That is the words left by the ancestors

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Serving as formative cultural symbol of Chinese ethnic groups, ethnical costumes reflect the history of each ethnic group. The aphorism of Jingpo ethnic group says: On the tube-shaped skirt, everything can be found; that is what our ancestors left us. Legends of past old times, achievements our ancestors have ever made, histories of a family, history of an ethnic group, etc., everything is written on the skirt and other dresses. Generation after generation, they were carried everywhere. They are regarded as the symbol of each ethnic group and become a symbolic encyclopedia.

That is a wordless Historical Records.

That is a soundless old song.

Among ethnic groups in southwestern China, it is very popular to us that costumes function is regarded as a symbol of recorded history. It has become a common practice that those ethnic groups with no written languages to concentrate their oral culture through the design, shape and colour of their costumes. For those with different cultural background, the costumes seem to be filled with colourful and eccentric design; but for the people themselves, they can read history out of that. Almost everyone, even an old man or woman, can read the heavenly book’ written on the skirt and tell you the folk stories. Even in those ethnic groups with their own written languages, sometimes costumes symbolize certain things, just like the secret codes inherited thousands of years.

If you have time, please sit down and have a chat with them. While drinking the alcohol, you will enjoy many lore and stories.

A Song of History without words

This is a story among the Dai ethnic group living in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China’s Yunnan Province:

It is said that, at the beginning of human being, people in nude sought for wild fruits as food in the woods. One day, there were 30 young girls going to the forest together for fruits. Twigs of trees and blades of grass scratched their naked bodies. The wounds began to bleed so that they had to stop for a while. At that time, they saw some peacocks, silver pheasants and wild pheasants passing by. How much they admired the birds! They thus torn off the bark of kapok tree and wrapped their waists. Later on, they tied the leaves of plantain below the bark. On their way, they constantly picked leaves and skins of trees to cover their bodies. At last, they got a plant named cat-tail flower to be at the bottom of skirts. The skirt had altogether thirty-three colours and became very beautiful. From then on, the Dai had the colourful tube-shaped skirts. And traditionally, there are thirty-three colours on each skirt.

This folklore recalls us back to the scenery of ancient people collecting for living from time immemorial. From the reflection of the history and the sweet memory of the old days, we can fully understand the tradition of some people of Chinese ethnic groups, who used to mix history with folklores together.

Dragon and phoenix are unreal animals. But they are divinities that appear on the dresses of some ethnic groups quite often. Legend goes that the phoenix-cap of the Bai people was given by the phoenix living at the peak of Mount Caifeng (colourful phoenix). The scales-of-the-dragon on the scarf of the Jingpo woman is said from the dragon scales of the Dragon-Daughter. In Bakai, Rongjiang of Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, the colorful clothes of the Miao girls is called Wulin, which means the clothing with the pattern of fish scales. According to the folklore, the Miao girls were good at singing and dancing, but unfortunately, they didn’t have beautiful clothes. One year at the Guzhang Festival, people around came to celebrate and the traditional game - reed dancing. The three daughters of the King Dragon, wearing colourful and glittering clothes, also arrived. The beautiful clothes made the young Miao girls admired a lot. After the celebration, the three daughters of King Dragon swam away through the river. A very cleaver young lady could not stop thinking of such a beautiful garment from the dragon daughters. She lingered by the river everyday, hoping to meet the dragon daughters again. Finally, she was taken to the King Dragon’s palace by the dragon grandma. The young girl then learned how to embroider pretty clothes there. When coming back to the village, she started teaching others to embroider. Since then, the Miao girls began to wear clothes with fish-scaled design.

In addition to imitating outside objects, people always add their own imagination and illusion to the designing of garments. The origin of pleated skirt for the Lisu women in Liangshan, Sichuan Province is said to be related to an umbrella. Once, a young hunter captured a fox, which is the daughter of god, and married with her. Except for the fox skin, the daughter of god cannot find other suitable clothes. Longing for a garment so dearly, she climbed onto the mountains. After returning home, the young hunter could not find his wife; so he, umbrella in hand, hurried to look for her in the rain. After finding his wife, the husband took off the umbrella’s ribs and asked her to wear it. The umbrella skirt fit her well. The daughter of fox cut off a part of the rainbow and tied it to the skirt. This story tells the origin of pleated skirt for Lisu ethnic group.

