Besides the dramatic beauty of the landscape, visitors to the northwest region of Vietnam easily fall for the H’mong ethnic women’s silver earrings.

According to the H’mong people, earrings are not simply beautiful jewellery. Deep behind it is the cultural values reflecting the customs and characteristics of the ethnic group.

Simple or complicated, the earrings are made of silver and carved in rounded shapes to symbolise the moon and sun – the gods of power of the H’mong.

H’mong girls wear earrings since young, at 14-15 years old and do not take them off even when working in the field, weaving or going to the market. Beyond their beauty, the earrings also manifest the wealth of their owners.

It is believed that the bigger earrings the women wear, the stronger, healthier and more hard-working they are. Sometimes, they are used as symbolic weapon to protect the owners from evil spirits and poisonous winds.

There are five major earring shapes: the question mark, spiral, crescent, carved circle and encrusted circle.

On the surface of the earrings are carved tiny flowers and sophisticated symmetric patterns, and sometimes just several random lines. The handmade patterns convey the emotional world of the ethnic women, reflecting their dreams, joy and sorrow in their daily life.

The sparkling and clanking silver jewellery manifest the meticulousness, skillfulness, and rich spiritual culture of the H’mong people, which is closely connected to surrounding nature.

VNA