruction of Tai identity in Daikong', 2001. Canberra
Frank LeBar, et al, 'Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia', New Haven Ct., 1964
Susan Conway, 'Thai Textiles', London, 1992
Richard K. Diran, 'The Vanishing Tribes of Burma', London, 1997
Unknown Author. 'Dress and Festivals of the Minority Peoples of Yunnan', Yunnan, 2004

Dr Florian Knothe et al, 'Embroidered Identities Ornately Decorated Textiles and Accessories of Chinese Ethnic Minorities' 2014, Hong Kong

Jim Goodman, 'The Exploration of Yunnan', Kunming, 2006

Unknown Author, 'The Costumes and Adornments of Chinese Yi Nationality Picture Album', Beijing, 1990
Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993
Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,

This is the third installment of my overview of the Peoples of Myanmar. Today I will focus on the peoples of the north and west.

Kachin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachin_State

Kachin State lies in the northeast of Burma, bordering Yunnan on the east, Tibet to the north, India [Arunachal Pradesh] and Sagaing region to the west. The term is also used loosely as a catch-all to refer to any of the various peoples that inhabit this area. Besides the Hkamti Tai Shan, there are several peoples in the area who represent three branches of the Sino-Tibetan Language family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachin_people

In this map above, the Khamti Tai are represented in indigo, and Sino-Tibetan peoples in shades of green. There are many groups, but I will limit myself to the 6 shown above.

A Kachin pop video, showing girls dancing in the costumes of various Kachin peoples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Deyrhnfok

Jingpo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingpo_people
The Jingpo, or Jingpaw, are the most numerous people in the State. The image at the head of the article is of Jingpo. They also live in northern Shan State, and over the border into Yunnan. They are represented by hunter green on the map above. The other related peoples are shown in various other shades of green, mostly along the Yunnan - Kachin border. These other peoples are considered to be subgroups of the Jingpo by some, and closely related peoples by others. They each have their own distinctive language or dialect. I have already written about the Jingpo costume here. https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2019/09/overview-of-costumes-of-lesser-known_22.html

A video from a traditional Jingpo dance festival. Various costumes are visible, but primarily the Jingpo, although some Rawang are also seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHjAB58Up3M

Jingpo girls dancing on stage. All the stage performances I could find were to pop music. This group went on to perform on Myanmar's got Talent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqJh-qdfx-0

Atsi or Zaiwa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaiwa_language
This and the following groups are closely related to the Jingpo and have similar costumes.

Maru, Langsu, or Lhao Vo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhao_Vo_language
These people are labelled Maru on the map above, but Langwaw in the image above it.

Lashi or Lacid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashi_language
This is another group closely related to the Jingpo

A modern music video showing girls dancing in Lacid / Lashi costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0_HBvmKz-M

Lisu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisu_people
The Lisu people speak languages related to those of the Yi, or Lolo. They seem to have originated on the edge of Tibet in Yunnan. You can see from the map above that their major area of distribution is in Yunnan just east of the Kachin border. They are also scattered in enclaves, especially further south along the Kachin border, around Mytitkyina as well as northern Shan State, southern Shan State, and as far as northern Thailand. I have written more about them here. https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2019/09/overview-of-costumes-of-lesser-known_22.html

I have found evidence of three distinct costumes used by the Lisu in Myanmar. The first two are also found across the border in Yunnan.

Northern Lisu

The following two images show costumes of the various groups that live in Kachin State. In both of them, the Lisu woman is at the left.

Myitkyina area and northern Shan State

Here is a closeup of an overapron like the ones above.

Southern Shan State. This same costume is also found among the Lisu who live across the border in northern Thailand. This group of Lisu are not considered to be Kachin, as they do not live in Kachin State.

A video of Lisu dancing at a festival. Both the northern and the central costumes are presented.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oos2_PgxBL4

Rawang

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nung_Rawang
The Rawang speak a Sino - Tibetan Language of the Nungish branch, and are related rather to the Derung and Nu peoples who live across the border in Yunnan rather than to their neighbors in Burma. On the map above, they are shown in somewhat brighter green, and are found to the northeast of the Jingpo. I have written more about the Rawang here. https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2019/09/overview-of-costumes-of-lesser-known.html
The Nung people are related to but distinct from the Rawang.

Stage perfomance to a pop song with women dressed in modern Rawang costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTlLQmr5nms

A mixed group of people dancing in modern Rawang costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D48lzVNZtw

Naga

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_people
The term Naga refers to a large group of tribes with similar cultures but diverse languages that live in the border area of northwest Myanmar, in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in Sagaing Region, and the neighboring Indian States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland. The northern tribes speak languages from the Sal branch of the Sino Tibetan Language family, and the others languages from the Kuki-Chin branch. They are renowned as fierce and fearless warriors, although it is generally believed that they have now given up headhunting. The ghost pepper was bred by these people, and is used in their cuisine.

The Naga men usually wore a loincloth and some ornaments, but little else.

For festivals and ceremonies, however they dress up, and are resplendent in outfits that feature hornbill feathers, monkey fur, tiger teeth and claws, boars tusks, cowrie and metal plate studded aprons, as well as blankets that they wrap around themselves. The blankets have designs woven in, but are not cut or shaped. Some types of blankets may only be worn by men of a particular status. Hornbill feathers are so important to the culture that when not available, they may be replaced with paper copies.

Here is an example of a Naga embroidered blanket, followed by an image of men using similar blankets.

Women weave wraps for themselves and the men. They often feature stripes, and sometimes woven in zigzag designs. The women also adorn themselves with many beads, although they are not as flamboyant.

A video of the Rengma Naga dancing in full regalia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo-zSvKxHWk

Zeliang Naga dancing with hornbill feathers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TydnOHkSUk

Chin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chin_people
The Chin peoples are also called Kuki. Both are exonyms, and neither is very popular with the various peoples so named. Many of these peoples call themselves Lai or Zo, or some version thereof. The term Kuki is used in India and Bangladesh, and the term Chin in Burma. The various tribes speak many languages, but they form a coherent branch of the Sino Tibetan Language family. They are found in Chin State in Myanmar, the hills of northern Rakhine State, as well as in Mizoram and Manipur States in India, and the Chittagong Hills of Bangladesh.

Here is the location of Chin State in Burma.

This map shows the Burma / India / Bangladesh border area. The Chin languages are shown in bright green.

The Chin peoples have a very sophisticated weaving tradition, and many of their textiles are woven with amazing detail. These are used as wraps, and are not cut and seldom sewn, only for women's tops. This is a detail from a wraparound skirt of the Khualshim Chin.

The Northern tribes wear the most elaborate clothing.

The tops are two pieces of woven cloth sewn together leaving unsewn gaps for the head and arms. They are often shorter than the Karen / Kayin tops, and may be worn under the skirt. They also wear a wrap around skirt and a shawl/blanket that is wrapped around the shoulders. Here is a group of Haka Chin girls dancing.

The men traditionally wore a cloth wrap and a loincloth, or nothing else, much like the ancient Greeks. The wrap is even worn in the same way as the Greek himation.

Haka Chin around 1920, likely standing in front of the local missionaries house.

More recently, they often wear modern clothing underneath.

Siyin Chin Chiefs, 1900

Lushai Chin Chiefs, 1944

The Chin have a culture based on Merit-earning ceremonies / feasts / deeds, somewhat similar to the potlach culture of the northwest coast Native Americans. There are specific designs on some of the wraps which may only be worn by those who have achieved particular levels of merit.

Embroidery on clothing is very limited, usually only on the edges. The vast majority of the ornament is woven in.

Here is Haka Chin ceremonial clothing.

A couple of Haka Chin women's tunics.

Haka Chin wrap skirts

Haka Chin man's wrap

Lushai Chin man's wrap

The tribes in southern Chin State wear simpler outfits. The men may wear just a small loincloth and sitting cloth hung from the shoulders, or may wear a wrap. The women wear simple tunics and striped wrapped skirts. They often add modern Burmese pieces of clothing today.

A couple of images of N'men Chin men and women from the 1950s.The women are on the right in this first image.

N'men Chin girls, Bong village, 1960s. The two middle girls are wearing traditional striped wrap skirts.

N'men Chin bride and groom, 2004. The woman is in traditional dress. The man wears a traditional wrap over Burmese shirt and longyi.

N'men Chin woman's tunic

This is a Zindu Dai Chin couple in ceremonial dress with modern white shirts.

As you can see, some of the Chin tribes have a tradition of tattoing womens' faces. The men are not tattooed. Here are two Laitu Chin women.

A Laitu Chin man

Here is the cloth for a Khamau Chin tunic, followed by an assembled tunic. The Khamau are a far southern tribe, found in the hills between Rakhine State and Magway region. They wear only a long tunic.

