Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional culture - Dai brocade with strong national characteristics

Dai brocade with strong national characteristics

Dai people can be said to be the land of beautiful women. The graceful figure and unparalleled Dai skirt are the most touching scenery on the streets of Xishuangbanna. Dai brocade is the truest portrayal of Dai culture, which is not only exquisite, but also has profound cultural connotation. Dai brocade has been the pride of Dai people since ancient times. Let me show you Dai brocade with strong national characteristics.

Dai brocade should have appeared in the Tang Dynasty at the earliest. At that time, there was a record of Dai brocade paying tribute to the court, which reflected the division of labor between men and women in farming society. In fact, until now, Dai people have to have a mattress made of Dai brocade when they get married, which is the most primitive "Simmons". Even people who can't do it will have it knitted.

In the former Dai court, every village had a division of tribute. For example, Manluandian Village is a village that specially weaves brocade for the imperial court. Historically, it is a famous hometown of Dai brocade, which was named as the hometown of Dai brocade by Banna Prefecture.

Dai brocade, that is, the brocade of the Dai people, is a folk handicraft that spreads among the Dai people and has strong local characteristics and ethnic minority characteristics. The main producing areas are announced in Pingba River Valley where Dai people live in Dehong, Xishuangbanna, Gengma and Menglian, as well as Jinggu, Jingdong, Yuanjiang and Jinping counties and Jinsha River basin. Dai brocade reflects the face of Dai farming society, which is especially rare when many handicrafts related to other ethnic farming societies have died out.

Dai brocade is one of the tapestries of ethnic minorities. The local name is "Dolob". Dai people in Han Dynasty belong to "Ailao". Dai brocade also includes cotton brocade and silk brocade. Cotton brocade basically uses straight weft, and silk brocade has both straight weft and broken weft. Cotton brocade is made of natural cotton yarn and woven with red or black weft yarns. Dai brocade in Dehong area is usually composed of four colors: red, black, emerald and green. Patterns include lions, elephants, peacocks, trees and figures. Generally, it is 33 cm wide and 50 cm long. It is mainly used as quilt cover and decorative fabric for handicrafts. It has a strong national style.

Dai brocade is an ancient traditional hand-woven craft. Pattern design is created by skilled textile technology. Patterns are mostly monochrome, and patterns are woven with weft yarns. The pattern is well organized. When knitting, Dai women tie the pattern on the "diamond plate" (pattern book) with a string, then block the pedal with their hands to make the warp yarn form two layers, and then start weft insertion. This repetition can weave a very beautiful Dai brocade.

To design A Dai Brocade, hundreds or even thousands of strings need to be displayed on the "model". If a thin thread is wrong, the whole pattern of Dai brocade will be disordered, which shows that the technological requirements of Dai brocade are extremely strict.

As early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, Dai people used cotton thread and silk thread to weave Dai brocade. During Nanzhao period, local officials gave Dai brocade as a gift to the upper palace. As a very ancient textile processing, Dai brocade has its own rigor in pattern organization. Dai brocade is exquisite in craftsmanship, unique in pattern, bright in color and durable.

With white or light color as the background color and animals, plants, buildings and people as the themes, the patterns of peacock, steed, dragon, phoenix, elephant and unicorn, especially the phoenix, elephant, horse and tower with wings spread, represent auspiciousness, strength and harvest respectively; Pagodas, monasteries, bamboo houses and homestays pursue a better life. These profound and colorful patterns fully show the wisdom of the Dai people and their pursuit and yearning for a better life.

Today, Dai brocade technology has been developed and improved on the basis of inheriting tradition. Besides making dresses, satchels, sheets, quilts, curtains and towels, we also design and produce new varieties of Dai brocade screens and sofa cushions, which are loved by people at home and abroad for their bright colors and gorgeous patterns.