RAW MATERIAL Wax in Nepal is collected by the hill dwellers as an adjunct to the wild honey that they risk life and limb to collect. The honey collectors tap the hives of the wild bees that make their honeycombs on steep precipices and tall trees - they tie strong ropes around themselves as they venture out on the precipices to cut away the hives. Wax makers wrap the hives in filter-cloth and press out the honey. In this way, they collect the honey as well as the residue wax. The wax is melted in pots and shaped into a ball and taken to the market for sale. The other form of wax used is vegetable wax.

WAX FLOWERS: PROCESS & TECHNIQUE To craft the wax flowers the thakarmis first carve out floral designs on raw potatoes with a sharp knife. The carved potatoes serve as the mould. The mould is pierced with a thin bamboo stick, which serves as the handle. Next, the wax is melted either in a metal vessel or in a clay fire pot (makal) over a charcoal fire. When the wax melts into a clear liquid at a specific consistency the mould is dipped into the molten wax and quickly taken out and immersed into cold water. A thin layer of wax is now formed on the mould in the shape of a flower petal of leaf. This wax is removed gently. The artisan takes a thin stick of bamboo, touches one end of it to a sticky, glue-like substances called khoto, and then fixes the wax-flower to the sticky end - the wax-flower thus remains attached to the bamboo stick. Bees wax in its natural ivory colour has a luminosity and lustre that is retained even when colours or dyes are added to the molten wax to make coloured wax flowers. WAX CANDLES: PROCESS & TECHNIQUE To make candles two halves of a bamboo are joined together and held in position with tightly tied threads. The bottom of this bamboo mould is closed with a tin plate, to the centre of which is attached a thread which forms the wick. The thread is stretched in a straight position. The bees wax is melted in metal vessel. The molten wax is then poured into the moulds and allowed to cool. When the wax solidifies, the two halves of the bamboo mould are opened and the candles removed.

THE WEAVING REGIONS OF BHUTAN The weaving tradition of Bhutan spans several centuries with traditional, classical designs continuing to be woven even today by the Bhutanese. The women weave the textiles from their homes and each region has its own traditions and produces its own specialities. Eastern, North Central and Central Bhutan all have strong, distinctive local weaving traditions. Today this composite culture is viewed as a source of identity and a national asset. EASTERN BHUTAN Practitioners The country's largest group, the Shachops or 'easterners' inhabit Eastern Bhutan. Eastern women are Bhutan's most celebrated weavers and cloth is an important product of the region. Most learn the craft as very young girls, on their mothers' looms, doing the weaving during the winter months (January-March), when women prefer to spend their time indoors and no agricultural activity is carried out. Traditionally, the local nobility often employed weavers in their households. The cotton and wild silk textiles manufactured were traded with people from central Bhutan, who came to exchange their woollen cloth for lac, indigo, and the Eastern textiles. Today most of their work is sold in Thimphu, while the traditional barter with central Bhutan continues on a much smaller scale. Along Bhutan's eastern border live the semi-nomadic herders of the high valleys of Merak and Sakteng - these tribes have a unique lifestyle, language and dress and their own weaving specialities and are an integral part of the Eastern region. For centuries, cloth was central to the internal economy of eastern Bhutan. Tax in some areas was paid in the form of lengths of plain and patterned cotton and wild silk cloth until the 1950s. Looms Eastern Bhutanese use the back strap loom, which they set up on porches, under bamboo mats, or in thatched sheds to protect weavers from the sun and rain. In Pemagastshel District, shelters on stilts are constructed in fields near the house so that girls and women can weave in the shade while watching the crops and livestock. Card looms and horizontal frame looms are also used. Fibres Wild silk, cotton, and acrylic are the main fibres for weaving today. While some of the yarn is spun and processed locally, most of the wild silk and bright cotton and acrylic yarn is imported from India. The tribes of Merak Sakteng prefer to buy the cocoons as they are less costly and process them into yarns themselves. Natural Dyes Eastern Bhutan has a temperature climate and as a result is rich in flora and fauna. In this region, Bhutanese indigo, lac, madder and other wild dye plants are found in abundance. The dyeing and weaving skills of the women are highly developed. Types of Cloth and Patterning Techniques Textiles of Eastern Bhutan can be classified into primarily three broad categories: plain weave fabrics, supplementary-weft-patterned fabrics, supplementary-warp-patterned fabrics. Plain weave fabrics Mongar and Pemagatshel districts produce patterned and unpatterned plain weave fabrics of cotton and wild silk fabrics. This relatively undecorated cloth of different varieties was woven for the local authorities and tendered to the dzongs each year. Plaid and striped fabric for garments and household use continues to be produced. While setting up the warp coloured threads are included with the basic colour to obtain striped fabric. The coloured thread will appear on both sides of the finished fabric. A textile with only stripes is called thara. Two colour combinations are popular: red-and-black (or blue) plaid on a white field; and yellow, white, and black on a rust-covered field (sethra, 'predominantly gold pattern'). Two versions of the rust-coloured plaid called sethra are seen today: sethra dokhana, which has black in it, and dalapgi sethra, which does not. In the past fifty years, rows of small supplementary-weft patterns have appeared in some striped plain weave cloth used for women's dresses, an innovation loosely described as 'new design' (pesar). Pattern wefts are usually worked in pairs and are discontinuous, being inter worked with the ground weave only where the motif appears on the face of the cloth. The patterns are single-faced, visible only on the finished side of the weaving. Yutham or country cloth is made of wild silk or cotton and is very popular in the rural areas for garments. Today, Indian factory-made versions of this pattern are worn more often than hand woven cloth. Warp-striped cloth or thara is very popular and is available in many varieties, all of which have individual names:

• Shardang thara or 'striped woman's dress' is a local pattern showing multicoloured warp stripes on a white field
• Samkhongma has narrow red-and-blue warp stripes on a white field
• Mondre ('Mon or Bhutanese dress') has a pattern similar pattern to the Samkhongma and is worn mainly by the older people in rural areas.

