tribaltextiles.info

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Pamela, about the diamond twill cloth used by the Bailing Miao (White Collar Miao), from what I've been able to find out so far, it is a traditional cloth that has been used for a very long time (whatever that means). However, not everyone either had the time or the skill to make it, so plain cloth was/is also made. For those who did make it, the diamond twill cloth was used for all of their textiles, be they jackets, baby carriers or quilt covers etc. and was an added indication of a girls general abilities and therefore desirability as a marriage partner.

I’ve been told that the diamond twill cloth and plain cloth could be made on the same looms, but from the information given by Marla, plain cloth only requires 2 harnesses whilst diamond twill requires 4. Presumably, the most basic looms would only have the 2, and so could not be used to make the diamond twill, would this be the case?

Below is a selection of Bailing Miao quilt covers of various styles, all probably from the first half of the 20th C. (although the second one might have been made by an old woman at a later date). The first is the most simple and therefore probably the oldest, employing 6 small bronze drum motifs surrounded by typical compound patterns that include butterflies, plant and fruit-butterflies and fruit-fish. The bronze drum is a powerful symbol relating to the spirits of the ancestors, and is a traditional pattern found in many Miao group’s embroidery and batik. The second and fourth covers also have 6 bronze drums. The second design also includes compound fish-butterfly patterns, whilst the fourth includes crabs (an unusual pattern), pomegranates (both relating to the wished for birth of many children), fish and butterflies.

Simple, traditional patterns such as the bronze drum are the oldest forms found on quilt covers, seeming to date from before the 20th century. From around the start of the 2nd quarter 20th C. if not earlier in some areas, designs and individual patterns started to move away from these rigid, traditional forms. As the century progressed, and particularly from the 1940s and 50s, lines became more delicate, workmanship more skilled and plants and animals took on a more realistic form. Individuals began to use their quilts as a place to express their own feelings about life and beauty and their desires for their own and their family’s lives to come.

More Bailing Miao quilt covers

Andrew-

Great pieces and great information. Do you have any pictures of the one of the bronze drums? Are the drum designs pictured in the covers the same as on the actual drums. I ask as it would be curious to see the drum comparison between the Bailing drums and the Karen and Dong Son frog drums, which were so influential further south.

Once again your collection bemes even more stunning at your every submission.

Bill

Bill

I don't have a photo of a Bailing Miao drum but I do have one in use by a Miao group, also in the South East of Guizhou, in Pintang county (Bai Zhan village, Xin Tang Township). Pintang is about 3 hours drive (on a relatively good newish road) from Duyun which is close to where you can find Bailing Miao. The Miao group I am showing you are sometimes called Crow Miao although the women wear pheasant feathers in their head dresses. These Miao do some wax resist but it is fairly crude - see the man's head cloth around his shoulders. This we think is made not with wax knife but with something like a large wooden comb with a standing up handle and used like a stamp. This group are up on top of a plateau and getting to them when it is raining (as it is a lot of the time in Guizhou) is 'challenging'. I think that they are relatively unexposed to outside influences.

The drum here is being beaten (and lusheng pipes played) for dances. I was fascinated to see what looked so like an old Dong song drum being used. I have no idea if this is an old drum or a much newer one following old designs. The photo was taken in November 2001. I am sorry that it is not possible to see the designs on the drum more clearly. I will have a play with the photo and see if I can get any clearer images. Andrew's 262.1 would appear to have some similarities with the drum in my photo. I would think that the designs on the wax resist covers could well be 'inspired by' but not necessarily direct copies of, the drums.

Andrew

I will come back separately on your stunning Bailing covers as I have not had a chance to study them carefully nor properly absorb your very helpful text. Suffice to say at this stage that I completely endorse Bill's comments on the textiles as am I bowled over by them. As always, thanks SO much for sharing them with us.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

As to the Bronze drum it does look more like a Dong Son drum than a Karen at least in shape. I guess what I would love to see is the images on the respective rings. I guess we Aare not going to see them clearly from this photo. Maybe we can put the word out to our members in case someone has a pic in their archives.

Thanks for the photo Pamela and thanks again for Andrew for this spectacular display.

I don't know if this detail shows any more than the photos above...?

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Bill

I’m afraid I don’t have a picture of a bronze drum that adds anything to the one that Pamela has already posted, however, the pictures below, taken at an Ancestor Worship festival in Xijiang in Leishan county in 1998, shows how similar they are.

Again this does not really add anything to the detail of a Miao brass drum but I remembered that, the day before we had visited the village with the drum shown in my posts above, we had visited another Miao village - 'Red Miao' - which was Kong Wang village, Su Chang township, Pingtang county in Guizhou. It was very remote up on the plateau. In my notes I see that I referred to 'the beat of a gong and a drum'. Looking closely the 'gong' would appear to be a metal drum. See photos below.

I am showing one shot of the Red Miao to link to the costume.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Before I left for my recent trip to Guizhou and Guangxi provinces in south-west China Andrew charged me with recording carefully any bronze drums which I saw. During the trip I encountered two metal drums – one in a Miao village in Taijiang county and the other in a Shui village in Sandu county both in south-east Guizhou.

I am posting photos below of the drum in Taijiang. This drum was the centre-piece of the amazing welcoming performance which the villagers gave to us. We were reputedly the first visitors to come to their village – Da Zhai village, Taipan township, Taijiang county - since the decision (and investment) had been made to open up the village. The villagers were out in force, groups of young men and women, children, more mature women (many with babies being carried in ornate baby-carriers), old men, old women and musicians in full festival clothing and they circled around the performance ground to the insistent beating of the drum which was suspended from a sturdy wooden frame, rather like a gallows.

It was explained to us that the drum is regarded as the heart of the village. When one of the old women brought a drink of rice wine to the man beating the drum she first poured wine over the face of the drum.

I asked to photograph the drum and the drummers held it whilst I tried to get some details of the design.

The Miao in Da Zhai village wear festival clothing similar to that of Langde village – see Tony Chen’s article on the fertility festival in Langde and his photos. http://www.tribaltextiles.info/articles ... stival.htm

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

The Shui drum I mentioned above was in a room in the Shui head man’s house in Ban Miao (near Miao) village, Zhong He township, Sandu county. I was interested to see the wooden ‘muffler’ being used to reduce the sound of the drum and realise that it was also present in Da Zhai village. The Shui women’s ‘best’ costume was worn for our benefit but I also saw the same dress being worn in Zhong He township later in the afternoon as we walked through a busy market.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource