Product Description

Antique Yi Cockscomb Hat

Material: Cloth, silver beads
Style: Yi people, Yunnan Province, South China
Size: Height 23 cm, Width 22 cm
Order Number: MHSAYCH1

The Yi people are the  7th largest of the 55 ethnic groups in China, living mainly in mountainous rural areas of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangxi. There are about 9 million. Over 4.5 million live in Yunnan. They also live in Vietnam and Thailand. The Nisu are a sub-group.

Girls, and even young married women, in the Honghe region of Yunnan, like wearing the ‘chicken hat’ (wúbi túmaw in Yi). It’s called that because it looks like a cockscomb. It’s a  coloured cut piece of hard cloth, covered with hundreds of inlaid silver or nickel bulbs, cultured pearls or white pile embroidery on both sides. Arabesques and spirals fill in the spaces. Girls wearing these hats look like crowing cocks.

There is a legend about the origin of the chicken hat.  A Yi boy and girl were in love. They met in the forest on a  moonlit night whereupon they were  discovered by the devil king, who wanted the beautiful girl for himself. He killed the boy but the girl escaped.

The devil king chased after her to the end of her village. She suddenly heard the loud crow of a cock. The devil king also heard the cock’s crow and stopped. This allowed the girl to escape.

She went back with the cock to where her boyfriend disappeared. The cock crowed loudly and the boy came back to life. They married and lived  happily ever after.

From then on, local girls started to wear cockscomb hats, which symbolize good luck and happiness. The silver bubbles represent the moon and the  stars, eternal light and happiness. The girls will be protected by the spirit of the rooster. 

There is an example in Museum of Ethnic Cultures, Minzu University of China.

Mid 20th century.

Yi Cockscomb Hat.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).