The folklores related with the costumes reflect the old way of thinking. People used to utilize visual and essential symbols to record their thought. And for those ethnic groups with no written languages, they inherit legends and folklores written on their costumes to communicate, transfer and save information. This might be one of the oldest forms for these purposes.

Pictographic Records of History

The books-of-history for some migrating ethnic groups are portable. They embroidered their history on their costumes and therefore their bodies are covered by history without word.

The Hani people, who boast of their epics of migration and old folk songs, are typical example who embroidered their history on the costumes. The female singer Cuo’er Erma always wears a headwear called Wuba while attending the funeral. Zhu Xiaohe, a famous local Dabeima (psychic) and singer, explained that Wuba is used to lead the way for the soul of the dead. A soul without the guidance of Wuba is wild. The eternal place for a soul’s returning is the hometown of the ancestors of Hani ethnic group - the first big village ‘ Reluo Puchu, which is place symbolized by the blue triangle on the right side of Wuba.

From left to right, the design of Wuba represents:

There are three sets of white decorative patterns. The upper part is figure of ferns, which indicate the living places for Hani people should be mild and humid semi-mountains where ferns can be grown. The lower part is the shape of dog’s teeth because in their opinion, the dog protects people from being harmed by the ghosts. Altogether the three sets of patterns represent that after settling down in Mount Ailao, which is near the south bank of the Honghe River, they lead a peaceful life. The ethnic people lived loosely around the area. The S-shaped red line on the left side of the white lines symbolizes that the Hani people once reached the northern part of Vietnam and the Laos along the Yuanjiang River.

The first red triangle from the left represents the Shiqi (locates in Shiping County, Yunnan Province). In the old songs of Hani ethnic group, they migrated into Mount Ailao in batches and conquered some other small tribes. The red symbolizes war.

The second triangle from the left has four colours, that is, red, white, blue and green, which refer to the warring period at Shiqi and Puni eras.

The highest triangle at the center represents the period when Hani people had wars at Guha Mich (Kunming area) and Puni. Also that was the most prosperous period in the history of Hani ethnic group and that explains why this triangle is the highest. At the same time, the Hani people also experienced the most serious failure. Comparatively speaking, the first and second triangles are lower than the central one (in anti-chronological order).

The fourth triangle represents the period when Hani ethnic group lived in Nuoma Amei (according to the epic poem, it is the earliest inhabitant place of the Hani). This period can be regarded as one of the developing period in early the Hani’s history. The triangle uses three colors: blue, white and red. The red one symbolizes the peaceful time, which is longer while the small portion of red symbolizes war.

The fifth blue triangle represents the period of Reluo Puchu when their ancestors first settled down after the migration onto the south. The Hani people’s ancestors exploited the vast land and led a long and peaceful life there. That is also regarded as the prime period for the forming of the Hani people. And that is why when a Hani dies, he or she would go there and meet their ancestors.

The three sets of blue patterns on the right represent the living of their ancestors at ancient times. The meaning of design of ferns and dog’s teeth is the same with that on the left.

You may wonder what colours represent in this small headwear. The black background and the red round edge represent the northern Hulie Huna mountains (piled by red and black rocks), where the Hani’s sncestors were born. The inner edge on the upper and part of the lower part of the hair ornament represent the worship of white color. The ancient ancestors of Hani wore white clothes. The inner blue edge at the lower part indicates when Hani ethnic group were defeated on their migration way, they escaped to the indigo woods and their clothes and trousers were dyed to blue (nowadays most Hani people like to wear clothes and trousers dyed by indigo). It is at Nuoma Amei where the Hani ethnic group had their first war so the blue line starts from the fourth triangle.

Besides, the design of Wuba has further symbolic meanings. The five triangles imply that the Hani people live on the mountains, and the tree-like figure on the triangle refers to the ever-green tree that they worship. The two semi-circles on the lower part represent roots of a tree and the other two semi-circles the stems of a tree. The three crossed lines represent the tips of branches. The roots represent leaders of the tribe who are of key importance. The stem symbolizes the psychic and the tip of branches the craftsman. The head of the tribe, the psychic and the craftsman are most important three kinds of people in the Hani society. At Reluo Puchu, these three kinds of people are pure. But on the way to Nuoma Amei, Guha Micha and Shiqi, the tribe leaders and Beima were influenced by other tribes and lost their purity. Only the craftsman remained unchanged. Finally when these three groups of people arrived at Shiqi, they were able to regain pureness.

