The Ghosts Lead The Way

A simple graph of steps I went through to customize the áo dài.

This is how the áo dài appeared at the beginning. It is a typical modernized áo dài for men, with tay chẽn (sleeve cuffs fit to wearer's wrists) sleeves, a straight form, and running button line down the right chest. My plan is to adapt it to look more like an áo ngũ thân tay chẽn, which means the left lap of the áo has to reach the right shoulder and armpit, instead of middle of right chest.

I began with tucking the left lap under the right lap and sewing the two sides together, turning the áo dài into a long shirt.

Then I painted the skeleton pattern onto the front, back and two sleeves of the áo dài with bleach. This took about 4 full days: the actual painting time took less, but I let it dry overnight after finishing every part.

By this time, the silk I ordered for a 2nd layer had come in. I cut the piece for the front piece. This would be sewn to the left shoulder, left armpit, and the left half of the neckline. It'd be left open on the right side so it can be closed by buttoning. I actually sewed the silk onto the áo dài, but then realized the color of the two types of fabric do not match up. The silk I ordered is black, but the base áo dài is a near-black dark navy. My first reaction is to get blue acid dye and give the silk layer a blue wash and turn it into a more navy color. Turning the base áo dài black would have been more ideal, but I already bleach-drew on it. Anyway, this doesn't work, considering the silk is already saturated with color (black), so I got black dye to spot dye the base áo dài, avoiding the bleach drawing. When I washed it to bleed out the extra dye, the dye washed over the bleach drawing anyway, but this is something I could live with.

I carried on to make the silk sleeve to go around the left sleeve. This ended up being shorter than the sleeve of the áo dài because I ran out of silk, so I hemmed the base sleeves to better match the silk sleeves. Thankfully, the original sleeves were too long anyway, so it ends up the right length after hemming.

I cut out the back silk piece. The front, sleeve and back pieces are sewn together first before onto the base áo dài. Then I added buttons (mock pearls) to the base áo dài, at the collar, right collarbone, and two more on the right side of the áo. Traditionally, there should be 5 buttons (collar, collarbone, and 3 down the side) but since the side of this modern áo dài is shorter, only 2 are needed.

—What you need: A long, broad strip of haircloth (about 5 ft long and 3 in wide) with an attached eye covering, a thinner and shorter strip of haircloth of the same material, some strings to act as hair ties

Divide hair into two sections, with most of the hair goes to the top section, leaving a thin layer of hair at the nape for the bottom section.

Collect the top section and wrap into a bun with strings.

Use the thinner and shorter strip of haircloth to tie the bottom section of hair.

Wrap the broad haircloth around the forehead to the back of the head, make sure that the eye covering goes over the eyes. Tie the cloth tightly at the back of the head, underneath the bun.

Tuck the shorter tail of the haircloth over the bun and into the loop of the cloth itself.

Wrap the longer tail of the haircloth around the head, about 3-4 loops in total. Make sure the cloth covers the knot at the back of the head.

When there's only one loop worth of haircloth left, put a hand under the cloth to create an narrow opening. Then as you finish wrapping the last of the cloth, tuck the end of the cloth into that opening to close the wrap.

The Constitution gets called many different names: aura, a body’s energy, life force, etc. This generally refers to the flow of energies inside and around the body. Everything in the world has energy, whether alive or dead. Typically, humans would have yang/warm constitution, and ghosts would have yin/cold constitution. Cultivators can manipulate the flow inside and outside of the body, creating “magic”. Bá Nguyệt is blind, but she can “see” (feel) the constitution of the world around her. Constitution may “surface” onto the body as aura coloring (sắc). Constitution has been described using colors (red, green, white, black, pink, purple...), heat (cold vs warm, often paired with adjectives “prosperous” or “failing”), and clarity (chaotic vs clear).

The Soul inhabits in the body. It’s the life, emotion and thoughts of a person. Many believe a human has 3 souls which only separate once they die: one soul bears the conscience, one soul bears feelings, thoughts and personality, and one bears their karma. Ghosts are often souls without a body.

The Spirits are more condensed and permanent spiritual energy flows compared to the rest of the body’s energies. They are what make the body move and function. A human is ‘alive’ with just a soul, but without or insufficient spirits, they may be sick (physically, mentally, or emotionally). There are 7 spirits, each controls a different function of the body.

