ລານເຕນ / Lanten
The Lanten (also known as Yao or Mien) people of northern Laos practice two related craft traditions that are among the most aesthetically distinctive in the highland ethnic minority context: indigo-dyed cotton embroidered with red cross-stitch patterns and a paper-making tradition using the same bark fiber techniques as sa paper (CRAFT-0405) but applied to liturgical manuscripts for Lanten Taoist ritual practice. The textile tradition is notable for its extremely fine cross-stitch — stitches as small as 1mm, worked on an indigo-black ground entirely by touch and counting without seeing the back of the cloth. The paper-making tradition produces paper specifically for Lanten Taoist manuscript copying — a religious practice conducted by Lanten priests using Chinese-derived script and Taoist iconography that arrived with the Yao people from southern China.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not separately inscribed
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