The art of decorating on traditional costumes of the Red Dao people in Tuyen Quang has existed for a long time and is the result of hard work and creativity in the natural environment and specific social spaces. The Red Dao people have created and embodied in their traditional costumes a community life through talented and sophisticated decorative arts, achieving a high level of folk aesthetics, a rich spiritual life. primitive but rich feeling.
Traditional costumes of Red Dao women include tops, pants, headscarves, belts and other accessories. Each outfit has 5 basic colors: red, blue, white, yellow, black, of which red is the main color. People believe that red brings happiness, luck, fullness in life, in addition, it also brings more energy, vitality and warmth to the mountains, so red plays a dominant role in each outfit. . The Red Dao people often use indigo dyed linen to make clothes.
Folklore experts pointed out that the decorative patterns on the costumes of the Red Dao people are unique, mainly the motifs commonly found in daily life: grass, flowers, animals… It is these images that create the color of the Red Dao people. All motifs in the costumes of the Red Dao are embroidered with the imagination and skillful hands of the Red Dao woman without any drawings and patterns. Patterns are often embroidered on the hem of the shirt, pants, and scarves of the Red Dao on an indigo fabric with a technique of painting with beeswax very typical of the Dao.
For a long time, the Red Dao ethnic people have always been proud of their traditional costumes. Currently, in the villages where the Red Dao people live, many women still make costumes for themselves and for their family members.
For the daughter of the Red Dao ethnic group, each motif on the traditional costume requires not only the meticulousness and ingenuity of a woman’s hands, but also shows her thoughts and feelings. , the beauty of cultural, spiritual and religious life typical of the ethnic group
In addition, mothers and grandmothers always teach the young generations the experience of sewing and embroidering costumes, thereby demonstrating the ingenuity of the Dao woman and contributing to preserving the cultural identity. of his nation. Because of this, the costumes and decorative arts on the costumes of the Red Dao people in Tuyen Quang have not been interrupted, and really become important and constitutive elements of the culture of the Red Dao. The motifs are decorated extremely delicately, the layout is tight, the colors are brilliant and have their own characteristics.