Supplementary-weft-patterned fabrics Many other textiles that originated in the east, such as traditional women's belt (kera), are decorated with supplementary wefts, which are obtained by adding coloured thread to the weft. These coloured threads can show on one side of the fabric or both sides. If they show on one side they are called single faced, and when they show on both sides they are called two-faced or double faced. The thread used for the extra weft is usually thicker than the base fabric. Here, the supplementary wefts float on one surface of the plain weave ground when not floating on the other and create a negative pattern on one side of the cloth. Four to eight very fine supplementary-weft yarns usually functions as a single patterning unit. Supplementary wefts decorate multipurpose textiles (pangkheb) used for tax payments, rough towelling, doorway curtains, cushion linings, and bundle carriers. The most elaborate of these cloths, the ceremonial chaksipangkheb, has centre panel patterned from one end to the other with bands of continuous supplementary wefts. Supplementary-warp-patterned fabrics or Aikapur Supplementary-warp-patterned are made by adding coloured threads to the warp. Eastern Bhutan is famous for its supplementary-warp-patterned fabrics collectively known as aikapur. Woven of cotton, wild silk, or cultivated silk they are so fine as to appear to be embroidered. Aikapur is a special cloth, treasured and saved for special occasions. An aikapur is a warp patterned weave which has extra warp threads manipulated to create double faced warp pattern bands called hor - which alternate with rows of plain weave. The width of the supplementary-warp-pattern bands determines the quality of the aikapur. Vertically, in the warp direction, these patterned bands follow a format: a primary motif; followed by a solid horizontal bar, a crosshatched bar, and another solid bar; a primary motif and so on. While primary motifs may repeat or vary within a given pattern band, the intervening bars are identical and there are always an odd number of crosshatches - three, five, seven or nine. As the number of legs 'kang' or cross hatches goes up the design becomes broader. The greater the number of cross hatches and the more intricate the patterns - the more the work for the weaver and the more highly the fabric is regarded. A fabric with three legs is refered to as a Bsampa, with five legs Bnapa, with seven legs Btsumpa. Cloth with nine 'legs' or Bgupa is said to have been reserved for the nobility and the kings, but one often sees cloth with eleven (Bdzonghthrupa) or even thirteen (Bdzongsampa) legs. Aikapur are distinguished by the colours of the background and the additional thread. Traditional colour schemes are:

• mense mathra: Yellow pattern band on a red field
• lungserma: Green and red pattern bands between colourful warp striping
• montha: blue or black and red pattern bands between colourful warp striping
• dromchu chema: red, green, yellow, and white pattern bands.
• jadrichem, or jadrima multicoloured warp stripes in any version of the above cloths

Patterns: The patterned bands of an aikapur contain motifs which may repeat or vary within the band. The motif most often encountered is the: Shinglo or 'tree leaf' motif Bhutanese examine the delicate branches and leaves of these trees when assessing the quality of a fabric. Weavers of Merak and Sakteng The semi-nomadic herders of the high valleys of Merak and Sakteng fashion hats, ropes, and bags out of yak hair and weave garments, floor mats, and blankets of yarn spun from their sheep wool. Some women spin wild silk cocoons into fibre, which they dye with lace and weave into tunic-style dresses (shingkha), women's jackets, and belts or obtain them from nearby villagers who weave them specially for bartering with the herders. The jacket pattern is always the same, showing rows of horses, elephants, and peacocks that are reminiscent of patterns in distant Southeast Asia. Geometric patterning on the belts, showing auspicious swastikas and flowers, is similar to that on jackets.

NORTH CENTRAL BHUTAN (LHUNTSHI DISTRICT) Practitioners: Lhuntshi District is the original home of the royal family and has strong weaving traditions. Kurto, the northern part of this district, is especially renowned for its weaving. Unfortunately, although the legacy of local weaving is strong, much of the cloth now being manufactured is in acrylic and medium-quality cotton yarns, and of medium quality. Yak wool and hair are also woven by herders in northern and eastern Bhutan and by villagers in central Bhutan. The soft inner wool from the chest and underbelly of yaks is suitable for making clothing and blankets. More commonly, the yak's outer coat, which is hair-like and highly water repellent, is woven into coarse raincloaks, blankets, tents, bags, and rope and fashioned into hats. Yak tails are used in Bhutan and exported as fly whisks. Traditions: As in the East, cloth from the local looms was used to make tax payments. Fibres The most significant local weaving material was nettle, which is said to have been the original fibre used in Bhutan. Some villages continue to weave with this fibre. Lhuntshi District has always imported or bartered the materials for its famous textiles. Cotton from Mongar District or regions further south and wild silk cocoons from Samdrup Jongkhar on the Indian border. Dyes The locally available dye plants were the madder, found in nearby forests, Bhutanese indigo, cultivated in household gardens and Symplocos leaves known as a source of yellow. Lac was acquired from eastern Bhutan and mordants from Tibet. Now very little dyeing with natural dyes is done because imported coloured yarns from India are available as are commercial dyes. Types of Cloth and Patterning Techniques Kurto is famous for producing cloth patterned with kushu, a style of discontinuous supplementary-weft patterning on a white base. This technique is used to produce the famed woman's dress called kushuthara ('brocaded dress'), bags and other textiles. The patterning (sapma) is composed of supplementary wefts that appear to lie on the finished face of the cloth; when not floating, they are laid in with wefts of the ground wave. More intricate motifs are created by a group of four supplementary wefts that are interworked with warp elements and each other by twining and wrapping (thrima, 'to wind, coil around'). Thrima patterns appear to ride on the surface of the cloth, and some look very much like embroidery. Because Bhutanese fabrics are warp-faced, a skilled weaver can insert sapma and thrima pattern wefts so that neither is visible on the back of the cloth. Kushu thara has been the most prestigious dress for women during the twentieth century. It has a white field patterned with dozens of distinct motifs like diamonds or half-diamonds or half-diamonds at the center and edges of the field. The patterns woven in supplementary weft exemplify what Bhutanese call jangdra which means that the dress has a pleasing, striking impression when seen from a distance. Handwoven by women from cotton and raw silk (bura) or entirely from silk, it is traditionally vegetable dyed in different colours and can take up to a year to weave. Kushuthara has a white base and a similar women's dress with a blue background is called onsham. The designs for kushu patterning are so varied that they are impossible to classify. Several dozen basic patterns are modified and interpreted, or combined together, at a weaver's pleasure. Patterning that looks like patchwork (tenkheb, phup) is believed to bring long life. Swastikas (yurung) and a lattice pattern that Bhutanese emblems. According to some older women, these three motifs - patchwork, swastikas, and lucky knots- were supposed to appear on women's dresses, and indeed they commonly form the end borders of many older examples. Animal designs, once commonly used are no longer in fashion. The area was also known in the 1930s for plaid cloth (mathra, 'predominantly red pattern'), sometimes woven with stripes (khacha) at the edges. Nowadays, this plaid is associated more closely with Bumthang (central Bhutan). karsi, yuearung-276, yuroong 280, drami 272

