The garment of the Daile

Between the Daile it seems that the traditional garment has lost this character sacred and full of meaning that it still has between some peoples. Perhaps stem from the "modernity" of the society Daile, from the varied social roles that his members adopt or from the rapid evolution experienced on the continuous contacts with the exterior society.

Since in otrasmuchas societies the men do not take any traditional garment. Except in the epochs that happen in the temples, when they are easily identifiable for the showy common orange habit to the monks of the Buddhism Theravada, the rest of his life they dress of form similar to the Chinese and other nearby populations.

Between the women there exists a big variety of garments, which adapt themselves of form adapted to his function and to his category of age. The colors and fashions of the same ones seem to be changing of year in year, towards showier and luminous topics, from an abstinence that the common characteristic seemed a few decades ago.

In the released photos books 15-20 years ago, like "Where the Dai people live" (Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1985), the women Dai present before themselves dressed in a white blouse or of clear color, and a long skirt stamped that comes to them up to the ankles. Nowadays there are still women who dress thus, but the majority they have adopted colors increasingly and showier. In such a way that in the woman current Dai we can differ.

The garment of the oldsters. Sober, that fits enough to the 20-year ago-old model, generally with a black turban about the head.

The garment of the married women. Where we see that two styles are used of dressing, adapted one to the work in the fields, and other, let's say of gala, to walk, the holidays or the weekends. In the fields the women dress a blouse and a long skirt, both stampedes and of brilliant colors. But to protect his legs of the heat, the mosquitoes or the wounds in the fields, they usually dress long pants fitted below the skirt, which on the other hand remangan up to the thighs to facilitate his movements. The head they have always covered it, or with a handkerchief, or with a cap of straw of conical form or with a cap of wings. As the sun sticks strongly in Xishuangbanna, often they take also a handkerchief that covers the cheeks to protect his face of the burning heat.

When they walk along the city, they dress themselves of gala to go shopping or other activities, take a few garments of beautiful embroideries, which they fall down also up to the feet.

Between the young people the traditional garment is less used in the everyday life, but he keeps on dressing proudly when they go out every Sunday to the nearby market. Between them, the influence of the fashions of the poles of tourist attraction like Galamba, it is clear, and the once cautious typical suit of the Dai, is shortening the size of the blouses, which every time are more similar to those who dress themselves in these spectacles.

A case onlookers in that the erotización of the feminine one of the minorities (into this case Dai), carried out by the companies of the spectacle pear to satisfy the image for that the national tourists wait, turns in fact after the proper young people Dai continues the models proposed in the above mentioned spectacles.

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