A video of Akha Chin girls dancing to modern music. The costume is traditional except they are not wearing the wrap, likely because they are dancing, and their tops are fitted, with short cap sleeves, which is NOT traditional.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA5Il04LI-A

A video of Chin national day in Malaysia. Many things are happening. Siyin Chin dancers at the 4:50 mark, Haka Chin dancers at the 9:00 mark, Dai Chin dancers at the 14:30 mark. Also singers, modern dancers and bodybuilders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOpDtab2l8c

Rakhine State
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakhine_State

Rakhine, or Arakan State lies in Southeastern Myanmar, and borders Chin State and Bangladesh in the north. Chin tribes inhabit the hills of the northern and eastern parts of the state. In the lowlands, the majority of the population is ethnically Rakhine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakhine_people

The Rakhine language is very close to Burmish, and sometimes considered to be a dialect. There is a Rakhine mnority in Bangladesh, where they are called the Mog. Most are Theraveda Buddhists, like the Mon and the Bamar. Their dress is also very similar to the Bamar.

A video of traditional Rakhine music and dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm1krxEpUcM

A modern music video with images of Rakhine State
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIkIYDo0n0A

Kaman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamein
The Kaman or Kamein are descended from a Persian prince and his followers who settled in Rakhine in 1660. They have become assimilated, but are still Moslem. The Kaman are recognized as a Rakhine subgroup by the Myanmar government and are full citizens. Their dress is also very similar to that of the Bamar.

Rohingya

The Rohingya are one of the groups which inhabit Rakhine State, but are not recognized by the government. They live in the lowlands, mostly at the north end, but also scattered along the coast. They are predominantly Moslem, and speak a language related to Bengali, and thus unrelated to any of the other languages of Burma. The current government claims that they are not native to the area and does not recognize them as citizens. Here are some Rohingya men meeting with Australian officers in WWII.

The Rohingya dress much like the Bengalis or the Burmese.

A song of the Rohingya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtLX4ABikbk

Burmish Groups

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_language
There are three groups in Shan State which speak distinct dialects of Burmese, and have somewhat of a separate identity. They live in western Shan State,

Taungyo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taungyo
These people seem to have originally come from Southern Burma long ago, and today live in the region around Pindaya. They speak a southern dialect somewhat similar to Rakhine. The women wear a simple tunic, and rings around their legs when married. Men dress like the Shan or the Bamar.

Danu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danu_people
The Danu also speak a distinct southern dialect of Burmese. They live mostly in the Danu Self Administered Zone in western Shan State. The Danu consider themselves to be a distinct people from the Bamar.

A video about the Danu People. It starts with a dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYteoOdEEbo

Intha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intha_people
The Intha speak a dialect similar to that of the Danu. They live around and on Lake Inle in western Shan State. Intha in Burmese means 'sons of the lake'. Their ancestors are believed to have come from far southern peninsular Burma. Their clothing is not distinct from that of the Bamar, the men wearing either Shan pants or Bamar longyi. They are famous for their technique of boating and fishing, which involves standing on one leg and paddling with the other.

A video that shows the Intha leg rowers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifCPZx7MoBk

A video that shows a day in Inle Lake. The video shows Intha, Pa o, Taungyo, Padaung, and others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFRazwprjr0

And that concludes my overview of the major peoples of Myanmar.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
David and Barbara Fraser, 'Mantles of Merit - Chin textiles from Myanmar, India and Bangladesh', Bangkok, 2005
Aglaja Stirn and Peter Van Ham, 'The Hidden world of the Naga', New York, 2003
Michael C Howard, 'Textiles of the Hill Tribes of Burma', Bangkok, 1999
Margaret Campbell, 'From the Hands of the Hills', Hong Kong, 1978
Paul and Elaine Lewis, 'Peoples of the Golden Triangle' London, 1984
Gittinger & Lefferts, 'Textiles and the Tai Experience in Southeast Asia', Washington, D.C., 1992,
Patricia Cheesman Naenna, 'Costume and Culture; Vanishing Textiles of some of the Tai groups in Laos', Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1990\
Prangwatthanakum and Naenna, 'Lan Na Textiles - Yuan Lue Lao', Bangkok, 1990
Dell and Dudley, 'Textiles from Burma', 2003, London
Maya McLean, 'Dress and Tai Yai Identity in Thoed Thai, Northern Thailand', 2012, Bangkok
Alexandra Green, 'Eclectic Collecting - Art from Burma in the Denison Museum', 2008, Honolulu
'Dress and Festivities of the Minority Peoples of Yunnan', 2004, China
Yos Santosombat, 'Lak Chang - a reconstruction of Tai identity in Daikong', 2001. Canberra
Frank LeBar, et al, 'Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia', New Haven Ct., 1964
Susan Conway, 'Thai Textiles', London, 1992
Richard K. Diran, 'The Vanishing Tribes of Burma', London, 1997
Unknown Author. 'Dress and Festivals of the Minority Peoples of Yunnan', Yunnan, 2004

Dr Florian Knothe et al, 'Embroidered Identities Ornately Decorated Textiles and Accessories of Chinese Ethnic Minorities' 2014, Hong Kong

Jim Goodman, 'The Exploration of Yunnan', Kunming, 2006

Deng Qiyao et al, 'The Folk Arts of Yunnan Ethnics', Yunnan, 1993
Chen Hongguang et al, 'Ethnic Costumes Clothing Decorations from China', Chengdu, Sichuan, 1995
Bernard Formoso, 'Costumes du Yunnan', Nanterre, 2013
Shan Ren et al, 'The Cream of Yunling - A Photo Odyssey of Yunnan Ethnic Groups', Kunming, 1998

Hello all,
While I am finding my research in Asia to be fascinating, it is very complicated, and I thought I would return to Europe today. As I have already done an article on Aosta, I will continue with Piedmont. I had intended to do an overview of Italy, but found more material than I expected in Piemonte. The Italians have published comparatively little on this subject. Some neighboring peoples, like the Austrians and Croatians have written much on their costumes, but the Italians, unfortunately, seem to be less interested. Also, the Italians have been much involved in the mainstream of European Fashion, and thus there are areas which seem never to have developed a local costume.

Italy is divided into 20 Paese. This are sometimes called provinces, but this is incorrect. A better translation would be Lands, although some call them Regions. The Paese are divided into provinces.

Piedmont

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont
In Italian, Piemonte. This lies in northwest Italy, and borders France on the west, Liguria on the south, Lombardy on the east, and Aosta and Switzerland on the north. It is shown in yellow on the map above. Here is a map of Piedmont, showing the provinces.

As you can see, mountains flank the region on the southwest, west, and north. The bulk of the surviving folk costumes are found in these mountains, both because mountain people tend to retain more of their individual folk culture, and also because these areas are inhabited by communities which speak minority languages. Piedmont is a transitional area. The people in the western mountains speak a dialect of Occitan, or Provencal, and are culturally connected to the Provencal further west in France. The people in the northern mountains, by Aosta, speak Arpitan, and are culturally connected to Aosta, French speaking Switzerland, and Savoy. Still further north there are pockets of Walser Germans, who have connections with the German speaking parts of Canton Valais in Switzerland. Most of the lowlanders speak Piemontese, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmontese_language which is a language or dialect related to Italian. A minority in the east, particularly in Novara, speak the Lombard language. Here is a linguistic map of Piedmont.

Cuneo Province

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Cuneo

Occitan region

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivaro-Alpine_dialect

This region is found in the mountains of western Cuneo - Coumboscuro and Turin Provinces.

There are cultural exchanges and pilgrimages which take place from Provence. The people here are cognizant of their connection to the rest of Occitania. In these photos we see a mix of costumes from Provence and from Piedmont.

The costumes, however, are more similar to those of Savoie, Piedmont having been a part of the Duchy of Savoy for a long time. The various costumes are distributed by valley. Here I will show them from South to North.

Valle Vermenagna

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_Vermenagna

The big festival of this valley is called Abaiya, and celebrates the expulsion of the Saracens on the last Sunday in August. These photos were taken in the town of Limone Piemonte.
http://www.limoneturismo.it/pagina.php?id=72&lang=eng

Valle Gesso

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_Gesso

The woman's costume of this vally is rich in silk fabrics, and is reminiscent of those in the Maurienne valley in Savoie. Unfortunately, I was only able to find one image of it. The cross hanging on a ribbon around the neck is common to many of these western valleys.

On Feb 16, there is the festival of the Orso di Segale of Valdieri, the 'Rye Bear'. This is a local mumming tradition in which local men dress up in rye straw. Here are just a couple of images of the Rye Bear of Valdieri.

Valle Stura di Demonte

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_Stura_di_Demonte

Again I have found very little from this valley. It has the same character as the other costumes in the region. The first print shows daily working clothes, and the photo is of festive dress.

Valle Maira
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maira_Valley

Here is a pair of Lenci dolls representing a bridal pair from the town of Acceglio.

There is also a mumming tradition in Acceglio called barboiras.

An exhibit from Valle Maira.

A video of a song festival in the town of Marmora. Only one of the groups wears costumes, matching the man in the photo above. But the singing is excellent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFVOPEOCUWQ

Valle Varaita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varaita_Valley

In contrast to some of the other valleys, the costume of Valle Varaita is well known, and there is a very good exhibit in the museum in the village of Chianale, found at the head of the valley. Worth a visit if you are in the area. Other notable towns in the valley include Casteldelfino and Sampeyre. http://www.museodelcostumechianale.it/dovesiamo.asp

This first image is from Emma Calderini, who wrote the only comprehensive book on Italian Folk Costumes that exists, to my knowledge. This is a woman from Casteldelfino.

A very particular coif is worn with this costume. It has more or less lace depending on the occasion.