CENTRAL BHUTAN Practitioners: The Bumthang District comprising the four valleys of Chume, Chokhor, Tang, and Ura has been the place of origin of many important Buddhist teachers and noble families. Aristocratic families in this region are known for maintaining trade and cultural links outside Bumthang - primarily with Kurto and outside the country with Tibet. Tradition Weaving in the palace or noble households, in Bumthang, was organised in the form of workshops from the mid 1800s until around 1960, when it disappeared after the abolition of the hereditary service obligations in 1957. Princesses who were born or married into the royal family brought their servants, including weavers, to Bumthang. Women of local noble families also wove for the princesses. Weaving, carried out with both silk and cotton yarn, flourished in these workshops and in the mid 1940s, there could be found workshops who employed large number of dyers, weavers and people who did the spinning and winding of the yarn. Dyes were locally prepared on a large mortar stone and ground with a wooden pestle turned by a water wheel. As the patronage was so strong, weavers, free from the pressures of the marketplace, wove some of the most exquisite textiles, including kushuthara, as well as other fine cloth. The atmosphere in these workshops was happy and weavers sang songs to pass the time. Villages to the west in Bumthang and neighbouring Tongsa District are known for weaving with wool and woven products are still bartered for textiles and dyes from other parts of Bhutan. The Mangde River valley in Tongsa District is known for cloth production. A number of villages also weave with nettle, which was made into wrapped garments worn by women that cross over the chest and fasten at the shoulders, like the pakhi formerly worn by men in this area. Like in the other regions of Bhutan, taxes were paid in cloth woven on local looms. Some of the items tendered were: plain white woollen cloth(nambu karthi, a thin cloth for making prayer flags and tearing into thin strips used as butter lamp wicks); woollen cloth patterned with traditional designs (yathra, 'pattern from the upper regions'); and red plaid woollen cloth (mathra). Yarns in these fabrics were locally coloured with madder for red and pinecones for blue. Fibres The four valleys of central Bhutan (Bumthang) are acclaimed for weaving with sheep wool. Apart from the local wool, imported acrylic and woollen yarns brought from India and Australia is used. Bast fibres like nettle are also used. Looms The back strap loom was once universal in the Bumthang region has been replaced by the horizontal frame loom, for the weaving of woollen cloth since its introduction in the 1930s. Dyes Today most silk and cotton yarns come from India, and a mix of natural and synthetic dyes are used, even though natural colouring agents of all kinds are plentiful in the forests. Traditionally, turmeric is used for yellows instead of Symplocos, which does not grow in the region. From the Southern parts madder, Bhutanese indigo, Symplocos leaves, turmeric, lac and various mordants are traded with the north. Types of Cloth and Patterning Techniques The wool-weaving areas of central Bhutan produce stripped plain weaves; fine plaid twills, and heavier, supplementary-weft-patterned twills. The occasional plain weaves are woven on a back strap loom. Twills, formerly woven on back strap looms are now produced on the horizontal frame loom. Indigenous to Bumthang and parts of Tongsa District are woollens made of natural brown, black, and white yarns and yarns tinted dark blue or shades of red. Plaid, checked, and striped loom lengths are used mainly for stitching rain cloaks and blankets. The simplest cloths are somewhat rough black woollens for winter dresses and robes. Similar fabric, dyed a rich orange-red with madder, is stitched into blankets that monks use as shawls. A coarser variety of black woollen textile covers loads on horses during the rain. Other fabrics show black-and-white, black-and-red, or red-and-white checks or stripes. The most colourful are sephu charkab ('Sephu raincloaks'), which are striped in the weft direction with broad bands of white, orange, green, and blue. Plaid patterns are also specialities of central Bhutan. The best known are based on one of two designs: varicoloured plaid on a maroon field (mathra, 'red pattern'); or yellow, white, and black plaid on an orange field (sethra, 'gold pattern'). The latter was originally from eastern Bhutan, where it was woven of wild silk on backstrap looms. The first woollen versions are said to have appeared in the early 1950s and are very popular now. Lengths of woollen plaid cloth are sold in rolls ready to be cut, stitched, and lined. Another cloth equally characteristic of Bumthang is the decorative woollen called yathra ('pattern from the upper regions'). Earlier, it seems to have been plain weave or twill made on a backstrap loom, but now it is almost always twill produced on a frame loom. Uncut lengths of the cloth measure about 65 cm by 300 cm or more and show several patterns. The traditional palette of naturally dyed yarns is rich and warm: rainbow hues of pink, plum, and maroon, a handful of blues and greens, with accents in white and gold. There are many variations of yathra, all with single-faced supplementary-weft patterning, either on a plain ground or on a weft striped ground. Pattern wefts are paired and quite thick; and include familiar motifs: diamonds, stars, coins, lucky knots, scissors, long-life vases, and floral motifs. Yathra was traditionally used for cushion covers or blankets (two panels) and for cloaks (three panels). Since the 1950s, it has also been made into jackets that are very popular with Bhutanese women and foreigners. Other uses today are upholstery, car seat covers etc.

WESTERN BHUTAN Pratitioners: It is generally accepted that the western Bhutan does not have its own native weaving traditions, as it had easy access to cloth from other areas. Today, however, there are weavers in Thimphu and other areas west of the Pele La, the high pass that divides western Bhutan from the east. There are also communities in western Bhutan (Punakha and Wangdi Phodrang districts) weave with wool, wild silk, and cotton. Nomads in Ha and Laya Lingshi, on Bhutan's western and north-western borders, fashion clothing and other utilitarian textiles from yak, sheep, and goat wool. Rural families living at lower altitudes weave cloth from nettle fibre and make it into garments. Kantham Thara - simple warp stripes or plaids. Gifted to a lama who later sold it to raise funds for the monastery. Kawley - completely black fabric of wool has healing properties and good for the wearers health.