The Core of Fate (or Skeleton of Fate, as it’s usually visualized as a skeleton), it is the imprint of fate of a person. The Core tells the fate of the person: the tendencies of their course of life, including past reincarnations. Very few can “see” this Core of Fate, and those who can are forbidden from revealing it to the Core-bearer, at the risk of shortening their lifespan. The Core of Fate will sometimes “surface” outward as bodily or facial traits, called Image of Fate (tướng). This way, mortals can sometimes “guess” the course of a person’s life through their appearance (face reading), or palm lines (palm reading).

The Eye of Âm Dương (Yin Yang Eye) or the Underskin touch are abilities to “see” past the body and into the Constitution and Soul.

2. A few notes on the unholy: Neither ghosts and humans make an effort to distinguish the ‘type’ of unholy. However, Heavenly mediums and Deities do have a habit of wanting to categorize them as a way to know the unknown and defeat them. Here are how some of them are defined.

Ghosts (ma) are the dead with consciousness or souls without bodies. They remain in the mortal world because they have a thought/desire/regret strong enough to keep them from moving onto their next life.

Devils (quỷ) are ghosts that are especially vicious, having harbored a hatred for a long time, or have a desire so strong it boosts their power exponentially. They may have cultivated from ghosts, cultivated beings or other spiritual creatures, into an extreme yin/cold being.

Cultivated beings (yêu, tinh) are also called spirits; they’re non-human beings (animals, plants, objects,...) absorb spiritual energies and cultivate over an incredibly long time to develop a consciousness, spiritual power, and possibly a human form. Cultivated beings may switch between their original form (nguyên hình) and their human appearance as will, unless they are in a weakened state, when they are more unlikely to maintain their human form and would have to take their original form to save energy.

Beasts (quái) are creatures born from the spiritual energies of the natural world. They are born as beasts with inherent spiritual power. Some beasts are born with consciousness like humans, some would have to cultivate it like cultivated beings. Most beasts can learn to transform to a human appearance at a certain age.

At a time when merely interacting with ghosts is a taboo, cultivating ghosts is the gravest sin one can commit. Those found guilty of feeding and nourishing ghosts will be subjected to torture, death, and extermination of 3 familial generations. And yet, at a time like this, a rumor about a forbidden magic promising to resurrect the dead using 100 ghosts is circulating in the medium circle. The rumor states, the practitioner must collect one hundred ghosts or unholy spirits that are fit for the soul and body of the revived, then perform the magic, and the dead will return to life as if they never left.

For an adult of average health, consumption of half a cáp (100 milliliter) of poison or less is considered a light poisoning. Those with this condition may experience symptoms such as bodily aches, overall decline in stamina and mental clarity. They may not exhibit any case of Fish Maw tumors.

Consumption of one cáp (200 milliliter) of poison or more is considered a serious poisoning. Those with this condition may experience symptoms such as lethargy, overall decline in stamina and mental clarity, shortened life span, and Fish Maw tumors of different types.

Fish Limb Condition

Fish Maw Disease is transmittable from parent to child during pregnancy, labor and delivery. It cannot be passed on through breastfeeding. Patients who inherited the disease through childbirth exhibit different symptoms to those infected by direct contact with the poison. To discern between the two, infection of this type is called Fish Maw Limbs.

In Hoàng Thành (Golden City—where the palace is located), Capital, the First day is the Defeating Vét festival, or also called the Weapon Cleanse festival. Locals line up around a paper puppet of a Vét, bringing a household tool with them (this may be a hammer, a sickle, a knife, a hoe, etc). They will then take turn to stab or slash the puppet, once each. This act signifies turning the tool into a demon-killing weapon. The blessed tool can be placed by the door of their house as a protection object against demons. This is also commonly done in other areas.

The Second day is the day of the New Emperor, as after the war against Vét, a new heavensborn emperor rose to the throne. On this day, there will be many parades and theatre plays recounting the exciting story of the new emperor's descension from heaven and ascension to the throne.

After 10 grim years of war, the people of Nam Bình successfully defeated and drove away the invading Vét. This was also the event that ushered in an era of fear and hostility against ghosts and demons.

Vét is a transcription of what the creatures call themselves in their own language. People of Nam Bình calls them “vét” using the word for plunder or ticks. Usually, they get called a plethora of different names, such as Vét demons, Doghead Vét, Umbrellahead demon, Dồ (local word for umbrella) head demon, even testicle head. Overall, they often get called unsavory names. This way of calling Vét "demons" is also the main reason Nam Bình developed a deep fear for the nonhumans.

There are a few recorded paintings of Vét, in which they are depicted to be taller than 2 meters, with twisted limbs.