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Proudly situated in the northernmost part of Vietnam, the Dong Van Karst Plateau stands majestically amidst the landscape, spanning four highland districts of Ha Giang province: Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van, and Meo Vac. With a vast natural area of approximately 2,354 km², it is not only a unique geological wonder recognized by UNESCO as a Global Geopark, but also the cradle of a vibrant, rich, and distinctive culture.
Here, over 250,000 people from 17 ethnic groups have chosen this place as their homeland. Among them, the Hmong are dominant, accounting for approximately 70% of the population, primarily the White Hmong. For generations, their ancestors have come to the rocky plateau, persistently clearing land and settling there. Living amidst what is known as the "rock desert," the Hmong people's lives remain vibrant and rich in color and rhythm. This is clearly reflected in their traditional clothing, spiritual beliefs, unique customs, distinctive architectural works, lively folk art forms, and their profound understanding of the natural environment of this rocky land.
The Hmong people's linen weaving craft holds immense significance for their traditional culture, serving as a vivid testament to their diligence and perseverance.
Flax and the enduring cultural heritage of Hmong women.
For generations, the Hmong people on the Dong Van Karst Plateau have proudly passed down a saying: "Where there is flax, there are Hmong people." Flax is not simply a source of material for making clothes or household items. More than that, flax has become deeply ingrained in the lives, beliefs, and spirituality of the Hmong people in general, and the Hmong on the Dong Van Karst Plateau in particular.
Linen is a cultural symbol of the Hmong people.
The Hmong people living on the Dong Van Karst Plateau are always proud of their two traditional crafts that command respect from other ethnic communities: flax cultivation and weaving, and their unique blacksmithing. Flax, a type of hemp, is called "Chaozmangx" in the Hmong language. This plant is usually sown around the end of February or the beginning of March in the lunar calendar and harvested in the end of June or the beginning of July each year, marking a cycle of diligent and hopeful labor.
When mentioning Hmong women, the first and most striking impression is their linen skirts with distinctive lines, colors, and patterns that are unmistakable and unlike the clothing of any other ethnic group. Hmong women are closely associated with flax cultivation and weaving, and bundles of flax yarn seem to be inseparable from them. This is not only a job that demonstrates skill and diligence, but also an important measure of a Hmong woman's talent, morality, character, and even her business acumen. That's why the Hmong often say: "A beautiful girl who doesn't know how to work with flax is ugly; a pretty girl who doesn't know how to hold a needle is ruined."
The local people still preserve the traditional linen weaving craft using natural materials and handcrafted processes.
Year after year, Hmong women toil tirelessly spinning flax and weaving cloth. This dedication has become ingrained in their blood and flesh, fostering a habit of hard work, diligence, and skillful hands. The craft of growing flax and weaving has contributed significantly to shaping the distinctive character of Hmong women. Therefore, to assess the qualities and character of a woman, the Hmong often use her flax-growing and weaving techniques as a standard measure.
An ideal woman is considered to be skilled in every aspect of life, from growing flax and weaving to embroidery. Conversely, a woman is considered clumsy and incompetent if she lacks these skills. One can even guess a woman's character simply by looking at her flax pile. If the pile is smooth, lustrous, and neat, it indicates a diligent, careful, and skillful woman. Conversely, a tangled pile often suggests a careless, lazy, and clumsy woman.
Weaving linen also demonstrates skill and diligence, and has become one of the criteria for evaluating a woman's talent and virtue.
To create a finished linen fabric, Hmong women must go through an extremely elaborate process, requiring meticulousness and absolute patience. First is the stripping of the flax fibers. This work requires skill and care to avoid breaking the fibers. After stripping, the flax fibers are pounded in a mortar until they become soft, smooth, fluffy, and no longer stiff.
Next comes the yarn joining process – considered the most difficult and time-consuming step. Hmong women must strip each small flax fiber by hand and meticulously join them together at equal intervals and lengths, root to root, tip to tip, and then wind them into smooth rolls of yarn. After joining the flax into large rolls, they spin the yarn, soften it, stretch it, and finally put it on the loom. Through more than 40 steps and countless drops of sweat, a rough linen cloth is finally formed. And that's not all; the linen cloth must then be soaked in wood ash water until it becomes a lustrous white to complete the process.
It takes many different steps to complete a product.
The finished linen fabric is used to sew beautiful dresses, and the beauty of the dress is a measure of the skill and rich soul of the Hmong woman. From a young age, girls are guided by their mothers to weave linen, learn embroidery, and apply beeswax designs to their dresses. Without a fixed pattern, through keen observation, rich imagination, and skillful hands, Hmong women constantly create unique shapes and patterns, using beeswax designs and coordinating embroidery thread colors to create their own unique and beautiful dresses.
The Hmong people believe that linen fabric helps to strengthen the bond between descendants and their ancestors.
Patterns are the most important element that creates the beauty of Hmong traditional clothing. However, these patterns are very simple, originating from ancient stories and poems about the origins of the ethnic group, majestic natural landscapes, familiar plants, animals, and agricultural products in daily life. Common patterns include horizontal squares with borders in the shape of squares, crosses, rhombuses, triangles, circles, single or double swirls, sawtooth patterns, curves, and wavy lines. Inside are five-pointed, six-pointed, or eight-pointed stars, pumpkin flowers, spiderwebs, snails, goat horns, etc. The Hmong believe that beautiful patterns help invite spirits to the family, bestow good fortune, and ward off evil. These patterns often feature bright colors, especially red, creating a warm feeling for the wearer when traveling through deep forests, high mountains, and ravines in the cold climate of the rocky plateau.
"To create beautiful fabric, the craftsman must love their job, be patient, and skillful."
It is the flax plant and the way it is processed that have honed the skillful hands, fostered the patient and resilient character, and nurtured the rich and sensitive soul of the Hmong women. Upon arriving in the Dong Van Karst Plateau, visitors can easily encounter Hmong women everywhere, carrying baskets on their backs, diligently walking with rolls of flax in their hands, stripping and joining the fabric with unceasing speed. The Hmong linen fabric of the Dong Van Karst Plateau is one of the region's precious products, made entirely by hand by the skillful hands of the women.
For the Hmong people, linen is not just an ordinary clothing material. Linen is a family heirloom, clearly reflecting the cultural traditions, history, beliefs, personality, and wealth of the Hmong people. Above all, linen has become a unique spiritual and cultural symbol, an inseparable part of the identity and life of the Hmong people on the Dong Van Karst Plateau.