FIBRES Textiles are the products of centuries of individual creativity and transmitted skills in fibre preparation, dyeing, weaving, cutting, stitching and embroidery. The entire process of weaving from the preparation of yarn, the dyeing and final weaving to produce designs ranges from the most simple to the most intricate. The fibres used are cotton, wool, silk (raw and refined), yak hair and nettle fibre (which produces a coarse fabric that is used for utilitarian purposes like strong bags though it was formerly used for making clothes as well). Wool from Bumthang, bura(raw silk) and cotton from warmer regions. Yak hair is used to weave heavy textiles for tents, blankets and rugs. FIBRE PREPARATION Bhutanese fibres are almost always spun with a drop spindle (phang) and transferred to a spinning wheel (Chaphang). Cotton seeds are separated with a kaershing or cotton gin and then fluffed before spinning. Only locally grown cotton is traditionally spun first with the aid of a spinning frame, then twisted again, using a drop spindle to produce a tighter yarn. Spinning is usually women's work, although men in the herding communities of Laya Lingshi and Merak Sakteng spin yarn from sheep, yak and goat wool. Bhutanese women also employ drop spindles to ply yarn and to tighten the twist of woollen, acrylic, and silk yarns from India. From the spindle, or the spinning frame, yarn is transferred to a rotating winding wheel or hand-held skein winder. It is then wound off into balls or skeins for weaving in natural colours or for dyeing. Khab - warp winding instrument. Yarn taken around two wooden posts. Extra warp wound around heddle sticks to create warp patterns. Once warp is placed on the loom these sticks are raised alternatively while weaving. NETTLE Nettle was the original fibre used by local weavers in Bhutan. Nette fibres are obtained from several plants:

• a common nettle grass (Girardinia palmate)
• the stalk of Cannabis sativa (hemp), which grows wild in much of Bhutan and
• a tree bark.

The method of preparation of yarn from nettle is common to the region (India and Nepal) and involves

• soaking the plant stalks, sometimes boiling them
• shredding them for twisting into yarn with the aid of a drop spindle.

The fibre though now rarely used was once the chief material for production of clothing. By the 1940s, only the older Bhutanese remembered it. In Southern Bhutan it was worn in parts until the mid 1960s. Contemporary weavers seldom work with nettle except for producing rough and sturdy, bast-fibre carrying cloths, sacks, and bags that are sought after throughout Bhutan. Archers also use nettle fibre for stringing traditional wooden bows. SILK Silk is the most prestigious fibre in Bhutan and also the most expensive. Although Bhutanese may call all silk bura ('insect cotton'), they distinguish several types of yarn:

• wild silk (bura)
• cultivated, reeled silk(seshu)
• Khaling silk (varieties of silk imported from Assam) and
• parachute silk (namdru kiip).

The distinguishing characteristics of silk yarn are whether it is produced by the domesticated, mulberry silk moth (Bombayx mori), or by a wild or semi domesticated, non-mulberry silk moth; and whether it is reeled or spun. Wild silk: Most wild silk is thicker than cultivated silk and is off-white in colour. It is rarely reeled as wild silk fibre is shorter than the silk from domesticated moths. This is because the cocoons are gathered after the larvae have metamorphosed into moths and eaten through their cocoons, severing the silk filament in many places. The broken cocoon is pulled apart and the fibres are spun, like cotton or wool. Preparation of the silk fibre: Whether collected from the forest or cultivated in this fashion, the cocoons are steeped in a solution of hot water, which has been drained through fermented rice, to soften and de-gum the cocoons. While still moist, the fibre is drawn out of each cocoon by hand. As the thread is wound onto a spindle, fibre ends are joined by pressing them together and lumps are smoothed between thumb and forefinger. The Bhutanese are sensitive about violating the Buddhist tenet of not killing living beings even accidentally and try and ensure that the moths are out of the cocoons before they are put into hot water. This has led the Bhutanese to purchase ready, spun dyed yarn and therefore, much of the yarn used in Bhutan today, is imported. Cultivated silk: Domesticated silk worms that feed on mulberry leaves and extrude a fine liquid protein coated with sericin. When exposed to air, this becomes the fine liquid protein becomes silk. The larvae, which cannot survive in the wild, are carefully protected and fed handpicked leaves. After molting several times the worm spins a cocoon, inside of which it metamorphoses into a moth over several weeks. If not prevented, it will then eat through the cocoon, breaking the silk fibre. In order to reel long, unbroken smooth fibres, mature cocoons are simmered, killing the moths inside. Waste fibres from breakage are also spun, yielding a coarser, less desirable yarn often termed 'raw silk' in the West. Khaling silk refers to Assamese yarns imported by the National Handloom Development Project in Khaling (Tashingang District). Most of them are spun from the waste fibres of mulberry-bed silkworms. This cultivated, spun silk is not as fine as cultivated, reeled silk, but is somewhat rough and slubby. Parachute silk was introduced to Bhutan from India during the Second World War. Old women remember that the royal grandmother, Ashi Phuntsok Choden, senior queen of the second king, was the first person to have the fibre, which came in the form of a heavy rope. The braided outer layer was unraveled for use as weft, and the straight strands of the rope's inner core were used for warps and pattern wefts. This fibre was thicker and cheaper than silk yarn from India and was dyed locally. Some say it is not of the same quality as other silk because it shows wear and does not hold colour well. COTTON In temperate areas of Bhutan, cotton is the fibre for ordinary garments and other utilitarian textiles. Until the middle of this century, the majority of the cotton used in Bhutan was grown, spun, and woven locally. Traditionally, cotton was cultivated throughout the warm, southern hills. In some areas, a portion of the crop was turned over to the state in return for salt from Tibet. The cotton was then redistributed to villagers to spin and weave into cloth, much of which was again given to the state as a form of tax. Over the years cotton cultivation has become uneconomical and the increased availability of commercial machine spun Indian yarns has led to substitution of the local yarn with imported yarn. Another fibre that the Bhutanese call cotton comes from a small tree. The Tibetan women who is said to have introduced weaving in Tashigang centuries ago taught people first how to weave simple designs in wool and then how to make yarn from a 'cotton tree' (chemashing; Gossypium?) native to the area. Fibre from this tree is still occasionally used for weaving in eastern Bhutan. WOOL In colder areas, local fleece was spun and made into the cloth needed by each household, as well as handed over in raw form to authorities, who then redistributed it to villagers for processing into cloth due to the state as tax. Local wool was the major source of clothing and utilitarian textiles in regions such as north central Bhutan. Sheep wool still provides the primary fibre for villagers in Bumthang District (central Bhutan) and for seminomadic herders in western Bhutan (Laya Lingshi) and eastern Bhutan summer grazing areas and in September-October. Until the late 1950s, raw Tibetan wool, and occasionally woollen yarn, were imported sporadically. In the 1970s and 1980s, modest quantities of raw merino wool were imported from Australia. In recent years, Australian breeding stock has helped establish hybrid flocks with softer varieties of wool. Imports: Commercial Yarns and Synthetic Fibres Bhutanese weavers today have access to fibres from Japan, India, Hong Kong and buy the best they can afford. Popular varieties of yarn include: Cotton; mercerised cotton and blended cotton and polyester Silk-like acrylic yarn, machine-spun woollen yarn and acrylic yarn

