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Description
My submission to the following DA Group and our 2016 calendar project:
Inspired by the amazing The Naiads

The Seven Daughters of Heaven is a folklore found in several Asian countries. This is the Hmong version:

The King of Heaven had seven beautiful daughters, the 7th being the most beautiful of them all. They often came down to Earth to bath and one day, a human man happened to come across them. He saw the 7th daughter and immediately fell in love with her beauty. He took her wings the next time she came down with her sisters and when her sisters were done bathing, each took off with own wings until there was nothing left. She searched for her wings, found the young man, and asked for them back. He pretended not to know and refused to give it back. Unable to fly back home, she was forced to marry him and gave him children.

Everyday, he made her go out to the fields to tend the crops while he watched and entertained their children. However, he was kind of lazy and learned quickly they stopped crying if he took his wife's wings, wore it, and flew around to keep his kids from crying. One day, 7th was sick so he decided to go tend the farm. While she looked after her children, they would not stop crying and kept pointing to the roof. Not sure why, she searched around to see what had gotten into her children until she found her wings.

She said to them, "Your father is a horrible person. He stole my wings and forced me to marry him. Now that I've found them again, I am going back to my mother and father who I miss dearly. You stay with your father as I am never coming back."

7th put on her wings and flew off into the sky. Later, the man came back and did not see his wife. He asked his kids where she was and they gave him her message. So he said to them, "You all were too naughty. You all will stay here. I will not return until I find your mother."

And so, he set off to find her. But he never, ever returned.

In some stories, the 7th daughter had a celestial sash that allowed her to fly, but as Hmong traditional clothing never really had a sash to accompany it, I decided to give her bird like wings attached to the large necklace instead. In Hmong, the sash or the thing that allowed her to fly, was simply called wings, which could be anything, really, since wings could be loosely interpreted. I tried to give them some smaller flying sashes you'd normally see in several ancient Asian paintings depicting celestials but it just didn't look good with everything else going on so I scrapped it. XD

As a kid, I never really realized how dark of a story this was--forced marriage, lying, insecurities, abandonment, suggestions of sexual assault--though I'm sure there those out there who may disagree and think this is a beautiful story that just needs a little reinterpretation. For me, there is no saving it. Her final words to her kids and leaving means she never wanted to stay in the first place.

In retrospect, child-me felt the mother should have stayed or should have taken her children with her (I mean, why would you not? What did they ever do to you?!). I never did like the guy though since he forced her to marry him so I made this piece of art to reflect the mood of the story--or at least, I tried.

Well, enjoy! This was a week late and I just had to catch a cold, too. So I am glad to be done!

Description
My submission to the following DA Group and our 2016 calendar project:
Inspired by the amazing The Naiads

The Seven Daughters of Heaven is a folklore found in several Asian countries. This is the Hmong version:

The King of Heaven had seven beautiful daughters, the 7th being the most beautiful of them all. They often came down to Earth to bath and one day, a human man happened to come across them. He saw the 7th daughter and immediately fell in love with her beauty. He took her wings the next time she came down with her sisters and when her sisters were done bathing, each took off with own wings until there was nothing left. She searched for her wings, found the young man, and asked for them back. He pretended not to know and refused to give it back. Unable to fly back home, she was forced to marry him and gave him children.

Everyday, he made her go out to the fields to tend the crops while he watched and entertained their children. However, he was kind of lazy and learned quickly they stopped crying if he took his wife's wings, wore it, and flew around to keep his kids from crying. One day, 7th was sick so he decided to go tend the farm. While she looked after her children, they would not stop crying and kept pointing to the roof. Not sure why, she searched around to see what had gotten into her children until she found her wings.

She said to them, "Your father is a horrible person. He stole my wings and forced me to marry him. Now that I've found them again, I am going back to my mother and father who I miss dearly. You stay with your father as I am never coming back."

7th put on her wings and flew off into the sky. Later, the man came back and did not see his wife. He asked his kids where she was and they gave him her message. So he said to them, "You all were too naughty. You all will stay here. I will not return until I find your mother."

And so, he set off to find her. But he never, ever returned.

In some stories, the 7th daughter had a celestial sash that allowed her to fly, but as Hmong traditional clothing never really had a sash to accompany it, I decided to give her bird like wings attached to the large necklace instead. In Hmong, the sash or the thing that allowed her to fly, was simply called wings, which could be anything, really, since wings could be loosely interpreted. I tried to give them some smaller flying sashes you'd normally see in several ancient Asian paintings depicting celestials but it just didn't look good with everything else going on so I scrapped it. XD

As a kid, I never really realized how dark of a story this was--forced marriage, lying, insecurities, abandonment, suggestions of sexual assault--though I'm sure there those out there who may disagree and think this is a beautiful story that just needs a little reinterpretation. For me, there is no saving it. Her final words to her kids and leaving means she never wanted to stay in the first place.

In retrospect, child-me felt the mother should have stayed or should have taken her children with her (I mean, why would you not? What did they ever do to you?!). I never did like the guy though since he forced her to marry him so I made this piece of art to reflect the mood of the story--or at least, I tried.

Well, enjoy! This was a week late and I just had to catch a cold, too. So I am glad to be done!