Key words: Embroidery, lucky eggs, rice wine force feeding, bull fights, homestay, silver head dress, Michael the English teacher, hanging ducks, pretty girls on mobile phones, babies in carriers.
Kaili City of Guizhou province China is the gate way to the Miao Nationality.
Miao are famous for their colourful and complex embroidery.
Kaitang is a Miao area forty kilometres North West of Kaili, that happened to be celebrating the obscure Double Nine festival – originally a demon warding off day, but more recently an ancestors honouring occasion – and a special day for being nice to senior citizens. Kaiso was not originally a planned stop on our Guizhou textiles exploratory, but we quickly reshuffled to make it fit.
Festivals in Miao areas are also days for young girls to show off their sense of style; their skill at needle work. Its important that a future husband appreciates a woman’s textile artistry. We arrived in Kaiso Village nearby kaitang town, early enough to watch mothers, daughters and sisters make-up for the day.
Red is a favourite colour of the Kaitang Miao.
Whilst the women looked spectacular, the men looked like they raided a costume shop last minute – going for the machine made bling. But at least these few are the effort.
Ducks and geese were unwilling participants, but mostly managed to keep their head up for the procession. Miao festivals are very much about feasting of the non-vegetarian variety – with not a few pretty women hefting slabs of pork around for three or four hours as preliminary offerings to the demons and gods.
babies are brought along for the ride, always in the most intricately woven baby carriers.
God is in the detail. Hundreds of hours are devoted to embroidered panels. Traditionalists spin their own cotton and weave the red fabric. Others purchase off the shelf. Your festival ware is a sign of your character, your status, and your skill.
The spirits are in the rice wine, which is force fed by dedicated wine fisher outers.
