Then, come with me to see the Mulao culture!
Mulao people advocate green, and their clothing style is simple and simple. Mulao people grow their own cotton and indigo, weave their own homespun and dye their own. The method of dyeing cloth is: put the cloth in a dyeing vat, soak it in indigo water, and take it out after uniform coloring. Paste the noodles with rice soup, yam and Niu Pijiao. After drying, roll it with a stone hammer or beat it with a wooden stick, so that the cloth made is shiny, beautiful and durable. Indigo dyed homespun is regarded as a treasure by the Mulao people, and the "anti-aging clothes" worn by the elderly and the "wedding clothes" worn by girls are made of this kind of cloth.
Most of the former Mulao people spun, woven, dyed and sewed by themselves. The homespun dyed with indigo is considered as a precious cloth. The fabric is bright, beautiful and durable. Girls' "wedding clothes" and old people's "anti-aging clothes" are made of this fabric. Girls also use it to make "shoes of that year" as a token for lovers to "go uphill". If you make single-beam boat shoes for the elderly, it is the greatest respect for the elderly. Made into suspenders, and then embroidered with flowers, birds, insects and fish with five-color silk thread, it is exquisite, beautiful and lifelike, which fully shows the artistic talent and aesthetic taste of Lao women.
There is little difference between Mulao men's clothing and local Han and Zhuang men's clothing. Men wear double-breasted coats and trousers, while old people wear pipa coats and sandals. Women's clothes are simple and generous. In the past, girls used to braid their hair and tie it in a bun after they got married, but now they have their hair cut. Decorate with silver earrings, bracelets, rings, etc.
The decorations of Mulao women like to be made of silver and jade. Silver ornaments include: silver needles, silver pins, silver bracelets, silver rings and silver rings. The silver needle is about three inches long, shaped like an onion leaf, sharp at the top and thick as an onion leaf, and inserted into a bun to fix it. The silver hairpin is made of a small silver column, and there is a silver flower the size of a copper coin at the top of the hairpin. There are two short silver columns made of fine silver wire on the silver flower, and each end of the column is covered with a small fluffy ball. Silver hairpin is also an ornament inserted in the bun. Silver rings and silver hairpins are not usually worn, but only when you are married or visiting relatives. Jade articles include jade pins and jade bracelets.
Diligent Mulao women make cloth shoes in metropolis, and the styles of shoes are "cloud shoes", "cat shoes", "single beam shoes" and "double beam shoes". With the development of society and the improvement of living standards, these traditional homemade shoes are becoming less and less common. However, there is a kind of shoes-shoes in those days, as a token of love for Mulao girls, which is still popular in Mulao mountainous areas. This kind of shoes is complex, meticulous and elegant. It takes white cloth as the bottom and indigo cloth as the surface.
Mulao people like to wear sandals because they are soft, comfortable and breathable, and they can walk easily. There are many kinds of straw sandals made by Mulao people, including beef tendon straw sandals, nine-layer fur sandals, China alpine straw sandals, rotten rattan straw sandals, jute straw sandals, bamboo hemp straw sandals, cotton straw sandals and wool straw sandals. Among many straw sandals, bamboo straw sandals, cotton straw sandals and wool straw sandals are the most distinctive and are still in use today. Bamboo and linen straw sandals are a kind of bamboo woven straw sandals.
Cotton straw sandals are worn by young men when they "walk the slope" to catch up with the market. There is also a big wool ball on the toe of the wool sandals, which is worn by young women when they "walk the slope" to go to the market. Cotton sandals and wool sandals are the symbols of unmarried young men and women of Mulao nationality. On the slope, as long as you meet a girl wearing wool sandals, the young man can sing to woo her.