DYES Good colours are valued so much among the Bhutanese that strong taboos guide the dyeing process. Dyeing of yarn is done in the secrecy of the early morning behind closed doors and shutters - as strangers should not witness it and pregnant women should not come near it lest unborn babies steal the colours and spoil the dye baths. If a baby is born with pink or red birthmarks - they are supposedly from the jatsho and tsut and blue and blacks marks from tsangeha. Secrecy is crucial not only safe guarding the dyeing recipes which were passed from one generation of women to another, and not shared with strangers, but also against the malevolent spirits that are lurking around. During the first half of this century, specialists did the dyeing in the noble households of Central Bhutan. These women prepared dyestuffs from a variety of mineral or vegetable/herbal dye plants found throughout the Himalayas, on a large outdoor grinding stone and then they coloured silk and cotton yarns by steeping them in huge pots. Natural dyes are called tsoning and chemical or synthetic dyes tsosar. Commercial synthetic dye powders were known in Bhutan even before 1900 and have coexisted with vegetable dyes. They are very popular and easily recognizable by their vivid colours. Red Stick lac (jatsho) is a resinous secretion deposited on tree branches by a parasitic insect. The larvae draw their nutrients from the sap of the trees and secrete a viscous fluid that covers their bodies and encrusts the twigs. The encrustation is scraped off for processing as a red dye. This ancient animal dye, produces colours ranging from pinks to deep red and has been popularly used throughout the subcontinent. In Bhutan, stick lac is widely used but is also considered errant as some insects get killed during the harvesting. Found in the Eastern valleys of Bhutan, the resinous substance is harvested in October, as soon as the mature insects begin emerging from the encrustations. The hard nodules of stick lac are scraped off the branches. While lac is valued primarily as a dye, its residue is used as sealing wax. Processing the stick lac to obtain the right colour is a slow process. Lac is soaked in hot but not boiling water and then ground into small pieces with some yeast and roasted wheat or barley grains. The pot is covered so the mixture ferments and a white cream rises to the surface. The mixture is left for about a week so that the colour obtained is good. It is regularly stirred during this time. The liquid is then strained through a sieve, and the residue hardens into a wax used for sealing documents. Finally, the yarns are steeped for up to a week in the covered pot. The steps followed for dyeing and the proportions of dye used vary with the yarn being dyed. Wild silks:Dye-to-fibre ratio varies from five to one to nine to one. Silk yarns are first boiled in an alum solution Then dried and wrapped in a thin cotton cloth while being immersed in the dye bath.

Wool:

Dye-to-fibre ratio is two to one Yarns are soaked first in a solution of hardwood ash

The contents of the dye bath are boiled and more ingredients are added to produce darker shades. Madder: Madder is widely used for dyeing wool, cotton, and silks. The madder, a creeper, called tso or tsut, grows in altitudes of 1,200 to 2,700 metres. In western Bhutan, the creeper flowers in August and is harvested soon afterward, when the seeds turn black. In the east, the plant is picked in late November. The stems are dried in the open or over a fire, and then chopped into small pieces that are stored. Using the madder to dye involves boiling about a handful of madder twigs per pound of fibre, removing them, and then steeping the yarns in the mixture. The colour varies according to the dye-to-fibre ratio used and the steeping time and yields shades from orange to deep red. The most commonly used mordant is alum or the yarn may be soaked first in a solution of Symplocos leaves. Yellow Symplocos or Zim: Four varieties of leaves of the Symplocos trees contain a yellow pigment. The shrubs are generally found on slopes above 1,000m and leaves, which can be used fresh or dried, are picked in autumn. The colouring process is simple and consists of placing well-washed woollen yarn in a boiling pot of the leaves and leaving it there until the desired shade of yellow is obtained. The wool is then dried and may be steeped in a second dye bath of turmeric and coarsely ground buckwheat grains, which heighten its colour. If the second bath contains madder, a rich rust or orange will be the result. In some parts of Bhutan native turmeric is used for obtaining a bright yellow. Blue Bhutan's main blue dye comes from broad-leafed shrubs that contain indigotin and are collectively called indigo. Bhutanese indigo is different from that is cultivated in India. The plants are cultivated in kitchen gardens, in Bhutan. The leaves, usually picked in autumn, are used fresh or stored in airtight tines lined with banana leaves and sprinked with yeast. Alternatively, they are covered with cow dung. In about twenty days, after the leaves have fermented and rotted, they are taken out and mixed with water dripped through hardwood ashes. This compound can be used for dyeing or is moulded into balls or cakes, which are dried and stored for future use. The dried cake must be ground into powder, mixed with water, and fermented in an alkaline solution of hardwood ashes. The mixture is then kept warm but not boiled, and after about a week the yarn is immersed. In the olden days it was kept in a pile of horse manure for fermentation to take place - it is now kept near the hearth. The first dye lot is a light blue, with successive steepings yielding deeper shades. Yeast and chang (local rice beer or other fermented grain beverage) are added during the dye to maintain the proper level of fermentation. Other Colours and Mordants Compound colours are achieved by mixing colours to yield new colours. For example, greens result when yarn tinted blue with indigo are dyed in a second solution of one of the Symplocos leaves or yarn dyed in sticklac is immersed in indigo yields shades of purples. Other susbstances used are:

• Black and brown dyes: Walnut bark and husks, and the sour fruit of a tree called chorgenshing, mud mixed with a poisonous root (chukchume in Bumthang)
• Yellow: Leaves called photorshing
• Red: red is obtained from the purple skinned berries of thorn bushes (kipetsang)
• Light blue and purple: pine cones found over 3,000 m
• Cream / wood colour - Oak
• Mordants are substances that fix a dye on a yarn by combining with the dye. Traditional mordants include the Symplocos leaves, alumaceous earths, and sour fruits, pomegranate skin, crab apples.

