The Dong ethnic minority regards silver as the most precious of metals, and out of which the most dazzling jewelry is made. Families begin amassing silver jewelry, comprising corollas, hairpins, combs, chaplets, necklaces, bracelets, rings and earring for their daughters during childhood.
Charming Dong Embroidery
The embroidery on a Dong ethnic minority wedding gown keeps three stitchers busy for a month. It is too complicated a process for any machine as around six to seven embroidery techniques, among them lock stitch, flat stitch and knots, appear on a single wedding gown. A woman's mother begins making her daughter’s wedding gown almost as soon as she is born, covering it in beautiful embroidered images of trees, geometrical figures, flowers and plants.
The Dong Wedding Gown
The Dong bride wears a dress of black fabric treated with egg white. Her wedding outfit is the only splendid costume the average Dong girl possesses in her whole life. Some brides wear gowns that have been passed down from their grandmothers. The knife-edge pleats in the skirt of a Dong wedding gown are pressed by finger nail rather than by iron. .
Dong women treasure their wedding outfits, wearing them on special festivals after their weddings, and taking care not to let them get damaged.
