Unique outfit with bark

Quang Tri Province has discovered and collected unique ancient costumes. It is a set of 7 shirts made of bark, dating back hundreds of years.

The bark jacket was stored at Quang Tri Museum.

Mr. Ho Ta Khu, 70 years old, in Huong Hoa district, owner of one of the seven shirts said: " This shirt is made of pi tree bark, a kind of vertical tree trunk, thick shell, colored pus. opaque white, very toxic ".

Elaborately 'tailor'

Make a shirt with a very elaborate bark. First, choose a skilled worker to go into the forest to peel the pi tree. The Van Kieu people do not cut down all pi trees, but only use a circle around their bodies to circle the bark for softening.

At home, family members cooked a container of water with added spices such as sugarcane leaves, citronella, ginger (each from 1 kg to 2 kg). The bark is put into the boiling water container and soaked for 10 days for toxic latex to be discharged. After soaking, pi bark is brought to the sun and dried in the sun for 7 days and nights. When finished, put the bark in a dry, clean place, wait until the 14th day of the lunar calendar to bring the bark out and sew it.

The ancient style of Van Kieu people

Usually, each bark is designed with three bodies. The front two and one body behind. The shirt is sewn in a round, sleeveless neck. Only used to sew clothes made of very thin rattan fibers. The whole shirt has only two discreet stitches on both sides of the armpit. The inside of the shirt is very smooth because it is polished, the surface is rough. Although made of bark, this kind of outfit has soft characteristics, very tough, long-lasting, suitable to wear in winter. Van Kieu people, even women or men, like to wear bark, they consider it a pride.

In the past, Van Kieu people often used this type of clothes to hunt wild animals, to cultivate fields or to confront enemies. Many ethnographers believe that the bark is the oldest costume of Van Kieu people left until now, reflecting the unique creativity of people before the life associated with the trees and mountains. rock.

Only a few people know how to sew

Mr. Hu said that there are many mysterious things around the tree coat, then let out a sad voice: ' Currently only a few Van Kieu people know' technology 'to make clothes with bark. Because in addition to detecting the pi and then going to the peeling stage, sewing the shirt is a process of sending the soul of the person who sews the garment to the shirt, which is considered by the Van Kieu people to be the spirit of his people. '. So not all ordinary people can sew the bark. So the bark of the bark was unique and even more scarce, not every nation could have.

Mr. Le Duc Tho - Deputy Director of Quang Tri Museum, a cultural researcher - said: ' The bark of the bark is seen as a pride in the costume art of Van Kieu people, is an original image of the event. living full of myths of Van Kieu people in the middle of the Truong Son thousands. This is a rare and unique outfit .