Baobei: Longhorn Miao

By the time we arrived in Suojia, the women were ready and waiting. They brought out their clothing and the extraordinary horn-shaped headdresses for which their community has become known. We watched as they carefully wrapped long strands of hair around a wooden frame, building it layer by layer until it stretched beyond the width of the body.

The hair itself is precious. Collected and passed down through generations, a single headdress can contain hair from mothers, grandmothers and ancestors who came before them. Worn together, the past literally becomes part of the present.

Yet there is another part of what we were seeing that feels important to acknowledge: they were dressing for us. These clothes and headdresses are no longer part of everyday life. Today, much of what visitors seek from the Longhorn Miao is presented for people who have traveled there to see it. We were part of that audience. Undoubtedly, it's tempting to see this as somehow "less authentic." If a tradition once practiced as part of daily life is now demonstrated for outsiders, has something been lost?

Of course it has. But that doesn't mean it isn't meaningful. The women still know how to build the headdress. They know how the hair is wrapped and shaped, how the clothing is worn, and how all the pieces come together. The objects are still being cared for. The ritual is still being repeated. And because people continue to come... there remains a reason to bring them all out and do it again.

Perhaps this is just another stage in the life of a tradition. Culture has never been static. Ways of dressing change. Needs change. Young people leave villages, experience new worlds and make different choices. What once served as everyday purpose can become ceremonial, symbolic, even performative. And sometimes that's ok. 

We came to Guizhou looking for traditions from the past that are still being practiced today. Again and again, what we found is that these traditions are negotiating a place in the present. For the Longhorn Miao, that negotiation was particularly visible. Ancestral hair wrapped around wooden horns, made by people that still know how to do it. They are continuing, even if the context has changed. By the act of doing, the tradition is kept alive. 

Shop what we collected along the way.

Photography: Jess Foley (@fauxly)

Shot in Guizhou, China. April 2024.