Without Silver Jewels, How Do The Chinese Four Seals Miao Astonish The World?
The Four Seals Miao are a tribe of the Miao ethnic group in southwestern China. Not wearing silver jewels like other tribes, the Four Seals Miao distinguish themselves with four multi-color square designs embroidered on the front, back, and sleeves of women’s frock. The colors of their clothes are usually blue or black. Women wear short pleated skirt. Some women like to wrap their hair bun with a wide blue cloth which can reach 12 meters.
The Four Seals Miao live in a beautiful village named Maige, which in Miao language means ” a place with plenty of trees”. A long time ago, a tribe of the Miao were driven by their enemy to the remote mountainous areas of southwestern China. To get rid of the enemy and lead a peaceful life, the Miao had to ruin all their identity documents. When a Shaikh was going to put the four big seals, a symbol of their tribe, into fire, a girl stood up and said, Why not print the designs of the seals onto my clothes before you ruin them? In this way, we will keep our national soul forever.
Since then, the tradition of embroidering four colorful square patterns on womens clothes began in this tribe, which got them the unique name the Four Seals Miao.
The Four Seals Miao are well known for their excellent batik technique with a history of more than 2,000 years. Women use a specially-made knife dipped into melt wax to paint beautiful patterns like flowers, bird, insects, and fish onto a white cloth. The cloth is then dyed in blue liquid, and put into boiling water for a while to remove the wax. As a result of this process, beautiful blue patterns are printed on the cloth.
The local women spin, weave cloth, batik, sew, and do embroidery all by themselves. To prepare a set of clothes for holidays, they often spend seven to eight months on sewing and embroidery. Their frocks have a big, multiple layered collar embroidered with colorful designs. The largest seal- a square pattern on the front of the frock is especially noticeable. Their pleated skirt are highlighted with the embroidered horizontal lines which represent the rivers and lakes their ancestors ever crossed during their migration throughout China.
Their houses are constructed with dirt and stones. Corn is their staple food. Rice is expensive food which they can only eat in holidays or new years. They farm on the mountainside. Everyday women have to climb the mountain to fertilize their farmland. Sometimes they go back and forth 6 to 7 times between their home and the farmland. Their life isn’t easy.
For single young people, they have their own holidays to look for their partners. The famous Flower Dance Festival is held on the fifth day of the first lunar month. They get together to talk, sing, and dance. In the evening they will hold a bonfire party where they sing songs to express their love. The festival lasts for a few days.
The ceremony of releasing soul of a dead person from purgatory is also held during this festival. One man is selected to wrap his body in the dead person’s clothes, singing and dancing, with the Lusheng music as a background. In this way, the dead person’s soul could ascend into the heaven.
The local people enjoy raising thrush in their spare time. Kept in a cage, a thrush sings beautiful songs. After getting trained for a few months, some thrush can imitate the sound of other animals, including dog, cat, goose, and duck. Visit their village on a sunny day, you will hear the intoxicating songs.
