The headdress of the Jingpo women

The clothing style of the Jingpo people is rough and bold, It is possible that it reflects that past time when they were the masters of the frontier mountains, and caravans had to pay a tax to pass through their lands. 

Men of the Jingpo ethnic group usually wear black round-neck blouses, short and wide black trousers, and black or white cloth headscarves. The headscarves are decorated with colored pompoms on both sides. When they go out, you wear a kerchief on your shoulders and a long knife on your waist

Jingpo women are dressed in round-collar black jackets reaching their waists with buttons, often silver coins, down the front. They like to wear silver bracelets, earrings and chains, They weave their own woolen tube-shaped skirts, generally red, with designs in sea-blue, green or yellow.

On festive occasions the women are splendidly decorated. They hang rows of silver bubbles varying in sizes from row to row around their shoulders. The third row is trimmed with tassels of silver flakes that jingle as they dance. They wear six or seven necklaces, or silver chains with bells on their necks and one or two pairs of crude carved bracelets. Their earrings are silver tubes about a finger long.

Jingpo people believe that wealth comes from hard work. So the more ornaments one woman wears, the more industrious and intelligent she is considered to be.

Jingpo women do their hair in two braids that hang down to their shoulders. On jubilant occasions they coil them up on top of their heads adorned with woolen fabric decorations with red designs they made themselves.

Married women headdress                            

Married women or women who have children wear a black headdress. Today they affect red ones on holidays. Both the young and elderly women roll their headdress in the shape of a tube with tassels at the back. Jingpo women like to wind rattan strips painted with black or red lacquer around their waists. The more rings they wear, the more beautiful they are supposed to be. Young girls tend to wear red waistbands. Although among their Deang neighbors there is a myth that claims that these rings were placed around their waists, in mythical times, by the men to prevent them from going out freely every night.

Unmarried women have long hair in braids, wear white and blue lapels with silver buttons, black and blue pants. Black cloth skirt with embroidered floral ribbon. Married women wear hair in a bun, wrapped in black cloth, under a long skirt and a black cloth apron. Jingpo married women’s headdress is unique. High bun head is a unique headdress for married women in Lianghe area. It is called «house swing» in Achang language, as the headdress is very similar between the Achang and the Jingpo. This headdress with self-woven and self-dyed black cotton cloth long handkerchief of both ends falling beard wrapped around the head of combed hair bun, the shape is high and majestic, more than half a meter high.

The tall headdress is also the subject of curious myths among its Achang neighbors, among whom it is said that during a battle it served the men to know where the women were and to be able to finish off the enemy.

References:

Xu Yixi. Headdresses of Chinese Minority Nationality Women. China Film Press. 1989. P 76.

Minzu56.net. The dress style of Jingpo people