Without Silver Jewels, How Do The Chinese Four Seals Miao Astonish The World?
The Four Seals Miao reside in a village called Maige, which in Miao language means a place with lots of woods. A long time ago, a tribe of Miao was forced by their enemies to move to a remote mountainous area in southwestern China. Wanting to lead a peaceful life and not be harassed by the enemies again, they decided to destroy everything that might reveal their identities. When a Shaikh was about to throw the four big seals, the symbols of the tribe, into fire, a girl stood up and said: Please print the patterns of the seals on my clothes before you burn them. This way, the soul of our nation will live forever.
Since then, this Miao tribe kept a tradition of embroidering four colorful square patterns on women’s clothes. And they got a unique name the Four Seals Miao.
The Four Seals Miao are famous for their extraordinary batik technique with a history of over 2,000 years. Women use a special knife dipped into melt wax to paint exquisite patterns like animals, birds, and flowers onto a white cloth. The cloth is then dyed in blue liquid, and placed into boiling water to take away the wax. At last lovely blue designs are printed onto the cloth.
The local women do embroidery and sew clothes by themselves. They usually spend seven to eight months to prepare a set of clothes for important holidays. Their frocks have a large, multi-layer collar embroidered with beautiful patterns. One square pattern - the biggest of the four seals embroidered on the front of a frock looks especially conspicuous. Their pleated skirts are characterized by horizontal lines which stand for the lakes and rivers their forefathers 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.
Many holidays are held for single, young people to look for their life partners. Each year, on the fifth day of the first lunar month, they will hold an exciting Flower Dance Festival where young people get together to sing and dance. In the evening they will have a bonfire party where they sing love songs to express their feelings.
During the festival, a ceremony is held to release the soul of a dead tribe member from purgatory. In the ceremony, a man will be chosen to wrap his body with the dead members clothes, and then sing and dance to the Lusheng music in the background. This way, the dead members soul could ascend to 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.