Dai brocade refers to the brocade of the Dai nationality. It is an ancient hand-made textile fabric that has spread among the Dai people and has local and ethnic characteristics. Dai brocade is an ancient textile technology. Its pattern is woven through a weft of yarn by mature weaving techniques and jacquard loom machine, and has an almost monochromatic surface. All the Dai brocades have a strict pattern organization.
The History of Dai Brocade
Nearly half of the population living in Xishuangbanna are Dai people whose ancestors mastered textile weaving technologies and optimized themselves through continuous inheritance and development, then finally invented the Dai brocade that is deeply loved by modern people. Dai brocade was used as a tribute to the superiors in the Ming Dynasty, which we can indicate that the technology of making Dai brocade has reached a certain level and technology as early as that period of time.
Dai brocade reflects the living customs, aesthetic habits, cultural forms and religious beliefs of the Dai people, showing the outstanding artistic ideas of the Dai people, also has high aesthetic and research value.
The colorful patterns on the Dai brocade surface not only contain the rich cultural connotation of the Dai nationality, but also shows the historical precipitation of the Dai people in the long-term historical development process so that the world can better understand the unique charm of the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation.
The Weaving Process of Dai Brocade
When weaving the Dai brocade, first the operator needs to tie the patterned tissue to the "pattern board" (flower book) with thin ropes, then use the foot pedal to make the warp thread form two layers up and down, starting the weaving operations, so as to weave a Dai brocade in beautiful pattern according to the pattern organization.
It generally needs several hundreds of weft yarns being woven on the “pattern board" without any missing or mistaken rope to create a Dai brocade. If any single yarn is tied wrongly, the entire pattern will be disordered, which shows that the requirements of Dai brocade are extremely strict.
Main Patterns of Dai Broade
Dai brocade has various patterns, reflecting the daily life of the Dai people and recording the daily sights of the Dai people. Dai brocade is durable, colorful, has fine workmanship and unique patterns. It presents an evolutionary model from simplification to diversification. The patterns can be roughly divided into 3 categories: geometric patterns, flower patterns and animal patterns.
1. Geometric Patterns
Geometry is the most widely used pattern in Dai brocade, especially in the Dehong area. The Dai people record the daily things they observe in their life then simplify, abstract or refine characteristics to carry out secondary creation, which finally generate the geometric patterns with national cultural characteristics in Dai Brocade. Geometric patterns have the characteristics of simple beauty and rhythmic beauty, including rhombus geometric patterns, pictographic geometric patterns, and horns geometric patterns.
2. Flower Patterns
Diverse flowers and plant patterns are also the main categorizations of Dai Brocade. The bright and colorful tropical flowers and plants contain the aesthetic taste of the Dai people and their pursuit and yearning for a better life. There are many kinds of plant patterns such as the pattern of "Nelumbo nucifera", symbolizing perfection and auspiciousness, not only has a special meaning in the social life of the Dai people, but also contains the teachings and canons of the Buddhist spirit, and the betel nut trees and coconut trees that reflect the style of Xishuangbanna, frequently appear in the patterns of the Dai brocade.
3. Animal Patterns that Have Auspicious Meaning
Xishuangbanna is known as the kingdom of animals and plants, and has the most splendid world of life. There are so many unique and exclusive animal patterns such as elephants, butterflies, peacocks, horses, birds, etc. are used as the pattern designs of Dai brocade. These animals are closely related to the daily life of local Dai people.
The animal patterns in the Dai brocade originated from animal totems in ancient times and were gradually transformed from totem consciousness to aesthetic consciousness with the passage and evolution of time, these brocades. The introduction of Buddhism also has gradually integrated the textile craftsmanship and religious spirit of the Dai nationality, and continuously injected new religious elements to generate new content and forms.
The creation of Dai brocade shows the perfect combination between traditional folk art of Dai and national elements, reflecting the improved weaving technologies of Dai people. When people marvel at the exquisite craftsmanship of the Dai brocade pattern, they can also feel the unique historical culture contained in it.