There is a chemise with a lace collar, over which is worn a gown with no waist, an apron that has a bib pinned to the chest over a shawl. A cross on a ribbon is worn around the neck, and there are black silk ribbons attached which hang down in back.

The very uppermost part of the Po River valley belongs to this region, but I have not found any material on it.

Piedmont Region

I have found little from the rest of this area. This image is also from Calderini, and shows a bride from the town of Moretta, in the north of Cuneo Province.

This print is of a woman from the upper reaches of the Tanara valley, which would be on the border between Cuneo and Liguria, east of the Occitan region.

On the occasion of the marriage of the Prince of Piedmont Umberto of Savoy, January 8, 1930, many communities sent representatives to Rome. There were photos taken of the occasion, and many Italian folk costumes are represented, including some that are not specified. It would be wonderful to visit this occasion with a time machine and modern cameras with loads of memory. This image is simply labelled two women from Cuneo. They might be from Stura or Gesso Valley.

The flat lands in southeastern Piedmont were once called Monferrato. This included the current provinces of Asti and Alessandria.
The dance Monferrina originated in this area, and became very popular in north Italy. Here is a group doing the dance. These are stage costumes as indicated, among other things by the skimpy aprons.

This is a screenshot from the following video:
Monferrina in Palazzo Lascaris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyvvFPQZ5N0

This costume seems to be meant to represent this region. Here are a couple of Lenci dolls wearing the same costume.

Some historical reenactors.

And another group, some of whom are wearing this costume. A couple of the girls seem to be wearing the costume of Gressoney.

There are also a couple of girls who seem to be wearing the costume from the following photo, which is also from the 1930 wedding of Prince Umberto, and is labelled Alessandria.

The last image that I have is an old print, which shows a woman from Asti.

I will continue the costumes of Piedmont in the next article.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

Source Material:
Il Costume Popolare in Italia, Emma Calderini, Milano, 1953
plus many online sources.

Hello all,
Today I will continue my overview of the Folk Costumes of the Paese, or Land of Piedmont, or Piemonte. Here is our map of the provinces of Piedmont.

Today I will be covering the province of Turin, or Torino.

Once again, here is our linguistic map of the Region. You can see that, besides the Italian dialects/languages of Piemonteis and Lombard, This region includes speakers of Occitan [Provencal], Arpitan [Franco-Provencal], and Walser German.

Province of Turin - Torino

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_City_of_Turin
The Province of Turin is now officially 'The Metropolitan City of Turin', which does not just include the City of Turin, but the entire area. It borders Cuneo on the south, France on the west, Aosta to the north, and Vercelli and Biella to the east.

The bulk of the surviving Folk Costumes are from the mountains. I will proceed clockwise from the southwest.

Occitan Zone

This includes the three so called Waldensian Valleys, and the uppermost part of Susa Valley, upstream from the town of Susa.

Valadas Valdesas - Val Pellice and Val Germanasca

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valli_valdesi
Generally, Val Chisone is also considered to be one of the Waldensian Valleys, but the costumes there are distinct. The Waldensians are now considered to be a pre-Reformation Protestant group that dates to the 12th cent. They started in this region, and this costume is considered to be a badge of identity. In fact, all the women in these valleys wore this costume, not just the Waldensians, but it has fallen out of use by Catholic women. I have found no systematic difference between the costume of Val Pellice and Val Germanasca.

This first image is a plate from Calderini, showing a well off woman from Torre Pellice.

The coif has a more gathered and puffed peak than the one found further south in Val Varaita.

This image is labelled Val Germanasca. Perhaps the difference is that they may wear shawls that are not white.

Val Chisone - Usseaux and Fenestrelle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Chisone
Val Chisone is a large valley, and has two distinct costumes, distinguished mainly by the coif. This costume is found in the lower valley, especially in the area around the towns of Usseaux and Fenestrelle. The coif is a confection of silk ribbons and bows in white or black, very reminiscent of the one worn in Orelle in the Maurienne Valley in Savoie, France. [which is only two valleys away]

The men in this area have a tradition of sword dancing, which is very similar to traditions found as far as Bohemia and England. They use a special costume, or 'kit', as is generally the case.

Upper Val Chisone - Pragelato

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragelato
The Val Chisone makes a sharp bend just upstream from Usseax, and this costume is found in the upper valley, the main town of which is Pragelato. The main distinguishing feature is a football shaped cap which sits on the back of the head.

Here again is Calderini's plate of this costume.

The shape of the cap is not really visible from this angle, it is better appreciated from the front.

Or the back. On the right we see a woman from Usseaux.

As is common in most places, small children wear different caps.

Here is the website of a group which specializes in the Costumes and dances of Val Chisone and Val Germanasca, 'La Teto Alt'.
http://www.folkpiemonte.it/gruppolatetoaut.html

Upper Susa Valley - Oulx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susa_Valley
The Susa valley is located in the northwest corner of Turin Province, and is bordered on the west and north by France, specifically the Maurienne valley of Savoie. Upstream from the town of Susa, the population speaks Occitan. The main town of this area is Oulx. Again, the main distinction of the costume is the coif.

Guardia Piemontese

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardia_Piemontese
In the 12th and 13th cent, some of the Waldensians of Val Pellice emigrated and formed a colony in Calabria. Today this area is called Guardia Piemontese. It is still an enclave of the Occitan Language, but the Waldensian sect was supposedly wiped out in 1561. The Folk Costume has been much influenced by the Calabrians. Note the flag of Occitania in this first image.

Arpitan or Savoyard Zone

From this point, the valleys to the east are populated by speakers of Arpitan [Franco-Provencal]

Central Val Susa - Val Cenischia
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Cenischia
This costume is worn in the short side valley of Cenischia, and the towns of Venaus and Giaglione in the main Susa valley. In this area, the coifs are black.

This is the costume from Moncenisio. The above are all from Giaglione and Venaus. You can see that it is somewhat different.

The local Sword Dance Group from Venaus.

A video of the Sword Dance of Venaus. This is a different type of sword dance than the one done in Fenestrelle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crz56__Qddw

VallI di Lanzo - Lanzo Valleys

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanzo_Valleys
These three valleys lie at the headwaters of the river Stura de Lanzo. Above the city of Lanzo, the valley divides into three. These valleys are commonly lumped together, and the costume is similar in all of them.

Valle di Viù

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_di_Vi%C3%B9
The first valley is that of Viu'. It is the southernmost of the three Lanzo valleys

Again, the costume is quite similar except for the coif. Here is Calderini's plate of this costume.

The coif is rather small, sits high on the head, has a large bow in front, and on special occasions, has a veil worn over it.

Some images show a black hat worn instead.

Val d'Ala

The middle valley. Two of the towns in this valley are Balme and Ala di Stura.

Here are a couple pictures from Ala di Stura.

These images are from Balme.

A video of a band playing music from this area. The dancers look to be from Balme. The video spends far too much time looking at the musicians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pt0DCMcBl8

Here are a few images from the 1930 wedding of Prince Umberto. It seems that they must be from this area.

In this image, you can see that the last 4 women on the right are from different valleys.

Just a couple more images that are not specified as to which valley.

A short promotional video about this area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8iVevTrCGU

Orco Valley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orco_Valley
This lies north of the Lanzo valleys and south of Aosta. The main town is Ceresole Reale.

I have found only a couple of images of the costume of this valley.

Val Soana

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Soana
This valley lies to the east of the Orco Valley, and part of it lies within Gran Paradiso National Park. The Soana river flows south from the border of Aosta. The main town of this region is Ronco Canavese.

Here is Calderini's plate of the costume of this valley. She seems to be wearing a folded cloth on her head. A couple of the older images show something similar, but more recent images all show the women bareheaded. There does not seem to be a coif native to this valley.

This video shows a 'fashion show' featuring the costume of this valley, with some music and dancing at the end. At the beginning, of course, are long speeches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuJn2Um-iKU

This is the end of the Arpitan Zone

Carema

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carema
This town lies in the extreme northeast corner of Torino Province, just outside of Aosta.
There is a plate by Calderini of the costume of this town, and all the other images which I found seem to be imitations of it.

Maglione

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglione
This town lies south of Carema, close to the eastern edge of Torino Province. They have a tradition of Processing in local costume with towers on their heads on the local Saint's day. You may have noticed a couple of similar images in the above valleys.

La Collina Torinese

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colline_del_Po
There is a place east of the city of Turin which is called Collina Torinese. Thisis the subject of this old print, which simple reads, Contadine della Collina, east of the City.

If we look at the photographs of the different Piedmont groups which attended the wedding of Prince Umberto in 1930, we find these two, in which the people seem to be wearing the same costume.

A couple more such prints exist, showing the costume of various locations around the Province.

This is labelled Settimo Vittone, which lies just south of Carema.

This print shows three different costumes, Contadina di Chiaverano, contadino di Bolengo, contadina di Montalto. These three towns are northeast of Turin, south of Settimo Vittone.

Turin City

The city itself once had a particular costume as well. Here are some old prints and modern reenactors showing the costume.

They need to take another look at the old prints and redesign the headdresses.

