The dao Tien are mainly settled in a large area spreading from southern Ha Giang and Cao Bang through Tuyen Quang and Bac Giang.
On the base of brocade material with indigo and other colourful hues,
the Dao Tien women have made unique patterned costumes that highlight
their simple beauty.
Dao Tien women's charming radiant attire is
attributed to their skills in decoration and indigo dying. The
sparse embroideries revealing part of the black and indigo base
material help to lessen the radiant and strong colours, bringing about
the harmony in colour blend. The use of colours and patterns on
clothing, especially women's, represent an ethnicity's cultural
identity. For the Dao Tien, such a cultural feature can be seen in
their beeswax printing technique.
The Dao Tien people usually
pay great attention to the combination of ornaments on their clothes.
The blouses and headscarves are decorated with courbary beads and
silver coins while the colourful brocade collars, fly front closings
and sleeves are decorated with patterned silver ornaments. It is
customary for a Dao Tien girl to start her married life wearing the
clothes, which she made the year prior to the wedding, and the silver
jewellery items as the dowry from her parents. Her dowry will then be
treasured and handed down to her descendants.
The Dao Tien
girls seem more beautiful in new radiant costumes and silver jewellery
items that ripple with their steps. The Dao Tien's patterned jewellery
items and brocade costumes constitute the beauty of the scenic
north-western region and their own cultural identity.