Weaving techniques and technology have remained virtually unchanged over the years, in Bhutan. Exquisite textiles continue to be woven by hand on the backstrap and card looms - and, for the past sixty years, the Tibetan horizontal frame loom. LOOMS The possibilities of weaving patterns are determined by the loom being used. There are three types of looms (thagshing) used in Bhutan the back strap (pangthag) loom with a fixed vertical frame (the backstrap loom with a horizontal frame is used by the women of Laya, in Northern Bhutan), the horizontal frame looms with pedals (thruthang) and the card loom, a form of back tension loom, used for making a select group of narrow textiles usually belts. BACKSTRAP LOOMS Most weaving in Bhutan is done on two types of backstrap loom (pangthag, 'body or lap loom'). The most commonly used loom is the fixed vertical loom which has two warp beams that require a wooden frame, so these looms are usually set up against a wall. The warp here slants upward, away from the weaver. The second type of loom with a horizontal frame has a single warp beam, which is usually positioned so the warp rides parallel to the ground in front of the weaver. This kind of loom is easy to make at low cost and is easily transportable. Bhutanese weavers employ a length of bamboo as the shuttle case and a wooden sword to beat in the weft. One method of winding the warp for the loom utilises two, upright wooden posts about 150 cm apart. A thin, joining rod connects the posts near their top ends. Depending on the pattern of the cloth to be woven, two to five thin, additional wooden or bamboo rods are propped against the joining rod in order to keep the warp yarns in order during weaving and for the pattern warps. Extra warps are tied with loops of thread to heddle rods as the warp is prepared. The warp is most often wound in a single direction as a continuous circular length. Therefore, when it is removed from the loom the fabric comes out circular and needs to be cut across a narrow section of unwoven warps in order to create a flat rectangle. Alternatively the warp may also be wound in another manner, using a third rod, which becomes the closing rod when the warp is transferred to a loom. When a panel of this type of cloth is completed, the closing rod is pulled out, releasing the warp-end loops. The fabric is a flat panel that does not require cutting. When the warp is moved to a loom, the upper and lower warp beams of the loom replace the two fixed winding posts. The breast beam, typically a length of bamboo split in half lengthwise so that it grips the cloth, is tied to the weaver's back strap with leather or nylon cords. By leaning backward, the back strap allows the weaver to maintain the warp tension as she weaves, periodically sliding the woven fabric upwards at the back and the unwoven warp downwards toward her. Back strap looms with a single warp beam are used in herding communities in northwest Bhutan (Laya Lingshi). The warp beam is held in position with a stone or heavy sacks of salt. The advantage of this loom is that it can be easily moved even with partially woven cloth on it. Using one heddle in this kind of loom produces a very dense warp and therefore the weft cannot be seen. If four heddles are used twill weft can be woven as on a peddle loom. Fabric woven on back strap looms is limited in width to roughly 65 cm. Garments and other textiles are fashioned by stitching together two or more lengths of cloth. A woman's dress (kira), for example, if made of silk or cotton, consists of three panels joined in the warp direction and oriented horizontally in the finished dress. If made of wool on a back strap loom, the dress will contain six panels oriented vertically. HORIZONTAL FRAME LOOM The horizontal frame loom is seen mainly in Thimphu, Central Bhutan, and Merak Sakteng and is mainly used for weaving with woollen and acrylic yarns, typically, twill weave. It was introduced to Central Bhutan from Tibet sometime around the 1930s. Around 1920, a young man named Sonam Dondhrup, from Lhuntshi District, went to the Tongsa Dzong, to seek his fortune in the king's service. Sonam Dondhrup discovered he was interested in weaving and in his free time, he learned to work at a backstrap loom and became a good weaver. Ashi Wangmo, the young daughter of the first king noticed his weaving skills. Knowing that Tibet had different weaving techniques and used a different kind of loom, she sent him to Tibet to learn about the weaving being done there. She wanted Sonam Dondhrup to come back and train the Bhutanese weavers. He spent about nine months in Tibet but no one would teach him until Ashi Wangmo sent two sets of gift cloth (zong) for the Tibetans. He came back, made a horizontal frame loom, and taught her how to weave on it. The two then trained many of the women at the court in Tongsa. Later Ashi Wangmo went back to her home in Lhuntshi and taught the women there how to weave on the horizontal frame loom. The horizontal frame loom (thrithag) is worked with pedals. The loom does not use a circular warp. The warp is wound around narrow rods laid parallel to the ground. At one end of the warp, as the winding proceeds, yarns are tied to or inserted through the heddles that control the ground weave. Four shafts or heddles are customary. Each time a heddle is used it lifts only a part of the yarn. By using this type of loom the weft is still visible between the warp and therefore it is easy to weave checkered textiles by using stripes in the warp and stripes in the weft. Supplementary (pattern) warps are not used on this type of loom. The warp is then transferred to the loom. The ground weft is wound on a long, bamboo bobbin with forked ends (for example, for weaving yathra) or on a very short bobbin that is inserted into a boat-shaped, wooden shuttle (for example, for weaving mathra). The width of cloth made on this loom is between 20 and 65 cm. Panels of fabric from the loom are cut and sewn into finished textiles. For example, a woman's woollen dress may have between ten and fourteen narrow panels made on the frame loom, which are oriented vertically when the dress is worn. Blankets and rain cloaks consist of two or three panels cut from the same loom length and joined in the warp direction. CARD LOOM The Bhutanese use the card loom to produce very narrow textiles such as men's belts. Since the 1960s, narrow women's belts have also been made by card weaving. This looms looks similiar to the backstrap loom but the heddles are different. Instead of loops, cards are used to lift a part of the warp. Card weaving seems to have come to Bhutan from Tibet. The range of textiles traditionally woven on this loom are similar to those made in Tibet and are used in contexts that were introduced from Tibet: for male dress (men's belt, kera, and garters for securing boots) and religious purposes (ties for binding religious texts) and, sometimes, straps to hold reliquaries worn on the chest. The Bhutanese card loom utilizes a continuous, circular warp mounted on the same frame as a back strap loom and similarly held taut by a weaver's body position. The cards once made of sheets of sturdy local paper or animal hide are often made from X-ray film or cardboard today. Each card has four holes one in every corner through which the warp is passed. The warp units are made of four yarns, each passing through a different hole in the four corners of a card. Two cards with eight warps make up a set. The cards are rotated by quarter turns to open and close each shed, and the weft is beaten down with a wooden sword. For a new style women's belt, about sixty cards are used. The ground is usually a countered four-strand, warp-twined fabric, with twining that is inverted at intervals throughout the textile. Triple wefts are common. When a women's belt is card-woven, it is decorated with various techniques of supplementary-weft patterning. Wool, acrylic, and cotton are used for the ground weave of textiles made on this loom.

