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Hmong Textile Arts
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History of the Hmong
Today there are Hmong in many parts of the world, including the United States, Canada,
France, Australia, New Zealand, South America, China, and Southeast Asia. Though
they are spread around the world, they share a strong history that still links them
together to this day. The Hmong are a nomadic tribal group. Thousands of years ago,
they were believed to have migrated from the Scandinavia area across Asia and settled
in what is now eastern China. There they built a Hmong kingdom. They were the indigenous
people of this area. After years of peace, due to Chinese expansion, they invaded the kingdom.
Determined to maintain their land, the Hmong
put up a long and hard fight, but the king was captured and the kingdom fell.
The Hmong were a fiercely independent group of people and resisted the Chinese imposition of their
culture. Those who did not conform to the
Chinese ways were executed. Many who did not want to face death and persecution migrated south. They settled in
the mountains, where it would be harder to reach them, in Southern China. Some went
further south into the highlands of Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Burma. Today the
majority of Hmong still live in Southern China.
The Hmong have a long and rich culture of oral tradition. A written
language did not exist until the 1950s when a French missionary helped develop a Romanized
alphabet for the seven-tone language. There is a story that the Hmong once did
have a written language. Through persecution and cultural genocide, their language
was lost. The design and shapes in their textiles are symbols for characters that
they once used to write. This was a way they could preserve their culture and language.
Over the centuries, the characters have become indecipherable. The symbols have evolved into simply designs of their art.
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Art of the Hmong
In Hmong, paj ntaub (pronounced pa-dau), meaning "flower cloth," is the name given to their
style of textile art. It is given this name because of the bright colors used; they stand
out like a field of flowers like the poppy flowers that many cultivated. The colors the
Hmong usually use are bright pink, red, green, blue, black, yellow. Pink and green dominate
most works as well as their apparel.
The Hmong derive many of their textile designs from their environment and experience.
There are designs that simulate nature and its spirituality. There is a design of the elephant's foot.
It symbolizes the family unit. The foundation of Hmong life begins with the family. This
design is very important in its represention of that family bond. The triangular shapes usually sewn at
the borders of the paj
ntaub symbolize the mountains that have kept them safe for centuries. Textiles were and still is
a way of documenting Hmong culture and life.
The tradition of recording stories and events in fabric form began because it was the most
readily available material that was permanent. They made fabrics, usually cotton, for clothing
so they had it on hand. In addition, fabric was light and easily transportable.
Folk tales are illustrated into the cloth. Events in their history,
such as the crossing of the Mekong River to escape the Viet-Cong, is preserved in
textile art. These pieces are called "story cloths." Even in today's modern society,
many Hmong women today use this
technique to record stories and history for their children.
The traditional clothing of the Hmong carry many of the same designs as their textiles. The
snail swirl is a popular design among many different groups of Hmong. Men usually wore black
pants with a long sleeve jacket or a vest over a white collar shirt. Women could wear either
black pants or pleated skirt with a long sleeve or three-quarter sleeve jacket. The jackets and vest
that Hmong men and women wore were decorated with brightly colored designs. Silver coins also
adorned the sleeves and accessories of the clothing.
Within the Hmong society, there are two main groups, the Blue Hmong and the White Hmong. Their
clothing included the same basic pieces, but varied a little in design. The men's clothing consisted of the
black pants and a jacket or vest. The big difference in women's wear was the skirt. The Blue Hmong women
wore a colorful, more detailed pleated skirt. The White Hmong women wore an all white pleated
skirt. Each person added a little of their own touches to each piece of apparel they
made to personalize it.
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