áo sổ gấu
Definition
- Noun:
- Effilé (garment): A traditional Vietnamese mourning garment, historically worn during periods of bereavement. The term is now considered archaic.
- Unhemmed tunic: Refers specifically to a tunic or top with an intentionally unfinished, frayed, or unhemmed bottom edge, symbolizing grief and neglect of appearance due to sorrow.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Theo phong tục xưa, con để tang cha mẹ phải mặc áo sổ gấu. (According to old customs, children mourning their parents had to wear an áo sổ gấu.)
- Chiếc áo sổ gấu là biểu tượng của tang chế thời phong kiến. (The áo sổ gấu was a symbol of mourning rites in the feudal era.)
Advanced Usage
- The practice of wearing an is deeply rooted in Confucian mourning rituals, where the state of the garment outwardly reflected the inner turmoil and grief of the wearer.
Variants and Related Words
Áo tang (n): Mourning clothes; a general term for funeral attire.
- Mọi người mặc áo tang đến dự lễ. (People wore mourning clothes to attend the ceremony.)
Để tang (v): To observe a mourning period.
- Gia đình để tang ông cụ ba năm. (The family observed a three-year mourning period for the patriarch.)
Synonyms
- Mourning tunic: A tunic worn for mourning.
- Funeral garment: Clothing specifically for funeral or mourning contexts.
Cultural Note
- The is a specific historical artifact of Vietnamese material culture related to death rituals. Its unhemmed edge was a deliberate, symbolic act of deconstruction, representing the "unraveling" of normal life and social order caused by death.