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Off the Roll: Highlights of a Global Textiles Project Main Menu Off the Roll: Highlights of a Global Textiles Project Home Page Clothing - Wearable Art Creatures - Real and Imagined Decorative Techniques from Around the World Spiritual Iconography and Ceremonial Objects The Things that Make a Home Textiles Photography Project

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Spiritual Iconography and Ceremonial Objects

Many of our pieces from the collection contain images of gods or spirits, or were involved in ceremonial or religious practices from around the world. This section explores the intersection of textiles and spirituality around the globe.
Noob Ncoos (Hmong)
Ying Yang, Maker, Hmong People (Lao)
Noob Ncoos (20th century)
cotton cloth, cotton thread
90.0 x 89.0 cm
Purchased from the Maker, Haffenreffer Special Fund
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This stunning square textile is a noob ncoos, produced by the Hmong artist Ying Yang, who was part of the Hmong refugee community from Lao (and other countries) living in the United States following the Vietnam War. Noob ncoos, as described in this fantastic virtual exhibit featuring Hmong textiles created by the Hmong Cultural Center and the Hmong Archive, are funeral squares, designed to lay under the head of the deceased in Green Hmong communities. They are often made by daughters or daughter-in-laws for their elders, and are intended to honor the the deceased.

By Dua Yang, 1996, 47x47 cm
Photo by Xai S. Lor, item at the Hmong Archives

Many, including this examples featured in the Hmong embroidery exhibition, feature maze iconography, symbolic of the path the spirit will take in the afterlife, and reminiscent of the agricultural fields and homes the spirit will find there, as "it is believed among many Hmong that once the soul of the deceased is sent off to meet and live with the ancestors in the afterlife, the deceased will have land to build a house, and a farm." Such designs are executed in applique and double applique techniques, in which successive layers of fabric, cut to the desired shape, are sewn onto the background material to create the pattern.

As for this noob ncoos, the museum purchased it directly from the maker, Ying Yang, so the piece was not used as part of a funeral. It instead serves as a remarkable piece of craftsmanship. This noob ncoos features a multi-colored cross-stitch in an 'eight room house' design on a black field, combined with appliqued borders in red, yellow, blue, green, white, black, and pink. This floral motif is another common design on noob ncoos.