DRESS AND COSTUMES AND USES OF TEXTILES Shabdrung Ngawang Namgayel, who unified Bhutan, introduced a special garment for men, the gho, a long robe tied at the waist and pouched over the belt to form a pocket modified from the Tibetan man's robes (chuba) and made distinctively Bhutanese in form. Women wear an ankle-length robe called - kira tied at the waist with a wide sash and fastened at the shoulders with silver broaches. The gho and the kira were declared as the national dress, in 1989, and it was made compulsory for everyone to wear it. This dress edict ignores ethnic and regional diversity that exists in the country and does not take into account the local inhabitants like the herders of Merak Saktang in the East and Laya in the North who do not traditionally wear the Gho and kira. Women's dress - kira The kira, unique to Bhutan, is an unstitched garment that is ingeniously folded around the body and combines comfort and grace. The garment itself has evolved over hundreds of years. Like its counter part for men, the gho, the Kira uses indigenously woven fabric with a border. Kiras are fastened at the shoulders by coma, the distinctive jewellery made of silver or gold and often accented with turquoise. The coma hooks the kira in front and back on either side of the shoulder. Often there is a chain that connects the coma to each other, which falls like a necklace over a woman's chest. Then a colorful, tight woven belt or kera is added to the waist. A wonju or a short blouse of silk or polyester is worn under the kira. The toego, a short, loose jacket, usually machine made of silk, cotton, wool or synthetic fabric completes the ensemble. A rechu is a ceremonial sash that Bhutanese women wear over their left shoulder during festivals, when entering government buildings or temples or during ceremonies. It is also intricately woven with colorful designs or embroidered with the seven auspicious symbols of Buddhism. Women's belts (Kera) Women's belts are made of silk on cotton and hand woven on a card loom with traditional designs. Traditionally the kera, which is still worn by the elderly women, is broad and therefore folded in three and then worn. The pattern is usually reversible and the belt is fringed at both the ends. The kera is woven in many designs depending upon individual taste. Blouse (Wonju) A wonju is a buttonless blouse with long sleeves worn by women under their dress (kira). It is made of thin fabric, silk or polyester, more rarely cotton. Women's Jacket (Toego) This short buttonless jacket is worn by women on top of their long dress and can be made of any material: brocade, raw silk, synthetic or cotton fabrics. Men's hand woven traditional dress - Gho The gho is the traditional male national dress and is constructed out of three large panels and a fourth narrower panel stitched together to form the garment. Men's belt (Kera) The men's belt is hand woven in plain wool and plain cotton with stripes, fringed at both ends and reversible. It is woven on a card loom. Women's ceremonial scarfs (Rachu) Hand-woven from raw silk on cotton with colourful flowers and fringed at both ends, rachu are ceremonial sashes worn by women. They are folded in three, lengthwise and worn over the left shoulder as a mark of respect when receiving important officials or on entering dzongs, temples and monasteries. They can also be draped over the shoulders like a shawl during religious ceremonies. Once unfolded, they are also used to carry children on the back. Some rachu are now embroidered with auspicious signs in the Chinese fashion. Ceremonial scarves for men (Kabney) Men, according to their rank wear these ceremonial scarves made of raw silk dyed using vegetable dyes. They are used as a mark of respect to welcome important guests or officials, and when visiting dzongs, temples and monasteries. Everybody wears a kabney as a gesture of respect to the sanctity of a place, its religious contents and people. A kabney worn by the men is broader than the rachu, used by the women. Ceremonial scarves different colours are used according to the rank of the wearer. His Majesty the King wears a yellow kabney and officials wear orange, red, blue and white kabney of various sizes depending on their ranks - red is used by class one officers, orange by the ministers and ordinary men wear white kapneys. The Je Khembo wears a yellow kabney and the monks wear maroon, indicating the rank of the wearer. Ceremonial multipurpose cloth (Chagsi Pangkheb) A ceremonial multipurpose cloth, it is also given as gifts during special occasions or as taxes and are made of cotton, raw silk and more rarely silk. This textile usually is woven with traditional designs. Shoes / Boots (Tsholham) Boots are traditionally hand-stitched out of sheep and cow hides, then decorated with brocades or wool and held in place under the knee with a narrow bootstrap. The main colours highlighting the shoes are red and yellow. Both men and women in the country wear them. The shoe colours and decorations depend upon the rank of the civil servant. Today, they are made in Paro and Thimphu. Woollen panel with geometric designs (Yathra) Yathra is a twilled hand-woven sheep wool panel, dyed with vegetable colours. And woven with geometric designs. A very warm fabric, it is used as a blanket, or converted into rain cloaks, bed covers, cushion covers, sofa set covers, jackets and coats for both men and women. Other Woollen products Rope, tents, raincoats and the famous Togtsi cap are made of yak wool and yak hair. The black Togtsi cap of yak hair is water resistant and used in the rain as the water just drips off without wetting the head. Rain Cloak (Charkab) Rain cloaks are hand-woven from sheep or yak wool, either on a pedal or backstrap loom. Woollen fabrics with a black and white background are associated with the Ura valley of Bumthang, Farmers and yak herders use them to protect themselves from rain, snow and cold. Bag (Phe-chue) The phe-chue is traditionally used for carrying foodstuff or other items. A woven strap allows the bag to be carried on the shoulder of positioned on the forehead, or even carried on the back in a rachung (scarf). Phechus originated from Kurtoe, Lhuentse. Other products made of cloth are used in monasteries and altars: Bumgho - cymbal covers Khep and Tenkhep - altar covers silken Chephur gyalsthen - six temple hangings Phen - pair of triangular topped hangings Chephur - a pair of cylindrical hangings Gyalsthen - pair of cylindrical hangings with valences LAYAP DRESS The Layap people, about 800 in number have their own language, customs and dress. The village women wear conical bamboo hats with a bamboo spike at the top, held by beaded bands. They dress in black woollen jackets with silver trim and a long woollen skirt, striped in natural earth colours and adorn themselves with lots of silver jewellery, which often includes an array of teaspoons.

