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Batik
Batik
Producing process: Dipped a cloth in molten wax and then dyed with blue indigo. Once the wax is dyed away, the cloth surface would display a variety of patterns of white flowers on a blue background or blue flowers on a white background. As the time goes by, the wax on the cloth would naturally crack, making the cloth surface a special "ice pattern", which is particularly attractive.
Miao Myth about its origination: According to the"Batik Songs" from Miao people, there was a smart and beautiful Miao girl who was not satisfied with the uniform color of the clothes. She always hoped to dye various floral patterns on the skirt, but it was too much trouble to draw one by one by hands.
One day, the girl looked at the clumps of flowers again and again for a long time, but did not think of a way so she fell asleep in meditation. In the dream, she went in a garden.
In the garden, there were countless flowers, grasses, birds, flowers, butterfly and bees. The girl looked in the garden, and was so fascinated that she didn't even know that the bee had covered her dress.
When she woke up, she realized that she was just dreaming, but when she looked down, the bees in the flowers had just flew away, and there were spots of honey and beeswax on her dress. She had to take the dress to the indigo dyeing bucket and wanted to dye the dress again, trying to cover the wax traces.
After dyeing, she took it to boiling water to bleach it. When the girl took the dress out of the boiling water, a miracle appeared: beautiful white flowers appeared on the dark blue dress where it was touched by beeswax!
The girl immediately found that beeswax, After heating and boiling, can paint wax patterns on clothes. She started to sing about what she had achieved.
Miao People heard the girl ’s song, so they came to her house to listen to her dreams in the garden, watched her flower dress and learned her drawing skills. After returning to their own home, everyone followed the girl ’s instructions. Since then, the batik technique has spread among the Miao people.
MIao embroidery
MIao embroidery
Miao embroidery has the function of inheriting Miao culture, which is mainly reflected in the embroidery patterns. Almost every embroidery pattern has a history or legend, which is a display of the history and life of the Miao culture. For example, butterflies, dragons, birds, fish, polka dot flowers, duckweed flowers and other patterns are all sung in ancient songs of the Miao.
Meaning of the patterns:
- Butterflies: The butterfly pattern is the most common and important decoration patterns in the Miao embroidery.
it is also related to a well-known myth and legend of the Miao people, the butterfly mother. For the Miao people, the butterfly mother is the ancestors of the Miao people. They embroidered these butterflies that symbolize her on clothes to show respect and worship for their ancestors.
The butterfly patterns
2.Dragon
Different than the dragon in Han culture, the dragons in Miao culture have closer relationship with people. Thus, the dragon pattern of the Miao often shows the naive and friendly side of the dragons. As Miao people embroider the dragons, they often combined the dragon with the characteristics of other animals and plants. The pattern shows Miaos respect for the dragon.
The dragon patterns
3. Mandarin Duck
The mandarin duck is a perching duck species native to East Asia.
Because the mandarin duck Male and female are often together, Miao people see ducks as a symbol of true and pure love.
Many Miao girls often embroider the mandarin duck patterns on clothes, and give the clothes to someone that they love
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