This video shows stills of many of the valleys which I have talked about in this article.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PL7qML1Hnk

Thank you for reading, I hope you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,

Today I will continue my overview of the Paese of Piemonte. I will cover the provinces of Vercelli, and Biella. The traditional language of Biella and Vercelli is Piemontese, Some of the villages speak Walser German, being linguistic islands. Here are our two maps again. Biella, the north half of Vercelli, called Valsesia is mountainous, and the southern half of Vercelli is found on the plains.

Biella

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Biella
Biella is a small province southeast of Aosta. The traditional language is Piemontese. I have found little from this province.

The first is the only image I have found of a festive outfit. The rest are all working clothes.

Vercelli

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Vercelli
The Province of Vercelli is shaped rather like an asymmetrical dumbell. It lies north, east, and south of Biella. The southern part lies in the Po valley, and is flat, highly populated, and well integrated into the history of Fashion. The neck and northern part consist of the Valley of the Sesia. There are many well preserved costumes in these mountain valleys, as well as a unique type of lace called puncetto. A couple of the villages in the mountains are Walser German.

Vercelli City

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vercelli
There is a plate by Calderini which shows a bride from Vercelli.

I have found only a couple other images, and they seem to be copies of this one by different artists.

Valsesia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsesia
The north half of the province consists of the Sesia River valley and tributaties. I will devide this into four zones in order to somewhat organize the material. This image from the 1930 wedding of Prince Umberto shows a few different costumes from this area.

As does this more recent photo.

Bassa Valsesia - Lower Sesia Valley

This is the narrow and relatively low lying part of the valley which lies downstream of the major tributaries, from Grigniasco up to Varallo. The costumes here look more like lowlander outfits. I will work my way upstream.

Grignasco

BorgoSesia

Video of performing group of this town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49yR8zRh-Zg

Parasol dance of Borgosesia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCj4i2WQzc8

Cellio

This town lies in the hills to the east.

Quarona

Morondo

Roccapietra

Civiasco

This town lies in a small side valley to the east.

Camasco

This town lies in another small left bank side valley.

Cervarolo

This lies in the same minor side valley as Camasco.

Varallo

This town lies in the main valley just south of the first major tributary valley.

Procession of the 'Seven Marys' on Palm Sunday

Val Mastallone

This is the first of the three major valleys at the head of Valsesia. I have already done an in depth analysis of the major costume of this valley. https://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2014/12/costume-and-embroidery-of-fobello-and.html The various villages of this valley from Sabbia up to Fobello wear essentially the same costume. That of Rimella is somewhat different, owing to it being located in a side valley and being inhabited by Walser Germans instead of Piemontese Italians.The costume includes a very particular kind of openwork called puncetto, worked by tying knots with a needle. Work in white or yellow is done on the chemise, and colored work is done on the apron, which is worn folded up.

Sabbia

Cravagliana

Cervatto

Fobello

Rimella

Called Remmalju in Walser German, this town has a distinct costume, and is inhabited by Walser. One distinction is that they wear the apron around the waist, in contrast to the rest of the valley.The also wear an embroidered stomacher with the bodice.

Val Sermenza

This is the second valley, going east to west. I will proceed up the valley. The costume here is similar to that of Val Mastallone, but recognizably different. The apron is also worn folded up, but with little to no ornament.

Rossa

This is called Rosa on some maps. It is near the mouth of the valley and the women here do not fold their aprons up.

Boccioletto

Fervento

Rimasco

Carcoforo

This town lies in the north or right branch when facing upstream.

Rima San Giuseppe

Called Arimmu o Ind Rimmu by the Walser that inhabit the village. This is the highest village in the left fork.

Alta Val Sesia

Also called la Valle Grande. The third main valley is the continuation of the main Sesia river valley, from Vocca, which actually lies between the two other valleys, up to Alagna Valsesia, another Walser enclave at the head of the valley. The Walser tend to live in the highest villages in these valleys, because they migrated from the north over the mountains from Canton Valais -Wallis in Switzerland.

This image shows various costumes from this valley.

Vocca

Scopa

Scopello

Campertogno

Alagna Valsesia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alagna_Valsesia
In Walser German Im Land. This town was founded by Walser in the 13th cent. Some of the inhabitants still speak the Walser dialect. Alagna lies at the foot of Mt. Rosa, the second highest peak in Europe.

Every year in Varallo, they hold a festival of the folklore of this area. Here is a video that shows part of what happens. You should be able to place most of these costumes at this point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FPNmiLKsko

A video about a cultural gathering of Valsesia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke-V6q7F9AE

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,

This will be my last installment of the overview of the Paese of Piemonte. In this article I will cover the provinces of Novara and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. The people of these provinces speak Lombard rather than Piemontese. Novara was originally part of Lombardy, but was conquered by the Duchy of Savoy in 1706 and has been considered part of Piedmont ever since. These two provinces lie in the east of Piedmont.

Verbano-Cusio-Ossola

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
This province used to be part of Novara Province, but was separated in 1992 . These three were seperate regions that were combined. Verbano is the region on the west shore of Lago Maggiore, Cusio is the area around Lago d'Orta, and Ossola is the mountain valleys which stretch to the north.

Cusio

Valle Strona

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_Strona
This valley lies in the south of this province, from Campello Monti at its head to its mouth on the shores of Lake Orta. Campello was a Walser colony. They consider their closest neighbors to be the Walser community at Rimella, which lies just over the mountain pass to the south, underscoring the fact that they connected more by mountain passes than by valleys. The costume of the upper valley, worn at least as far down as Forno has some definite similarity to that of Rimella, including puncetto in the chemise and sometimes on the aprons. The amount and type of embroidery on the aprons varies widely.

Campello Monti

Forno

A video about a boutique in Forno teaching women how to make the traditional costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQKdIUupyOw

Lower Valle Strona

The costume of Fornero and the lower valley is simpler, and has no similarity to that of Rimella.

Quarna

The twin cities of Upper and Lower Quarna lie west of the Lake. The image at the head of the article is from Quarna Sopra.

Ossola

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossola
Ossola is a mountain valley that extends northwest from Lago Maggiore. There are several side canyons, each of which has a distinct costume. This valley forms a northern extension of Italy, and is bordered on three sides by Switzerland; Canton Valais to the west, and Canton Ticino to the east.

Toce Valley and Ornavasso

The main valley of Ossola is that of the Toce River. The town of Ornavasso is located in the lower parts of the valley.

Anzasca Valley

This valley lies in the southwest of Ossola, the eastern part lies north of Val Strona, and the western part lies north of Valsesia, The community at the head of the valley is Macugnaga, another Walser settlement. It lies to the north of Monte Rosa, as Alagna lies south of it.

An everyday outfit from the upper part of this valley

The Sunday, or half dress outfit.

The festive outfit. This is the most commonly seen, as the more regular attire has been replaced by modern clothing.

The following images are from around Bannio, about halfway down the valley.

Antrona Valley

This is the next valley north, and lies parallel to Anzasca. See the map of the province at the head of the article.
In the upper valley, the old costume had a long apron that hung from over the bust, and a long vest, similar to some of the other valleys in the area, as far away as Ticino.

The newer costume has the apron at the waist, of different materials, depending on the occasion, and a short jacket with ornament on the front edges.

This images are from Viganella, in the lower part of the valley.

Bognanco Valley

This is a small valley that lies north of Antrona.

Domodossola

The town of Domodossola lies in the main valley about even with the mouth of Bognanco valley.

The part of town called Vagna has a tradition of Celebrating the Child Jesus in summer, for the benefit of the many men who travel seasonally for work and are not home in December.

Video of Christmas in Summer festival of Domodossola
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=134&v=LMR_wFsFXIY&feature=emb_logo

Divedro Valley

This valley lies in a northwest orientation from the central valley. It has retained the older style costume reminiscent of the ones found in Verzaska and Maggia valleys in Ticino.

Formazza Valley

This valley lies in the very northernmost part of this Province, and is surrounded on three sides by Switzerland. The population at the head of this valley is Walser. Here are the costumes for Formazza.

Calderini has a plate showing an old style costume from Foppiano. I have found no other record of this costume, and assume that it is no longer worn.

Between Premio and Domodossola, the name Antigorio is used for the lower valley.

Masera

This town lies in the central valley, close to the mouth of Vigezza Valley.

Vigezza Valley

This valley heads to the east from the main valley, reaches a divide, and continues into Ticino in Switzerland, two different rivers flow out of either end of the valley. This is also known as Valle dei Pittori, as many painters in the past settled here, and the costume of this valley features in many of their works. The costumes of the valley show a great variation, depending on social class and occasion. This variety is perhaps better remembered here than in the other valleys because of the existing paintings.

The town of Santa Maria Maggiore in this valley hosts the world convention of Chimney Sweeps every year.

Verbano

Verbano includes the land around Lago Maggiore which belongs to this Province.

Cannobina Valley

This is a small valley which flows into Lago Maggiore at the town of Cannobio.

Video about Crealla and Val Cannobino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkGjWPlnDtM

Intrasca Valley

This is a small valley which lies further south, close to where the Ossola valley meets Lago Maggiore. This costume is especially conserved in the towns of Miazzina and Cossogno.

Province of Novara

This province lies to the south, and contains part of Lago Maggiore. It borders Lombardy on the east.

Mottarone

This is the region between the two lakes which lie on the border with Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Here is the local group from the town of Sovazza.

