Along with necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, sashes, silver buttons..., Pieu scarf  contributes to creating its own unique and attractive nuances of traditional Thai  costumes. Each pattern is like the Thai people's behavior with nature and the village.  Not only that, but the scarf is not simply a headgear but also an important religious symbol in the spiritual life of the Thai people.




Thai legend has it that, in the past, there was a girl named Muong Me. Men everywhere, whether accidentally or intentionally getting lost in it, were chased away or even murdered. One day, a boy named Doc got lost in Muong Me and was loved and protected by a beautiful girl named Ban. The two are determined to overcome the strict rules from many generations to share the same fire. They discussed with each other, then the young man went back to talk to Muong Cha.

Muong Cha thought this was a heavenly fate, so they went to talk to Muong Mother.  Muong Me is determined to keep the customary law for thousands of generations.  Muong Cha had to use strength. Muong Me was so weak that she had to accept the
ban on men and allow the young couple to start a family. Muong Mother let the beautiful girls embroider Pieu towels and then print their fingerprints to testify.
Since then, the Pieu scarf has become a "credible" for the couple's love, an ornament, and a messenger of love. When they're apart, girls often give the boy they love the most beautiful Pieu scarf. For the boy, the Pieu scarf marks his talent, the warmth of the hand of the girl he loves.
Pieu scarf, according to the Thai concept, is the standard to evaluate a woman's talent, virtue, and courage. Before going to her husband's house, the daughters must have handmade Pieu towels to commemorate their parents and relatives in the husband's house. Therefore, all Thai women are guided by their mothers and grandmothers to embroider Pieu scarf from a young age. Every stitch, every color and pattern are carefully and meticulously guided.
   
Thai women do not embroider Pieu scarf on the right side like normal embroidery but embroider from the left side, complex patterns and colors will appear on the right side, which is traditional embroidery with technical imagination. and folk art. Pieu scarf is embroidered by threading or knitting colored thread into the fabric, but the difficulty is to calculate according to a certain principle to thread the thread on the left side and the pattern appears correctly on the right side. Pieu scarf pattern is not simple and dotted but is a complex content layout system, requiring embroiderers to firmly grasp technical principles and to have creative thinking.
There are 3 types of patterns embroidered on each Pieu scarf: ta leo, quail pieu and sai peng. In which the evil leopard is an object to ward off evil spirits, protect the soul of the person wearing a scarf; Quail Piao is a noble item of the superior and sai peng is the  love wire of the couple.
Pieu scarf is a unique and skillful combination of colors and patterns. Pieu scarf embroidery thread usually uses silk thread dyed into different colors. It is the green of the mountains, the yellow of the sun, the rice fields, the white and the pink of fragrant flowers. Like traditional brocade making, Pieu scarf is woven from cotton yarn, then dyed indigo. When the fabric is dry, Thai women begin to embroider on colorful patterns.

There are 2 types of Pieu according to the way people call them. A type called Pieu Xon is embroidered simply, not fussy, embroidered with red thread alternating green, red, purple, yellow according to the size of the fabric, between the boxes are embroidered with trees, fillings and flowers... A kind of towel Another pieu called Pieu Xeo is elaborately embroidered with many brilliant patterns with colored threads embroidered on the background of the two heads of the scarf.
The motifs on Pieu towels are often very elaborately embroidered, making it easy to recognize the embroidery lines of Tram beads (rhombuses) on most Pieu towels.  Because according to the Thai people's concept, Tram seed has the meaning of luck
and sustainability. The colors on the Pieu scarf also symbolize the faithfulness between the wife and the husband.
When embroidering the scarf, Thai women often use blue or red cloth as a brace for the edge of the scarf and attach quail (similar to the Khau Cut symbol on the roof of the Thai stilt house) both to decorate the scarf more beautiful and meaningful. ward off evil spirits. Each scarf can be seen as a story expressed through textures and colors to express the thoughts and personality of each woman.
Pieu quails are made from rolled red cloth, inside the core is fabric. The person who rolls must be very skillful so that this quail is shaped like the top of a fern and embroidered alternately with colored threads, blue, red, purple, yellow, etc.
 
Featured on the Pieu scarf, in addition to the patterns inspired by life and nature such as plants, flowers, birds, there are also "quail pieu" (buttons made of colored cloth as  big as buttonholes). shaped like the tops of curled coriander) and "sai peng" (colored 
fabric tassels). "Cut pieu" requires meticulousness, so often only those who are proficient can do it. There are many types of "quail pieu": "quail pieu" double, "quail pieu" three, "quail pieu" five and "quail pieu" braided in clusters. "Pieu three quails for grandma / Pieu five quails for aunts" (Thai ethnic love song). The Pieu scarf of the Black Thai and the White Thai also has a difference. The White Thai people embroider Pieu towels without fuss, without quails and the motifs often have the symbol of a fork…
 
 
In addition to being often carried and used by Thai girls in festivals, they sing love songs, spread dances, and carry them for the dead (to show the way for the souls of the dead to escape to heaven), Pieu scarf is also a very useful object in daily life, used by  Thai people to cover their heads when it is sunny and windy, to keep people warm in  cold winters...
The Pieu scarf is a work of art, a religious symbol of the Thai people imbued with national identity, created by the skillful hands of Thai women and always respected and preserved by the Thai people.