In the hometown of Ashima, every girl who enters adulthood has a beautiful colorful kerchief. Whether on a path in Stone Forest, or at the village entrance by Long Lake; whether in the field at the foot of Gui Mountain or in the shade beside Dadieshui Waterfall, as long as this is a place for Sani people's settlement, you can see Sani girls’ colorful kerchief everywhere.

During celebration, going out, or festivals, Sani girls will put on new ethnical costumes and dress up carefully. They spend the most time on kerchief. The colorful kerchief hairstyle looks very beautiful but takes quite a while as there are altogether seven or eight procedures. First, arrange long hair into a high knot while leaving some hair from it. Then, put on a pin which is made of a wood chip about five centimeters wide in the horseshoe shape wrapped in cloth. Put it in the hair with its bend backward, and wrap the hanging hair on it. Then, wrap it and fix it around the head with a piece of long cloth called Edumo, and put on milky white beads. Next, add colorful kerchief cloth on the outer layer, and put on two triangular "butterflies" one after the other. Finally, wrap an anti-slipping knot so that the entire decoration is firm and will not collapse no matter how the head moves or shakes. The whole process of Sani girls’ making a colorful kerchief hairstyle is really dazzling but well organized and orderly. Such a process takes dozens of minutes!

Sani girls cherish their colorful kerchief so much because this decoration gives them beautiful appearance. However, there is a further reason - a moving story which brings them the most beautiful pursuit in their mind - love and marriage.

Sani people have a legend about "Gui Mountain rainbow".

According to legend, there are 120 rainbows in the world and the largest and most beautiful one is Gui Mountain rainbow above Sani people’s residence. How did this rainbow come from? According to legend, in the ancient times there was a smart girl named Awaruozi and a handsome and brave young man named Budaruoshu. The two of them grew up in misery and loved each other at work, but their love was destroyed by hereditary headman. Hereditary headman wanted to marry Awaruozi. Proud of his wealth, he prepared 33 cattle, 55 rolls of cloth, 77 jars of liquor, and 999 bags of shell currency to exchange for her. However, Awaruozi was not interested in these and she still firmly loved Budaruoshu. Vicious hereditary headman decided to kill Budaruoshu and then sent people to kidnap Awaruozi. When hereditary headman ordered people to light firewood to burn Budaruoshu, loyal Awaruozi broke free from the guards and jumped into the fire. Hereditary headman was so angry that he ordered to burn them separately; however, their smoke directly changed into colorful clouds and mixed together. Seeing this, hereditary headman went raging. He ordered people to set 9 piles of fires, intending to disperse the colorful cloud with thick smoke. At this time, there was a sudden gust of wind with pouring rain, a torrent came and washed the headman away. After the rain stopped, there were two rainbows in the sky. Sani people said: the strong one was the beautiful girl Awaruozi; and the light one was the brave young man Budaruoshu. Since then, Sani girls have embroidered five colored strips on kerchief to symbolize the rainbows formed by Awaruozi and Budaruoshu.

This beautiful legend makes Sani girls’ colorful kerchief more beautiful and poetic, so it is not difficult to understand why they regard it as valuable as life. Colorful kerchief is their pride, containing their ideals and wishes to pursue free love and happiness.

In the hometown of Ashima, colorful kerchiefs of thousands of Sani girls decorate happy life like a beautiful rainbows and blossoming flowers. No one else will have such a colorful kerchief in addition to Sani girls!

(Text from online)