Brocade weaving is a traditional handicraft of the Central Highlanders and plays an important role in their spiritual life. In the face of challenges from modern life, Central Highlanders have made every effort to keep the practice alive.

The charm of brocade arts

One cannot tell the differences between the brocade products of Gia Rai, E De, Ba Na, Xo Dang and Co Tu ethnic groups at a glance because of their similarities in colours and decorative cubes. 

However, each ethic group has their own style in tone and characteristic pattern designs.

Choosing black or indigo as major background colours, Central Highlands women depict heaven and earth, and the land and people on pieces of brocade. 

With their talent and creativity, images of Rong (communal houses), long houses, elephants, wine jars and people’s daily activities are also featured on the products.

Gia Rai and E De women often dress in ankle length skirts and sleeved shirts with patterns running horizontally along the lap. 

Ba Na and MNong women’s costumes feature short-sleeved shirts, mid-calf skirts, and a colourful brocade hairband.

Meanwhile, men often wear loincloths, and many ethnic groups have an additional shirt. They also wear metal accessories to show their masculinity.

Brocade is also featured in many fine traditions of the Central Highlanders. According to Ba Na ethnic artisan Y Thoat in Kon K’tu village, Dac Ro Va commune, Kon Tum city, under the instruction of their mothers and grandmothers, Ba Na girls at the age of 10 or 11 make their brocade dresses by themselves.

For Gia Rai people in Kon Tum province, a woman has to know how to weave and embroider a wedding robe when she gets married and how to make a baby sling to wrap and carry her child on the field.

In the traditional wedding of Co Ho people in Lam Dong province, pieces of hand-made brocade are an important wedding present required from the groom’s family to the bride’s family, depending on their economic status.

Despite its treasured value, brocade weaving in many Central Highlands province is now facing many challenges. 

Cheaper ready-to-wear clothes are now becoming more popular in the villages, making local people, particularly the youth, less interested in wearing their traditional costumes, which require a lot of time and work to make.

The meticulous process of brocade is now simpler than it used to be in the past, when steps were manually done from cotton production and harvest, thread spinning and dyeing. 

It took them almost a week to weave a scarf and up to one month to complete a skirt and shirt set, said Ro Lan Bel from Bien Ho commune, Pleiku city, Gia Lai province. But today, locals buy threads at the market, which are ready to be spun on their looms.

Many brocade collectives and handicraft villages also have difficulties in finding output for their products.

Determined to keep ancestral traditions in practice

Aware of the risk of losing their ancestors’ traditional craft, many local artisans have joined hands to set up classes on brocade weaving in their villages. One of them is Siu Hrill in Kep village, Pleiku city, Gia Lai province. 

After graduating from a domestic university, Siu got a masters scholarship to study abroad through a project on preserving artistic heritages of Gia Rai people.

Since he returned home in 2010, he has organised a number of community projects on how to make and use traditional musical instruments, sculpture as well as collecting and systemising Gia Rai ethnic epics. 

The projects have received enthusiastic support from non-governmental cultural funds.

At the end of 2015, Siu convinced artisan Ro Lan Bel to join as an instructor of a class on making eight brocade products and 13-15 traditional brocade patterns. 

The venue for the class is a communal house which is provided for free by elder Ksor Hnhanh. The house is now a tourist attraction for visitors to Kep village as it also displays daily utensils and traditional musical instruments of Gia Rai people.

Another successful model is Tong Bong Brocade Collective in To Ju village, Eakao commune, Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province. 

The success of the collective is significantly contributed by its head, H’Yam Bkrong, who came to every house in the village to encourage the women to join the collective for free. 

She has also made field trips to many regions from the north to the south of the country to learn new designs and has visited a number of fairs and exhibitions to introduce her collective’s products.

In addition to producing traditional costumes, the collective also creates modern products such as phone cases, ties, curtains and pillow covers.

H’Yam has received many awards and certificates in recognition of her contributions to the community regarding both economic and cultural fields.

The Central Highland’s brocade has also been featured in paintings and has inspired fashion designers to be applied as a unique material for their designs.

Central Highlanders are sparing no efforts to preserve brocade weaving and hand down their ancestral traditions to younger generations so that the beautiful pieces of brocade cloth will not just be exhibited behind the glass at museums or recorded in documentary photos.

Nhan Dan