Lan Eucalyptus's high school classmate Jiang Xiuxiu got married. She is of the Hmong ethnic group.

On the day of her wedding, Jiang Xiuxiu was wearing Miao silver jewelry, shining silver from head to toe.

The Miao folk proverb says: "No silver and no flowers, no girl." ”

Some families start to create silver jewelry for their daughters year by year when they are young, and save a little a year and store them in special wooden boxes for treasure. When the daughter is more than ten years old, the girl will dress up and show her compatriots on the grand festival and the wedding day.

A set of Miao silver jewelry includes: silver horn, silver hat, silver scarf, silver floating head row, silver bun, silver pin, silver top flower, silver net chain, silver flower comb, silver earrings, silver boy hat ornament, silver collar, silver pressure collar, silver badge, silver chest charm, silver bracelet, silver ring, silver clothing piece, silver waist chain, silver buckle, silver back hanging, silver back tag, silver belt, etc.

All these parts of Miao silver jewelry will be created when a woman is born, and it may take more than ten or even twenty years to complete.

Miao silver has long been an important jewelry and wedding item in the Miao area. But now the Miao silver is not pure silver, the other main components are copper, and the silver content is not high.

Its main feature is that it is handmade in the Miao area, with exquisite patterns and rich meanings. After the Miao silver product is worn, if it is not worn for a long time, the metal on the surface of the bracelet will produce an oxidation reaction, which is what we usually call discoloration, but the next time you wear it, you only need to wipe it with a soft cloth or paper towel to make it as bright as new.

First of all, the old silversmith in the family will smelt the silver accumulated by the whole family into basic materials such as silver sheets, silver bars, silver wires, etc., and then use the famous craft methods of Miao Yin to press, squeeze, engrave, and hold to make exquisite patterns with unique national colors, and finally these basic materials are spliced and formed through welding, weaving, forging and other processes.

Each of these processes is highly skilled and experienced, and the requirements are extremely strict and cannot be completed by non-veteran silversmiths.

Miao silver ornaments have very few shapes and many patterns, because the Miao people have the rules passed down by their ancestors, but all the silver jewelry that has been determined by the ancestors can never be changed without a special situation.

Therefore, in Miao culture, we can often see that the jewelry of all women in a village is almost exactly the same, which is due to the inheritance of silversmiths, but the most important reason is to abide by the rules.

Why Miao silver jewelry has a strong national flavor has nothing to do with the variety of Miao silver, but is closely related to the old silversmiths often looking for patterns from the embroidery works of Miao women. In addition to processing and forging silver jewelry, the old silversmith will also be responsible for the later maintenance of silver jewelry, which is what we call silver washing.

The jewelry of the Han nationality is just an embellishment, and until now, there are fewer people who wear jewelry, especially silver jewelry, in daily life. And the Miao people in the festival or marriage and other important moments of life, to wear silver jewelry to match, and to many for the beauty, to the big for the beauty, to the heavy for the beauty.

And the Xijiang Miao people can only make silver horns after a full set of silver jewelry is ready.

Ma Maoting was born in a family of silversmiths, the Ma family's Miao silver forging skills have been passed to him is the fifth generation, watching the elders knock and beat when he was a child, since he was a child, he began to follow his father to formally learn this family handicraft in his 20s, and the 63-year-old Ma Maoting has been associated with Miao Yin for 43 years.

"Obsession" is probably a more accurate description of the relationship between Mamaoting and silver jewelry - >>