The vast majority of the Buyi and Miao people in Guizhou like to grow indigo and dye it. According to historical records, the ancestors of the Buyi and Miao people in Guizhou had mastered the indigo dyeing technique before the Ming Dynasty. Indigo grass is processed into indigo, and indigo is used as a dye. Soda, liquor, lime, and cowhide glue are used as auxiliary materials. Through manual operation, the cloth is dyed into moon white, moon blue, blue, dark blue, light gray, dark gray, and blue. In addition to professional dyeing rooms (large dyeing vats), almost every household has a small dyeing vat to dye blue, blue cotton thread and blue cloth at any time. The blue cloth dyed by the small dyeing vat is finally starched with water boiled from plow bark or thorny plow tree, which has bright colors and a long color retention period. Buyi women like blue, such as blue pants, blue waist, blue shoulder straps, and blue cuffs. Various colored handkerchiefs and flower mats are always indispensable for "blue", and a girl cannot do without a blue quilt when she gets married. The old man's shroud cannot do without a long gown and a blue top. Children's suspenders and cloth shoes for men, women, old and young are also made of blue cloth. Therefore, the traditional indigo dyeing process has been passed down from generation to generation in the Buyi area of the Beipanjiang River Basin in Zhenfeng. The general process of indigo dyeing is: making indigo, bleaching and dyeing cloth. Indigo, that is, blue indigo or indigo mud, is made from a herb called "blue indigo grass". Blue indigo grass is planted in the areas where the Buyi people live. Generally, it is planted by transplanting, and the seedlings emerge in late spring. In July, the indigo is cut to make indigo. When making indigo, the leaves with more stems are put into the kiln, and the leaves with fewer stems are put into a bucket or jar (earthenware jar) and soaked in water for seven days to make blue juice. Five liters of lime are added to each stone of blue juice slurry. After beating, the blue indigo condenses; when the water is still, the blue still settles at the bottom of the water, and the production is completed, and the blue indigo raw material for dyeing cloth is obtained. Bleaching is the first process of Buyi indigo dyeing. When bleaching, Buyi women use the ancient method of bleaching with morning sunlight and dew. Buyi women usually dry cloth on a clear and dewy morning between 6:30 and 7:00 before the sun rises. They spread the cloth flat on the lawn so that the entire cloth surface will be soaked by the morning dew at the same time, and the color of the dried cloth will be consistent. At noon, Buyi women will take the dried cloth back home and fold it up, and continue to dry it for several days (usually seven to ten days) until the cloth surface is white. After bleaching in this way, the white cloth is easy to color when indigo dyeing and is durable. In addition, Buyi women have mastered a more primitive bleaching method using fresh cow dung as a bleaching raw material. When bleaching, first put an appropriate amount of fresh cow dung in a wooden barrel and add water to stir it, then put in the white cloth and stir it, take out the cloth and spread it in the sun to dry, and when the cloth is half dry, take it to the riverside to rub and rinse it, and the cloth will quickly turn white. After certain technical processing, indigo can be dyed into various colors such as dark blue, medium blue, light blue, gray, dark gray, green, and moon white. Dyeing cloth can be divided into large-scale vat dyeing and small-scale vat dyeing. For large-scale vat indigo dyeing, first put the blue indigo into the large dye vat, and add the appropriate amount of water, lime, homemade liquor, and soda ash according to the amount of cloth and the color to be dyed. After a certain period of chemical reaction, put the white cloth in, and it needs to be taken out and rinsed many times. Generally, it is taken out and rinsed every 2 days, and it must be rinsed at least 8 times and soaked for more than 16 days. And every time the cloth is taken out and rinsed and then put into the dye vat, a certain proportion of water, blue indigo, lime, homemade liquor and soda ash must be added according to the needs of the dyed color. Similarly, different proportions of raw materials must be added more than 8 times until the cloth has been dyed into the desired color, and then cowhide glue made from cowhide is applied to the colored cloth, and the dyed and glued cloth is rolled flat with a stone roller until it is bright, which is the finished indigo-dyed cloth. Small vat indigo dyeing, use a small vat to dye blue cloth, first put blue indigo into the small dye vat, add appropriate amount of water, and then add appropriate amount of lime, soil alkali and self-baked white wine and other raw materials in a certain proportion. After a certain period of chemical changes, put the white cloth boiled in clean water (usually boiled for about 1 hour) into the dye vat. From the day the cloth is put into the vat, take it out and put it in three times a day, and rinse it once every three days. This is called the first wind. Usually, it takes three to four winds to reach the level of "applying medicine". From the first wind to the fourth wind, the blue cloth dyed in the small vat needs to be taken out and put in more than 8 times, and the soaking time is more than 16 days. Every night when it is deep in the dead of night, add the raw materials into the dye vat according to the ratio of one peach water and five cents of white lime, half a catty of blue indigo, and two taels of self-baked rice wine. Add one tael of homemade soil alkali and white lime every two days. After the cloth is indigo-dyed for the above time and method, the medicine can be taken out. Boil the pear peel in water for about 5 hours to make purple juice. Put the cloth into the purple juice and take it out to dry. Put it into the purple juice again. Rinse it three times a day. After three days of dyeing, take it out to dry and then starch it. That is, add wild "Bai Ji" powder to the purple juice and stir it well. Then soak the dried cloth in the water and color it. After the cloth is colored, take it out and dry it until it is half dry. Put the half-dry cloth on the bluestone board and hammer it with a special cloth hammer stick (60cm long and 10cm wide) for about an hour until the cloth is half wilted, then unfold it and dry it. After drying, fold the cloth into blocks and hammer it with a cloth hammer stick for about an hour until the cloth is thin and flat. The indigo-dyed blue cloth will not fade even after being exposed to the sun and rain. The small jar dyeing is passed down from mother to daughter. The indigo dyeing skills of the Buyi people in Zhenfeng are mainly passed down from mother to daughter in the family. The inheritors of the big vat dyeing are Luo Guoliang, son of Luo Daquan, with junior high school education, born in 1946, living in the first group of the former village, and farming at home; Luo Anxu, son of Luo Guoliang and grandson of Luo Daquan, born in 1976, with junior high school education, and farming at home. The inheritors of the small dyeing vat are Wang Mingzhen, born in 1954, living in the fifth group of Nahe Village, and farming at home. Indigo dyeing, as a color dyeing technique for the fabrics of Buyi clothing, has a long history, is widely used, and has been passed down for a long time. Blue indigo is used as a dye, and soil alkali, liquor, lime, and middle-skin glue are used as auxiliary materials. All indigo dyeing raw materials are processed from natural materials. The indigo dyeing process of the Buyi people in Zhenfeng is complicated, and each process is extremely delicate and demanding, and contains rich scientific and cultural value. Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center (no pictures yet, welcome to provide.) Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center (no pictures yet, welcome to provide.)