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Khăn Vấn (Chữ Nôm: 巾問),khăn đóng (Chữ Nôm: 巾㨂) orkhăn xếp (Chữ Nôm: 巾插), is a kind of turban worn byVietnamese people which became popular beginning with the reign of theNguyễn lords. The wordvấn meanscoil around. The wordkhăn means cloth, towel or scarf.
During theTrịnh-Nguyễn war, the residents inQuảng Nam (Canglan – the Southern) began to adapt to some customs ofChampa, one of those was "vấn khăn" – wrap the scarf around head.[1]
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The Nguyen Lords introducedáo ngũ thân, the predecessor of the modernáo dài. In 1744, LordNguyễn Phúc Khoát ofĐàng Trong (Huế) decreed that both men and women in his court wear trousers and a gown with buttons down the front. The members of theĐàng Trong court (southern court) were thus distinguished from the courtiers of theTrịnh Lords inĐàng Ngoài (Hanoi),[2][3] who woreáo giao lĩnh with long skirts and loose long hair. Hence, wrapping scarf around head became a unique custom in the south. From 1830,Minh Mạng emperor mandated that every civilian in the country change their clothes and that custom became popular throughoutVietnam.[citation needed]
Khăn vấn is a rectangular textile that is long and quite thick, wrapped tightly around the head. According to the decrees ofNguyễn dynasty written in theHistorical chronicle of Đại Nam, theVietnamese initially remained faithful to theChampa style, but gradually adapted styles to suit needs for each social class.
In addition, according to the law ofNguyễn dynasty, the problem of being too short and thin was prohibited, but too long and thick was also criticized as ugly.[citation needed]
There are many types of khăn vấn, but they are basically classified into three types:
Khăn vấn for men, handy and casual. A thick or thin cloth is used (as one would like to fix a bun) and is wrapped once or twice around the head for a neat fit, except for yellow (that of the emperor).
There are two most popular styles for wearing khăn vấn for male: shapedchữ nhân (looks like 人) andchữ nhất (looks like 一).
Khăn vấn for women and girls, also calledkhăn rí orkhăn lương (can also be written askhăn lươn). A piece of cloth that is not too long is wrapped with padded hair inside. Then, it is wrapped around the head to keep the hair neat. Young women when going to the festival also prefer to wear a ponytail for increased charm. Except for yellow (for royal family members) and pink (for singers and prostitutes), other colours are popular.
A style of wearing akhăn vành in theHuế is different from the style seen inNorthern Vietnam.Huếkhăn vành is worn with the edge of the khăn vành facing upwards inside the ring. The second ring is attached to the outside of the first, rather than under the ring as in the North.[4][5]
A style of khăn vấn for females, used mainly by nobilities and imperial members on formal occasions, iskhăn vành dây,khăn vành ormũ mấn. The very long, thick cloth is wrapped around the head like a funnel. The traditional khăn vành dây is recorded in a dark blue color. Only on the most important occasions did one see a yellow khăn vành dây in the inner part of theImperial City of Huế. In addition, from theempress mother, the empress and the princesses also only wore the dark blue khăn vành dây.[5]
In the old days innerImperial City of Huế, phấn nụ (face powder made from flowermirabilis jalapa) and khăn vành went together. They use thenhiễu cát textile orCrêpe de Chine in the later period to cover their hair. Thenhiễu cát textile, woven by Japanese in the past, was only half as thin as theCrêpe de Chine, which was used in the Imperial City at the end of theNguyễn dynasty.[4] Theladies in Hue Palace often wore khăn vành dây at the ceremonies. A khăn vành dây made of the imported textilecrêpe de Chine is 30 cm wide, has an average length 13 m. A khăn vành dây made of Vietnamesenhiễu cát textile is nearly double the length.[5]
From the original width of 30 cm, the khăn vành dây is folded into a width of 6 cm with the open edge turn upward. Then, it is wrapped around the head in the shapechữ nhân, which means the pleats on the forehead look like the word "nhân" (人 shaped), covering the hair at the shoulder and folding the scarf inside. Half the width of the scarf is folded, starting at the nape, leaving the open edge facing up before continuing. The khăn vành is tightly wrapped around the head and forms a large dish shape. Usingnhiễu cát, the textile has high elasticity and roughness and the khăn vành rarely slips. The end of the scarf is carefully tucked into the back of the scarf, but sometimes pins are used for convenience.[5]
In theMekong Delta region, there is a popular variant calledkhăn rằn, which combines the traditional khăn vấn of the Vietnamese with theKrama of the Khmer. But unlike the red color of the Khmer, Vietnamese towels are black and white. Towels are usually 1m by 40–50 cm. Because it is only popular in the South, it is temporarily considered a characteristic of this place.
In the 21st century, many types of fake khăn vấn and mũ mấn were created, such as the mũ mấn made of wood, plastic, and metal. However, those were often criticized in the press as harsh and even disgusting. Therefore, the desire of having a neat and beautiful towel is considered a general trend in evaluating the quality of each person.
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