For most of the rest of Novara, I have found little, except these images from the wedding of Prince Umberto in 1930. These are simply labelled Novara.

Galliate

This town lies in eastern Novara, near to the border with Lombardy. The costume worn in this town is a version of the typical Lombard costume with the raggiera headdress. I have written a more in depth article of that costume here. http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2013/02/costume-of-brianza-italy-and.html

Calderini provides a plate of this costume

These images are from the local folklore group 'I Manghini e le Manghine'.

Galliate dance group web page with videos of dances
http://www.manghinemanghina.it/gruppo/index.html

And that conludes my overview of the costumes of the Region of Piemonte. I did not expect to find so much material, I admit.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Much of this I found online, but here are a couple books as well.
Emma Calderini, Il Costume Popolare in Italia, Milan, 1953
Gino Massano, 'Grazie e Splendori dei Costumi Italiani', Rome, 1930
Flavia Fiori et al, 'L'abito, Il Lavoro, La Donna', Comignago, 2009

Hello all,

Today I would like to talk about a unique type of Ukrainian embroidery, generally known as rushnyk embroidery. The word rushnyk is often translated as 'towel', but this is misleading. Towels may indeed be sometimes called rushnyky, but a true rushnyk is a ritual cloth. They are one loom width, usually linen, and vary in length, but generally are at least 3 yards long. They are found among all the Slavic peoples, from the Russians to the Sorbians, and also among people who live among the Slavs, like the Veps and the Romanians. They are used in many traditional rituals, particularly births, baptisms, weddings and funerals. We drape them over ikons to honor them. They are always ornamented, often with woven designs, but more commonly with embroidery. Many different kinds of embroidery are used to ornament them, often reflecting the region, but today I will focus on one technique only.

This style of embroidery is used in central Ukraine, from Cherkasy to Kharkiw and Slobozhanshchyna. It consists of free form outlines, usually of flowers, executed in stem stitch. The various leaves, petals, etc, are then filled in with various counted thread stitches. These are more or less dense, and thus each filling stitch gives a different shading, some darker and some lighter. Here is a close up example.

The work is overwhelmingly done in red, but in some areas small amounts of blue, black, and/or yellow may be added as accents.

This style of embroidery is unique. Ukraine's neighboring countries have no similar embroideries. There are only two types of embroidery that are even remotely similar.

1. Elizabethan Blackwork.
This style of embroidery was very popular in England among the aristocracy in the Elizabethan era.

This style of embroidery was widely used on linen clothing, being composed of free form floral embroidery with counted thread filling stitches. It was always done in black. The filling stitches were various types of Holbein or outline stitch designs. It faded in popularity after the fall of the House of Tudor, ca 1610.

2 North Russian openwork.

These are two bed valences from Arkhangelsk. The background is executed in two directional drawn thread work. the outlines in stem stitch, and the fields in counted satin stitch in various designs. As you can see this was usually worked all in white. These designs were folk adaptations of the Baroque silk and gold embroidery used by the Aristocracy in St. Petersburg.

I think that these three embroidery styles are unrelated. Each seems to have been invented as a way to adapt crewel or satin stitch embroidery to linen, in the process replacing the different colors with monochromatic stitches in a counted thread technique so as to give varying textures and shading instead of colors

The Ukrainian tradition, in the opinion of Kara-Vasylieva, most likely grew out of the Cossack Baroque embroidery of the Ukrainian Leaders and townspeople. Here are some examples, done in silk and gold thread. This type of embroidery was also used on Church textiles.

Even these were sometimes done only in red.

This seems to be the origin of the folk tradition. The English and Arkhangelsk embroiderers solved the same problem in similar ways, but the details of the work are very different.

This type of embroidery is never done on clothing, only on rushnyks, and sometimes on things like altar cloths. Under Communist rule, this style of embroidery was also adapted to propaganda banners, in an attempt to transfer the awe and respect inherent in this work to the Communist Party, and thus dress their evil ideas with respectability.

The composition of these rushnyky generally consist of a narrow border, on all four sides, and then a floral grouping at either end. Ukrainian sensibility demands that there be an obvious origin for the floral group. The vines are never twining over the entire field, as you see in English embroidery. Sometimes the point of origin is recognizable as a pot, other times a small hill, rarely a bare stem. Often a single bloom takes the place of the point of origin. The rest of the flowers and leaves are connected to this point of origin, and form a symmetrical branching. Birds and small independent groups of flowers may be scattered about this major design, and in the center of the cloth. This motif is often called 'The Tree of Life', and many ascribe deep roots and symbolism to it. It is undeniable that this motif is very widespread in Ukrainian Folk Art on things like pysanky, folk painting and pottery.

As you can see at a cursory glance, the number of filling stitches is very high, one of my sources claims that over 200 have been identified. The most basic is a running stitch, done over the entire field, leaving it covered with dashes. Sometimes these stitches are grouped into shapes such as triangles or diamonds, etc. Others are counted satin stitch in squares, triangles, etc. Some are darning stitch designs, others use solid bars with various shapes in between. Most of these images can be expanded so as to see the individual stitches better. You can also consult the book 'Ukrainian Embroidery Techniques' by Tania Diakiw O'Neil, pp 145 - 150, where she publishes many of these stitches from both front and back.

Some of these old examples were obviously done freehand, today embroiderers work out their designs on paper and then transfer them, being careful to make them symmetrical.
I will close with some more examples. The possibilities are endless.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.
You might do well to attempt this kind of work yourself, even on something as small as a handkerchief. Bring some of the beauty of Central Ukraine into your home.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Tetiana Kara-Vasilieva, 'Ukrajins'ka Vyshywka', Kyjiw, 1993
Vira Zajchenko, 'Vyshywka Kozats'koji Starshyny XVII-XVIII st.' Rodovid, 2015
Kmit and Luciow, 'Ukrainian Embroidery', New York, 1978
Tania Diakiw O'Neill, 'Ukrainian Embroidery techniques', Mountaintop, PA, 1984
Taras Lozyns'kyj et al, 'Rushnyky Naddripnians'koji Ukrajiny', L'viw, 2017
V Bilozub et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Art - Weaving and Embroidery', Kyjiw, 1960
E Belokur et al, 'Derzhawnyj Musej Ukrajins'koho Narodnoho Dekoratywnoho Mystetsva URSR - Al'bom', Kyjiw, 1983
L Towstucha et al, 'Handicrafts in the Ukraine', Kyjiw, 1979
V Zabolotnyj et al, 'Ukraijins'ke Narodne Dekoratywne Mystetsvo - Dekoratywni Tkanyny', Kyjiw, 1956
L Yefimova et al, 'Russian Embroidery and Lace', London, 1987
I Boguslavskaya, 'Russkaya Narodnaya Vyshyvka', Moscow, 1972

Hello all,

Today I would like to talk about the traditional clothing of the Tibetan people. By Tibetan I mean those people who speak a language which is derived from Classical Tibetan, which was standardized in the 13th cent. but has since divided into over 2 dozen mutually unintelligible languages, but most of whom still use Classical Tibetan as a Liturgical, and to some extent, Literary Language, and also use the Tibetan alphabet to write their own languages. Most of these are spoken by small numbers of people, and I will only cover the costumes of the best known. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetic_languages
Tibetans call their county Bod, and themselves Bod Pa, བོད་པ་. Many of those who live in the southern nations use some form of this term to refer to themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan People

For most of their history, Tibet was independent, although not necessarily unified. They all had a special respect and devotion to the Rgyalba Rinpoche, who outside of Tibet is usually called by the title the Mongols gave him, the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is believed to be the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, The Lord of Compassion, whom the Chinese call Kuan-Yin, and the Japanese Kanon, a Buddhist Saint. For the most part, other people looked upon the Tibetan homeland as not having much to tempt them. This changed in 1951 when Communist China in their insatiable thirst to control the whole world, invaded and annexed Tibet. For a short time, they allowed some semblance of Tibetan government and culture to continue, but after the Tibetan people made it clear that they did not accept this domination by the Chinese Empire, they brutally and bloodily repressed all attempts of the Tibetan people to regain self government in 1959. The Rgyalba Rinpoche has since then lived in exile, and the Communist Government in China has declared reincarnation to be unlawful unless sanctioned by them.

The territory inhabited by the Tibetan People is mostly controlled by China today, but some of the Tibetan people also inhabit Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal and Kashmir, where they are generally called by different names, Dzongkha, Bhutia, Sherpa, Ladakhi, etc. basically for political reasons.

All together, there are about 6.5 million Tibetans, inhabiting an area of over 850,000 square miles within the Chinese Empire, as well as some areas in nations in the south of the Himalayas. This is roughly the same area as Alaska and Yukon combined. All of this territory lies on the Tibetan Plateau, as well as in the Himalaya Mountains. In China, the Tibet_Autonomous_Region makes up just about half of this territory. The rest is subdivided into 10 Autonomous Prefectures and 2 Autonomous Counties, which make up almost all of Qinghai Province, half of Sichuan Province, and small areas of Yunnan and Gansu Provinces. If you mark all of these on a map, they form one continuous area. This, of course, is to dilute the Political influence of the Tibetans.