Coincidentally, there is a 5,000-line ancient song called Hani Apei Cong Popo (the migration history of the Hani’s ancestors) tells the same history in chronological way.

The ancestors of Hani ethnic group were born on the northern Huni Huna (red rocks and black rocks) Mountain, two rivers ran down along the mountain. One is called River of Gold the other named River of Purity. Due to lack of food, they moved along the river and arrived Shisui Lake. By the lakeside, they grew grass and fed livestock. Later on, they went further south to the place where dragon bamboo grows then to the Reluo Bianchu, a mountainous area with plenty of rainfall. They settled there for the first time and planting rice became the main way of living. With the sufficient supply of food, the tribal chief, who was leader of the tribe and of religion, and craftsmen appeared. As time passed, Beima, or the psychic, disunited from the head and became responsible for religion-related things. The society structure of Hani ethnic group came into being. Unfortunately, with the spreading of epidemic, they had to migrate southward to the plain of Nuoma Amei where the land was quite fertile. But for the invasion of other ethnic groups, they were forced to move out of that place and settled down at the plain area near the lake. The place is called Guha Micha. To show their respect to the Puni ethnic group who settled down earlier, they had to bury the weapons deep under the earth (Guha Micha means place where weapons were hidden). During this period, the Hani ethnic group grew very rapidly. But also because of this and for fear of it growth, the Puni ethnic group threatened them with war. The Hani people were defeated and had to give up the place where they lived and began to travel again. Finally, they settled down at the precipitous area of Mount Ailao.

As another proof to what the ancient Hani song and Wuba have described, a branch of Hani that moved to the south, the Yiche group also uses costumes to record the unforgettable migration. The clothes for the Yiche women are the most typical one. They wear short trousers, jacket and white triangular handkerchief. It is said that on their way of migration to the south after they were defeated, the Yiche group was the last group. They fought against the enemy on their way. After evading into the Mount Ailaoshan, their clothes and trousers were torn off. Especially for the women, they felt ashamed to face others. So the male Yiche collected all the clothes for the women. They used skin of wild animals and leaves to cover their bodies to keep warm. At last, the difficult times passed. To express their gratitude to men, the Yiche women wear short trousers to save cloth for men.

From the above stories, we may find that the hair ornament and other costumes are the symbols that Hani ethnic group use to record their history. Their costumes are the soundless ancient songs that hammed by using patterns, shape and colours. It described the past vividly, indirectly and symbolically. Especially Wuba, the famous headwear, not only describes the historical events but also the social structure, natural environment and their way of thought. From the two different sets of designs on the right and left, we can find the recycle of past and today, live and death, potential circles involved as well.

Owing to the special and sacred ancient information that costumes carry, it is difficult for the minority ethnic groups to change their dressing customs during the past thousands of years, except for some special cultural changes. On the silver ornaments for the Miao ethnic group, the figure of dragon is a must. According to the old silver craftsmen, This is in memory of Chiyou, our ancestor. While the Hani people criticize somebody who does not follow the old rules or shows negligence to their ancestors, the most probably scolding words would be They no longer wear the costumes inherited by the ancestors.

While holding a ceremony to commemorate their ancestors or pray for gods, the ethnic groups of Va, Tibetan, Derung, Naxi, Lisu, Lahu, Hani, Achang, Jingpo, Yi, Miao and many others in southwestern China would wear feather hats or other traditional clothes. Otherwise they will be thought to be someone eccentric by the ancestors or gods who would give no attention on them at all. At Munao Festival of Jingpo ethnic group, the psychic who leads the dancing must wear long robe and head ornament with the feather of peacock, ferns and other birds. Thousands of dancers in line, must imitate what is on the Munao pillar, turn around and back to the ancient place. No mistake is allowed since one step wrong means the wrong way back to the ancient home and they therefore get lost and cannot be blessed and protected by their ancestors. Their feather hat looks like a flag that guides the Jingpo people dancing in the same step, backing to the sacred moment of meeting their ancestors in their illusion together.

This is the descriptive function of Chinese minority costume. Through legends, folklores and traditions, it plays a systematic role. By using symbols, it condenses the collective image and traditional thinking. It describes the past history and the teachings of their gods and ancestors. To conclude, it plays crucial role in recording the history, commemorating the ancestors, inheriting the tradition and accumulate culture. For some ethnic groups that do not have written languages, it serves the function of a book of history without a single word.