Planet Hero

Unique Silver Rings Of Chinese Miao Women And Their Embroidered Aprons

Dec 04

Clare LiuAsia Apron, Asia, Chinese Culture, Miao, Miao culture, silver bracelets, silver earrings, Silver Necklaces, silver pendants, silver rings 1 Comment

Living in southwest China, the Miao minority group are proud of their unique handmade artworks of batik, embroidery, and silver jewelry. Miao women like to wear large silver rings and embroidered costumes during their holidays. Their beautiful aprons always sport exquisitely embroidered flowers. Here is an interesting story about the origin of this ethnic apron.

Once upon a time, a girl and her younger brother lived in a village. Their parents passed away. The girl was smart, diligent, and managed their home quite well. She even had a whole collection of silver rings. So they led a comfortable life. With the hope of educating her brother, the girl sent him to school.

The narrow-minded teacher was jealous of smart women, especially those who were even smarter than men. When he learned the girl was intelligent, smart and beautiful, he wanted to give her a difficult time.

One day the teacher told the brother, “Tomorrow morning I will go to visit your sister. Let her prepare some breakfast with a boiled radish that is red inside.” So the brother looked everywhere at home for a radish with red inside. But he couldn’t find one. The brother had to ask his sister. The sister said, “We get a full basket of new radishes with red inside everyday. How come you couldn’t find them? Don’t worry. Just take your teacher here tomorrow.”

The next morning when the teacher got to their home, he only saw a dish of sour vegetables on the table. He yelled at the brother, “Did you cook me a boiled radish with red inside?” Just then, the girl brought a big bowl of boiled eggs on the table. She broke one egg and showed it to the teacher, ” Here you are! I hope you will enjoy it! Your boiled radish with red inside and white outside.” The teacher stared at the eggs, and couldn’t say anything.

A few days later, the teacher informed the younger brother again, ” Tomorrow I will have lunch at your home. Tell your sister to cook a dish called ‘ The golden hook hanging from a jade plate”‘. The younger brother told his sister. The sister said, “I know what to do. Just bring him here.” When the teacher came, the sister brought him a bowl of white bean curd and yellow bean sprouts. It looked exactly like golden hooks hanging from a jade plate.

When the teacher went back home, he said to himself, “The books I have read could fill several rooms, why can’t I defeat that girl?” He thought over and over for a whole week. Then he went to talk to the brother again, “Tomorrow I will eat dinner at your home. Just let your sister to prepare a simple plate of salad with dragon’s claws and tiger’s ears.” The brother told this to his sister. The girl said, “This is easy. We have numerous of these two things in our village.” The next day when the teacher came, he saw a big plate of tender leaves mixed with escallonia. The leaves looked like dragon’s claws, and escallonia was similar to a tiger’s ear.

The teacher felt shamed and angry, “I must find a way to get rid of the girl’s wisdom.” So one day, he drew a pattern on a piece of paper, and sent it to the brother, “I appreciate the delicious meals your sister cooked for me. This beautiful pattern is for her. She can make herself an apron based on this pattern.”

After studying the strange and complicated design on the paper for a while, the girl understood, “The bad teacher wants to use this wizard design to block my heart and my wisdom. Ok, I will make an apron!”

Learning that the girl had made an apron based on that strange picture, the teacher went to see what’s happening at the girl’s home. To his surprise, he found there was a big red flower embroidered on the apron. The girl looked more attractive with this apron and her silver rings. The teacher said, ” In the picture I gave you, there is no flower. Why did you embroider a flower?” The girl answered happily, ” Look at it! It’s not a flower, but my heart. Your beautiful picture doesn’t block my heart, but show it much clearly!”

Since then a beautiful apron with embroidered flower became an indispensable adornment to Miao women’s ethnic clothing. Wearing their handmade spectacular silver jewels and silver rings with their embroidered clothes, Miao women can proudly claim themselves the most attractive ones in the world.

Clare L. writes about the world’s silver jewelry, especially silver rings. In particular, Miao silver rings are popular almost everywhere. Get in touch with the writer, check out the silver rings here.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.