The culture and the costume are remarkably uniform over this vast area, differing in small details and in the headgear and ornaments. This is likely due to the unity of their religion, which includes great emphasis on pilgrimages.The Tibetans are mostly devout Buddhists, but they eat meat and wear fur and sheepskins, because the climate in which they live leaves them no choice.

Men wear high boots which resemble those of the Mongols, having upturned toes and thick soles. They also wear wide pants, a shirt, and the main garment, which is called chuba. This is a type of robe or coat which is belted at the waist, the upper part often forming a capacious pocket. In very cold weather, both sleeves may be worn, but most of the time the left arm is put into the sleeve, and the right sleeve is allowed to hang down by itself. In hot weather, both sleeves are left loose, and the whole hangs to the knees rather resembling a kilt. The chuba is of sheepskin among the nomads, and generally of woven wool otherwise, although it may be of any material for dress, including silk brocade, and often includes fur trim on the cuffs and hem. It has been recorded that originally the nomads wore the chuba, boots, a hat, and nothing else. A vest may be worn with the outfit, usually for performances or dress. A variety of hats and other headgear may be worn, as well as a wide array of ornaments, although not as many as with the women.

The womens' chuba is much like the mens' except that it is longer, reaching the ankles or the floor and not as full. As with the men, very often only the left sleeve is worn. The right sleeve is then often tucked under the sash. Again, as with the men, both sleeves may be left hanging. This garment may be plain and utilitarian, or it may be highly ornamented. The blouse worn with this overlaps and has a closure on the side. Married women may wear a distinctive three panel apron of striped cloth called pangden.

Both men and women may wear shirts with extra long sleeves for dancing, to accentuate the arm movements, as in this video from Kham. Note that the women have the left sleeve rolled up, and the right tucked under the sash. Often the women have long sleeves but the men do not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnFjNRMKAjs

A second form of chuba is often called the Lhasa dress, and is common in U Tsang and the south Himalayas. It is distinguished by having no sleeves, but rather a wrap skirt and attached bodice. The top is secured by ties, and the skirt is wrapped around to the back. The blouse is folded and overlaps the chuba, forming lapels. It is usually made to order, because the bodice fits very closely.

Here is a video showing how to put on this type of chuba.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3tvcIYJQcs

The hair is usually worn in braids, often a large number of them, ideally 108, which is a sacred number in Buddhism, and a remarkable number of different headdresses may be worn, as well as ornaments of silver, gold, turquoise, amber, coral, carnelian and other stones, some of them quite large, including chains, reliquaries, necklaces, etc. In some areas square mantles may also be worn.

In the past, the ornamentation of the chuba and the ornaments worn indicated the origin of the wearer, but these distinctions have been lost.

Amdo ཨ༌མདོ

The Tibetan region of Amdo lies in the northeast, more or less equivalent to Qinghai Province, with some small portion of Gansu Province as well. Amdo encompasses the area from the Machu (Yellow River) to the Drichu (Yangtze). The current Dalai Lama was born in this area, and there are many famous monastaries there still. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdo

Mongols, Tu, Salar and other ethnicities make up a small portion of the people in this area. The few cities are dominated by Han and Hui.

The Lhasa style dress is little worn in this area. Amdo women often do not wear an apron over the chuba, or make one out of a single panel of woven cloth if they do. A wide ornament is worn down the back for grand occasions, and a double hooked ornament is often worn hanging from the sash in front. This is a stylized version of a milking hook, from which a bucket would be hung for milking livestock.

A video of a stage performance of Amdo dances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PItqUqfUwCc

Kham ཁམས་

Kham lies in the southeast of the Tibetan region. It includes the western half of Sichuan Province, a small corner of Gansu Province, the northwestern corner of Yunnan Province, as well as the eastern part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is a region of relatively low altitude, and has relatively more farmers. The Khampa, especially the men, are known for being tall and well built. In the east, the Tibetan regions border that of the Qiang, and the Gyarang, who are considered to be ethnically Tibetan, actually speak Qiangic languages rather than Tibetan languages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kham

Kham men traditionally left their hair long, and wore it wound around the head together with a full tassel of yarn, either red or black. They often still wear their hair this way even with western clothing.

In these relatively rich lowlands, the farmers often prosper. There are festivals held, especially in Sichuan and Yunnan, which feature horse races. These often include 'Fashion Shows', in which both men and women dress up in Tibetan Dress far in excess of what would be worn for any normal occasion. The sheer size of some of the ornaments is amazing.

Video of a performance of Khampa song and dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww24gnAIJSQ

Ü-Tsangདབུས་གཙང་
This area is in south Central Tibet. This is the center of Tibetan Culture and Religion. It has had a profound influence on all other Tibetan areas. This region may be divided into two: Ü,
དབུས་, which is the area around Lhasa, the eastern part of Central Tibet, which in Chinese sources is called "Front Tibet", and Tsang, གཙང་, which extends from Gyantse to the west, and in Chinese sources is called "Back Tibet"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9C-Tsang

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9C_(region)

Starting in Lhasa, and spreading to other parts of Tibet, are modern versions of Tibetan costume. We have already seen the Lhasa Dress. This is often made in commercial brocade and striped fabric by townswomen.

Here are a few more modern variants on Tibetan Dress. On the left a blouse and chuba made of thin commercial fabric, then a variation of the Lhasa dress with sleeves included, not using a blouse, but the skirt still wraps around and ties. Then on the right two examples of blouse and wrap skirt. This is equivalent to the bottom half of the Lhasa dress; some have fake sleeves which hang from the waist, in imitation of the chuba, but others have dispensed with them.

Men dress up to participate in horse races and other equestrian events.

The people of Lhoka, in the southeast, have some distinctive features to their dress.

A video of a dance from Lhoka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAoBCC_iYrQ

In Shigatse, part of Tsang, there are also some distinctive features of the dress. This area borders Nepal.

A video of a dance from Shigatse area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2bN0Ixg5QU

These two girls are from southwestern Tibet, near the Nepali border, from the area around Mt. Chomolungma, which the British call Everest. Note the back aprons worn over the chuba and front apron.

Here are some images of the nomads from further west, around Phala. The nomads also live further north, in the Changtang. Nomadic herding is the only type of human settlement which this land can support. They have to move to provide enough grazing for their herds of sheep, goats, yaks, and horses. Most of the time they live in tents woven of yak hair, although some build storage buildings and even houses at their winter camps.

A few designated valleys are left ungrazed, so they can come to cut hay to feed their horses, which otherwise would find it difficult to survive.

Ngari མངའ་རི

This lies in the west of Tibet, and borders Kashmir and other parts of Himalayan India west of Nepal. The local language, while still of the Tibetan group, resembles that of Ladakh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngari_Prefecture

An extremely complex and impressive festive costume has been preserved here, with square mantles, and horned headpieces and shoulder ornaments encrusted with turquoise and other gems.

Here is a video of dances from Ngari done in simplified stage costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuYW6iELdBE

Ladakh ལ་དྭགས

Ladakh is part of Indian held Kashmir. It borders Chinese held Tibet on the east. The Aksai Chin is a mostly unpopulated area which is disputed between India and China. The Ladakhi people, as well as the Balti, are of Tibetan origin, unlike the Kashmiri. They maintain a separate identity, as well as a Tibetan language and the Buddhist faith.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladakh

Ladakhi traditional attire is unique, although it has obvious similarities to that of Ngari.

Video of a Lakakhi dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvtacbyQ1nA

Nepal

Nepal is an independent nation which was long a buffer state between British India and the Chinese Empire. The southern part consists of lowlands inhabited by people of Indic origin. The northern part, however, lies in the Himalayas, in which many of the people are of Tibetan origin. These people form various tribes, Bhotia, Thakali, Lopa, Dolpo, etc. but the most famous are the Sherpa. This name means "Eastern People" in Tibetan. The first man to climb Mt. Chomolungma, [Everest] was a Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, although he was apparently accompanied by some Englishman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherpa_people

The dress of the Sherpa is clearly the same as that of the Tibetans which live north of the border, some of the women wear the same sort of back apron as they do around Mt. Chomolungma to the north.

This image is of a bride and groom.

Sikkim - Bhutia འབྲས་ལྗོངས་པ་

Sikkim is a small territory which lies between Nepal and Bhutan. It was an independent nation untill the 1970's when it was annexed to India. The main population of the north of Sikkim are the Lepcha, who are related to the Tibetans, and the Bhutia, who are Tibetan, reportedly originally from Kham. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutia

Video of a Bhutia dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZUdomkpc4

Bhutan - Dzongkha རྫོང་ཁ་

The Dzongkha are the majority people in northwestern Bhutan. Most of the people of Bhutan are related to the Tibetans, but of a sister branch. The Dzongkha speak a Tibetan language, and are part of the Tibetan people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan

The Bhutanese Dzongkha costume consists of a chuba like garment called kera or kira. The men wear it without pants and folded above the knee [except for the King]. The woman's kira is wrapped much like the Lhasa dress. A short jacket is worn with it. Bhutan lies near Lhoka, and like them, have developed the art of weaving, although to a greater extent. The traditional garments of the Dzonkha are made of extraordinary examples of weaving.

The King and Queen of Bhutan.

This concludes my article on the Tibetan Peoples, or Bonpa.
There is much more that could be written but I believe this is enough for today.

Thank you for reading I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email:rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Besides many online sources
Dalai Lama et al, 'My Tibet', Berkely, 1989
Melvyn Goldstein et al, 'Nomads of Western Tibet', Berkely, 1990
Zhao Qizheng et al, 'Tibetan Costume and Ornaments', PRC, 2000
Gina Corrigan, 'Tibetan Dress in Amdo and Kham', London, 2017
George Schaller, 'Tibet's Hidden Wilderness', New York, 1997
Eleanor Olson, 'Tibetan Art', Newark, 1963
Persjis Muiznieks, 'National Costumes of Nepal', Oxnard, 2011
Jaya Jaitly et al, 'Crafts of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh', New York, 1990
Poonam Rajya Laxmi Rana 'Nepalese Costumes and Ornaments', Kathmandu, 2016

Hello all,
Today I will talk about a West Ukrainian costume that I have seen occasional images of for years, and have always wondered about. I have recently received a copy of a new book,
'Vyshywka Zhydachiwshchyny' by Iryna Vachkova. Much of the information I will be presenting is from her work. The image above is from an exhibit in L'viw in connection with the publication of this book. If you would like to obtain a copy of this book you may write to her here. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001995928954

I call this costume Посвіччя 'posvichchia', because it is worn along the Svicha [Cвічa] River, from about Bolekhiw downstream to Zhurawno, where it meets the Dnister. Ms Vachkova calls it the Zhydachiw costume because it is worn in the southern regions of the Zhydachiw district. However, it is not worn in the town of Zhydachiw or its environs, but is worn in neighboring parts of Stryj, Kalush, Dolyna and Bolekhiw districts, on both sides of the border between L'viw and Ivano-Frankiwsk Oblasts.

In many publications this costume is called Boiko. Today it would be considered part of Opillia. Whether or not one considers this to be Boiko depends entirely on where one considers the border of Boikiwshchyna to be. Here is a map of the currently accepted extent of Boikoland. The red line represents the border as defined today, the dashed line shows how the border was defined in the past. The blue line roughly shows the extent of this costume that I have been able to verify. If anyone can give me better information, please write and inform me.

This costume is depicted in this famous woodcut by Sviatoslav Hordynsky, along with a bridal costume from West Pokuttia, Kolomyja district. [Not Hutsul and Boiko, as is often thought]

The famous 'Ukrainian Fashion Show' of 1937 featured an unknown woman wearing this costume.

Kul'chytska published a drawing of this costume from the village of Chertizh in her work.

The 1961 classic 'Ukrainian Folk Art - Clothing' by Bilozub et al. published these images of this costume from Zhurawno.

The 1992 Canadian publication 'Ukrainian Folk Costume' by Petro Odarchenko et al published this photo under the Boiko section as 'girl from Kalush region'

The components of this costume are the same as that of other Ukrainian costumes of the area, what is distinctive is the ornamentation. The sorochka, or chemise, is of the standard West Ukrainian ustawka cut. In this region it was long, but did not show below the skirt.

The ustawka itself originally had woven ornament. This example is from Chertizh.

Here is a closeup of the ustawka, front and back. Note that the plain white part at the top has a twill weave.

The ustawka is joined to the sleeves and body panels with joining stitch, often executed in two or more alternating colors. A narrow band of embroidery is done on the other panels just outside the joining stitch.

The front panel was not ornamented in older examples, but more recently all of the pazukhy were embroidered.

The collars are fold-down, and have embroidery on the corners, but no ornamentation in back.

Cuffs are of two kinds. The first, called duda, is a relatively wide rectangle sewn on to the end of the sleeve which is gathered into it.

The second type are called min'kety, in which the ends of the sleeves are smocked, and these serve as the cuffs.

Some ustawky were embroidered with zavolikannia, which imitates weaving, and is popular in Polissia and Pidliashia.Here are some embroidery graphs from this region.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell which are woven, and which are done in zavolikannia. Embroidery is often added to woven designs, as well. Here is an example from Volodymyrtsi.

And one from Chertizh.

Later on, of course, the embroidery was often all cross stitch. The distinctive composition remained the same, although at times motifs were scattered on the sleeves as well, like these examples from Monastyrets' and Chertizh.

Example from the village of Podorozhnie

Other embroidery techniques were used as well. Note that this example from Chertizh has a round collar made of commercially produced cotton fabric.

These shirts are from the village of Beleiv.

One shirt from the village of Velyka Turya

And an example from Bolekhiw.

The skirt, called fartukh in this region was of linen, like the chemise. There was a band of woven ornament on the hem which echoed and harmonized with that on the ustawka. The opening was in front, and the sides and back were smock-gathered into a wide waistband which was tied on to the waist with a long cord.

The apron, zapaska, was of two types. The first, called peretykanoji, was of plain linen like the skirt, with a complementary woven band on the hem. It was made of two panels, joined together vertically with the same type of joining stitch and narrow band of embroidery as was used on the ustawka. Here are two examples from the village of Chertizh.

Most of the photos which I have show the skirt and apron gathered, but both Hordynsky and Kul'chytska drew this costume with apron and skirt pleated.

Later, one or both of these bands was sometimes embroidered. Here is an example from Volodymytsi.

And Zhurawno

The second type of apron was called poshvanoji. This was also of two panels of cloth joined vertically, but was made of cloth with rhythmic stripes woven in. There was a wider stripe on the hem, and the other stripes were placed either horizontally or vertically.

This example is from the village of Beleiv.

There is one exceptional example of an apron covered with cross stitch in imitation of these woven aprons, from the village of Zbora.

A waist length vest, kamizelka, was worn with this outfit. It was made of wool, either natural white or black, with floral embroidery on the front, emanating from a pocket. See also other images above.

A fitted, short jacket which flared over the hips was also worn at times. It was called hun'ka or katsabajka. It seems to always have been made of white wool, with embroidery similar to the vest.

The sirak or svyta is a long overcoat made in much the same style. See various of the images above.

Overcoats of sheepskin, kozhukh, were also worn and ornamented in a similar fashion.

Unmarried girls wore their hair uncovered, usually in two braids, one per side. Married women covered their hair with a cap, chipets. I have not found any images of the chipets. More recently, as we see here above, a very large shawl with fringes is tied over the chipets. Previously a long narrow length of linen with woven ornament on the ends, the prymitka, was worn over the chipets. This garment was once widespread over much of eastern Europe. In this region it persisted into the 1930's and 40's. Unlike many other places, here the prymitka was pinned to the chipets and allowed to hang down freely, and was not wrapped around the head. Take another look at the woodcut by Hordynsky.

Here is an old photograph of a group of women from this region in the 1930's. Note both black and white embroidered vests being worn.

Men's clothing was simpler.

The pants were made of two rectangular fields for the legs, joined with a square gusset. The shirt was ustawka cut, knee length, and was embroidered on the collar, cuffs, and bottom hem. The side seams had decorative joining stitching for the bottom few inches, and the hem embroidery framed this, complementing the womens' shirts. Very often the front and ustawka were not embroidered, except for lines of backstitch. Here are two examples from Chertizh.

In some cases, the front was embroidered, like this example from Volodymyrtsi.

The outfit was completed with a sash, a hat, straw in summer and lambswool in winter, and footcloths with khodaky [moccasins] or boots.

Another item of men's clothing which was popular all over west Ukraine and east Poland was a linen overcoat, polotnianka, in this region called verenchuk. This was made with flaring skirts and a minimum of embroidery and/or cord ornament on the collar and cuffs, or none at all.

In winter a plain overcoat of wool or sheepskin would have been worn.

As time went on, both men's and women's clothing came to conform to the general style of Halychyna, and unfortunately lost their distinctive attributes. Here are just a few more images from the exhibit of Iryna Vachkova.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative. Perhaps you will want to try some of these embroideries yourself.

Roman K.

Ms Vachkova has gathered much more material and is planning a series of books, but is in need of capital to publish. Please consider buying a copy of this book. There is much more detail of the embroideries than I have shown here. Donations also accepted.
facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001995928954

or write to:
vachkovaira@gmail.com

or
mihajluk@gmail.com

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Iryna Vachkova, ' Vyshywka Zhydachiwshchyny', L'viw, 2019
Daria Petrechko, 'Vyshyvani Skarby - Skhidna Boikiwshchyna', Dnipropetrovsk, 2015
Oksana Kosmina, ' Traditional Ukrainian Clothing', Kyjiw, 2007
Petro Odarchenko et al, 'Ukrainian Folk Costume', Toronto, 1992
V H Bilozub et al, 'Ukrajins'ke Narodne Mystetsvo - Vbrannia', Kyjiw, 1961
Olya Dmytriw et al, 'Ukrainian Arts', New York, 1955
Olena Kul'chytska, 'Narodnyj Odiah', L'viw, 2018

Hello all

Today I will talk about the costume of the native peoples of the island of Taiwan, or Formosa. This is the homeland of the Austronesian Peoples. Archeological evidence puts the ancestors of these people on Taiwan at least 3000 BC. The Austronesian Language family has 10 major linguistic branches. Nine of them are restricted to Taiwan. The tenth is the Malayo-Polynesian branch. The ancient Austronesians came out of Taiwan to populate what is now the Philippines and Indonesia, and then west to Madagascar. A later surge travelled east, to Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Today this language family is found from Madagascar east to Rapa Nui, and from Hawaii south to New Zealand. The term Austronesia means 'southern islands', and indeed these languages are almost completely confined to the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans; the only exceptions being Malay, spoken on the southern part of the Malay Peninsula, and the Chamic languages, which are spoken in southern Vietnam and neighboring parts of Cambodia.

The image at the head of the article is of a group of young people of several of the Aboriginal Peoples giving a cultural presentation. You can see some of the range of the native costumes.

Today the majority of people who live on Taiwan are Han Chinese. They came over from the mainland during the Dutch Colonial period in the 17th cent. mainly as agricultural workers. Most of the immigrants were Hoklo from Fujian, with some Hakka from Guangdong. Both of these languages are still spoken by significant parts of the population of Taiwan. Starting in about 1683 the island became incorporated into the Qing Dynasty Empire, until 1895, when it was ceded to the Japanese Empire. The Japanese pursued a policy of forced assimilation in regards to the Aboriginal Peoples. Several of the smaller peoples hid themselves among larger ones for protection during this period. In 1945 the nationalist Government of the Republic of China took control, of Taiwan, and soon afterwards was driven from the mainland by the Communists. This led to a large influx of Mandarin Speaking Han Chinese. Since then Taiwan has been a de facto independent nation.

Today the government officially recognizes 16 nationalities of Indigenous People in Taiwan. There are several other groups which have not as yet received official recognition. Members of the officially recognized groups number about 569,000, with perhaps a further 230,000 belonging to groups not as yet recognized. This does not include people of mixed ancestry whose forbearers intermarried with the Hoklo and the Hakka. Some of these are collectively referred to as Pingpu, or Aborigines of the Western Plains.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_indigenous_peoples

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formosan_languages

Here is a map of the original territories of the Indigenous peoples.

Here is a map of their current distribution.

As you can see, the people of the western plains underwent much more assimilation than the people of the eastern mountains. In fact, the Communist Government of mainland China lumps all of these peoples under the term 'Gaoshan', which means 'High Mountain' People. This term is seldom heard in Taiwan.

Atayal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atayal_people

https://www.dmtip.gov.tw/web/en/page/detail?nid=5

This group is also called Tayal or Tayan, 泰雅 in Chinese. There are approximately 100,000 of them, divided into several subgroups using two main dialects. This group has been recognized since the time of the Japanese occupation. They dwell in the north central part of Taiwan, and are at home in 79 villages. They originally lived further west, in the upper plains of the Zhuoshui river, but in the 17th cent. were pushed east into the mountains by Han Chinese encroachment. The Atayal, like many of the indigenous Taiwanese, are proficient weavers. The Seediq and the Truku were formerly classified as subgroups of the Atayal. The other groups which I will show today have cultural and costume similarities to the Atayal.

The details of the costume vary by subgroup, but you can see some of the unusual garments which are typical of the Taiwanese aborigines. One is the plastron, or chest covering, which is an ornamented square of cloth which is worn on the front of the chest diagonally. This can be seen on both men and women, with different ornamentation.

You can see the man above wearing separate sleeves with this garment. This may be worn by either gender.

Men sometimes wear a short open vest.

A long open fronted tunic, with or without sleeves is often worn by both genders.

An especially prestigious form of this garment is ornamented with hundreds of shell beads.

Women wear wrap skirts.

Women also wear leggings which tie around the lower legs, below the knee.

Here is a female garment which combines jacket and skirt

Both genders wear a 'square robe', or mantle which hangs over one shoulder for formal events.

Both men and women traditionally wore facial tattoos.

Of course, sashes, headbands, necklaces, etc are also part of the costume.

Just a few more images of the Atayal

Saisiyat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saisiyat_people

https://www.dmtip.gov.tw/web/en/page/detail?nid=11

Also spelled Saisiat, or 賽夏 in Chinese. These people number somewhat over 5000, and have been recognized as a distinct group since 1919. They inhabit the northwest of Taiwan, formerly in a wider area in the northwestern plains, but more recently they have been pushed into two valleys in the mountains. They are famous for their biannual festival called Pasta'ay. Their legends claim that a man who was caught in the primordial flood floated by Taiwan on a loom . A local god Otspoehobong caught the man, and dismembered him. After an incantation, the god threw pieces of his intestines into the sea, and they became the ancestral Taiwanese. Then he threw pieces of the bones into the sea, and they became the Atayal, hard and indomitable. Then he threw the pieces of the flesh into the sea, and they became the Saisiyat. The Saisiyat speak a distinctive language, but their costume is similar to that of the Atayal.

During the festival of Pasta'ay, the Saisiat dance with chimes attached to their backs.

Seediq

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seediq_people

The Seediq, 賽德克族 in Chinese, were formerly classified as part of the Atayal people, and were recognized as a separate group in 2008. They live in Nantou and Hualien counties, southwest of the Atayal, and north of the Thao, who live around Sun Moon Lake. The Seediq famously resisted all attempts of the Japanese to encroach on their territory, when they controlled Taiwan. This resulted in several clashes with the Japanese, who did not come off well, and retaliated with excessive and bloody action. The most famous of these was the Wushe incident in 1930, about which a couple of movies and contemporary music albums were made.

Truku

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taroko_people

https://www.dmtip.gov.tw/web/en/page/detail?nid=14

The Truku, or Taroko, 太魯閣族 in Chinese, were formerly considered to be a subgroup of the Atayal. They speak a dialect of the Seeliq language. There are about 20,000 of them. They were officially recognized as a separate people in 2004. They live to the southeast of the Atayal, next to the coast, just north of the Sakizaya.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative. I will continue with the central and southern peoples in my next articles.

Roman K

email; rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,

Today I will continue my description of the Costumes of the Taiwanese aboriginal peoples. I will cover the central tribes: Amis, Kavalan, Sakizaya, Thao and Tsou.

Amis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amis_people

https://www.dmtip.gov.tw/web/en/page/detail?nid=4

This is the largest indigenous group, numbering some 200,000 people. Their self designation is Pangcah, 阿美族 in Chinese. Amis is the most common term used today. It means 'people of the north', and may originally have been applied to them by the Puyuma, who live to their south. They inhabit the Huatang valley and the coastal plain on the east central part of Taiwan.

The Amis use many of the same garments as are found in the northern tribes, with some additions. One in particular is popular among the southern tribes. Chinese books call them male leg coverings.

At first glance, these seem to be pants, but in fact they are chaps. They cover only the front of the legs, and are tied at the waist, knee, and ankle.

Short jackets with sleeves are worn, and unlike in the northern tribes, these have an overlapping panel in front.

Women's jackets are designed differently.

Men sometimes wear sashes with embroidered streamers hanging down from them.

The men may wear these over short wrap skirts.

A decorative collar, sometimes with streamers is worn for special occasions. This may have been borrowed from the Han.

Women wear wrap skirts and tied on leggings, as in the northern tribes. They may also wear a contrasting front panel, resembling an apron.

Both men and women wear much jewelry, and elaborate headdresses, the men's with tall feathers on festive occasions.

Here we see men wearing chaps over their skirts.

Kavalan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavalan_people

https://www.dmtip.gov.tw/web/en/page/detail?nid=7

This term means 'people of the plains', they are called 噶瑪蘭族 in Chinese . They currently number around 1500. They originally inhabited the plains in the northeast of the island. In 1878, in response to encroachment by Han Chinese settlers, they, together with the Sakizaya, fought against the settlers. The result was disaster for all involved. More Han settlers arrived, and the remnants of both the Kavalan and the Sakizaya fled south and took refuge among the Amis. The Kavalan were only recognized as a distinctive group in 2002. The Kavalan live on the east coast in the northern part of Amis territory, surrounded by Amis on three sides.

The Kavalan costume is distinguished by being mostly black and white. The garments worn are similar to those of other indigenous Taiwanese.

Sakizaya

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakizaya_people

撒奇萊雅族 in Chinese. These people number about 1000, they live on the east coast north of the Amis and Kavalan. After a revolt during the Qing dynasty and under Japanese occupation they hid among the Amis, and were only recognized as a separate people in 2007. They live on the east coast north of the Kavalan. Sakizaya costume is distinguished by a strong use of yellow. The garments themselves resemble those of their neighbors.

Thao

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thao_people

https://www.dmtip.gov.tw/web/en/page/detail?nid=13

The Thao are a small people, numbering around 800. They are also called Ngan, or 邵族, Shào zú in Chinese. They live near Sun Moon Lake, south of the Seediq and northwest of the Bunun. They have retained a distinct language and culture in spite of the small size of their population. Today they are mostly involved with the tourism industry, as the lake is a popular attraction.

Tsou

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsou_people

https://www.dmtip.gov.tw/web/en/page/detail?nid=15

The Tsou, also spelled Cou, Zou or 鄒 number perhaps 6000. they live south of the Thao and west of the Bunun. The northern branch calls itself the Alishan. The two southern groups call themselves the Kanakanavu and the Hla'alua. Each of these has recently been recognized by the government as a separate people. I have not been able to separate the costume by group, however. The costume seems to closely resemble that of the Thao.

Tsou moccasins, most of the Taiwanese peoples went barefoot.

This concludes my second article on the Taiwanese Aboriginals.
Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K

email: rkozakand@aol.com

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