PRAYER FLAGS All prayer flags are made of imported coarse cotton and placed at strategic places in the belief that the wind will carry the invocations and the messages on the flag down the rivers and valleys into the beyond. Originally made in temples and monasteries, today they are sold in shops as merchandise. Redi and Khorlo All flags, with the exception of patch flags, which are tied on a rope, are raised on a pole that has the Redi and the Khorlo at the top. The redi, a wood carving in the shape of a traditional knife, forms the apex of the flag. It is held together by the khorlo, a carved wooden wheel. The redi represents the god of wisdom and Khorlo the lotus, birthplace of Guru Rimpoche. Types of Flags

• The Goendhars are the smallest flags and hung on the tops of houses, invoking the protection of the guardian deity of the Bhutanese, Mahakala. The Goendhar is a plain white strip of cloth with red, green, blue and yellow stripes running across it - representing the various deities and elements.
• The Lungdhar and the Manidhar line the ridges and the other high grounds. Both have religious text printed on them. The Lungdhar or the wind flag is raised by a person for the invocation of the gods, for good luck, on release from an illness or misfortune or as prayer and gratitude for an achievement or any other reason. The name an age of the person is printed on the flag along with the exact reason why a flag is being raised. The colour of the flag depends on the sign of the person and astrological calculations are made for the auspicious time, direction and location of the flag.
• The manidhar or the prayer flag is raised when a family member. They act as prayers for the departed - for cleansing their sins.
• The largest flags are the Lhadhars or god flags - these can be seen outside dzongs and other important places and represent victory over evil.

Wood printing blocks for religious text on prayer flags Like the blocks used in xylography, the carver made the blocks to print the prayer flags. The text on the blocks was carved in reverse so that when used for printing they printed correctly. The cotton cloth was placed on the block and ink or dye rolled over it to get the imprint of the text. Flags are now being factory printed in India and other places and are sold ready made. The elements The five colours of the flag symbolise the five elements. The Air element or chakham is represented by white and symbolises good luck. The fire element or may is represented by red, water or chudam by blue, tree or shingham by green and earth or sa by yellow.

PRESENT STATUS Until about mid 20th century most fibres were produced dyed and woven locally. Although the repertoire of dyes and fibres was much more limited than it is today, the weavers were conversant with the techniques, understood the local materials and produced some superb quality textiles. Imported fibres adopted by weavers have altered the palette, textile and surface qualities and chemical dyes have replaced natural dyes and factory produced yarns are substituting hand spun yarn. Knowledge and skills accumulated through generations of experiences and family traditions are beginning to be lost irretrievably. In the last ten years because of the increased imports of machine-made yarn few women are dyeing yarn at all and, of these, even fewer are using vegetable dyes preferring the brightness obtained with synthetic dyes. Many are using a blend of natural and synthetic dyes. A project started by the National Women's Association of Bhutan, referred to as the Khaling Project, has trained over a thousand weavers in the each of the last 4 years and has been instrumental in reviving some of their traditional designs and at the same time originating new ones. The Dyeing Unit there has developed recipes for dyeing with rhododendron leaves (yellow); marigolds (yellow); Khempa (green); and several other flowers and leaves. Shortage of funds and other problems has limited its scale of operations to a quarter of its original capacity and they now train 250 weavers for short periods and only 20 weavers in long term courses. A WEAVING UNIT IN THIMPU Gagyel Lhundrup Weaving Centre (Kelzang Lhundrup, Proprietor) Changzamtok PO Box No 1141 Thimpu Bhutan Tel: 975-2-325583 Fax:975-2-327534

Muslins and Jamdanis were amongst Bangladesh's most prized contribution to the rich textile heritage of the world. The various historical references to the superb quality and the high-esteem in which these fabrics were held, are too numerous to elucidate though it can be said that they form part of some of the most valued textiles in collections all over the world. Although it is not possible to ascertain the precise period in history from which the sari came to be used in its present form, its origins can be traced to the garments displayed in the numerous sculptures and terracotta’s of the country. From mediaeval Bengali literature one can have a fair notion of the types of sari which were greatly prized, though they are described more by their particular colours than the place of manufacture of technique. Thus we read about the dark blue meghadambur (dark feathers), the floral designed asmantara (star studded sky), and the agniphool (flower of fire) saris. These elaborately designed saris are no longer woven and have now been replaced by saris of simple but elegant motifs and colours. Production continues to be specialized amongst weaving communities: the tantis of Tangail, even today weave fine cotton saris with patterned borders. From Comilla, comes heavier cotton fabric, known as khaddar or khadi which is used for shirting, dress material or bedcovers. The yarn for this cloth is hand spun on a charkhi. Pabna was an old weaving centre, where traditional techniques are used to produce saris and lungis. Not only is there a regional differentiation in weaving but also in the techniques, for instance the jacquard loom is used to weave the Tangail saris. While jamdani weavers are usually Muslim, Tangail weaving has through the ages been carried on by the Hindu caste of Basaks. Most of the handloom goods are brought by the weavers to the local haath or weekly bazaar, where they are sold to traders, wholesalers and their agents. Finally the goods reach the retail shops in the towns. The two major cloth markets in Bangladesh are in Narsingdi near Dhaka, and Shahjadpur in Pabna. But other markets exist for specialised goods, like jamdani saris are sold at the Demra hat, whereas the Tangail cottons are sold at Patiya. New handloom products have been developed by Grameen Bank- a leading non-government rural-oriented financial institution with trade name "GRAMEEN CHECK" which is soft, colour fast and 100% cotton, The "Grameen Check" fabric and the apparels made out of it have already made a breakthrough in the European markets. There are a number of other handloom textiles, relatively lesser known, which have made their district of origin well known for their distinctive design and quality and have created a niche for themselves. Textiles have been an extremely important part of Bangladesh's economy for a number of reasons. The textile industry accounts for approximately 45% of all industrial employment in the country and contributes 5% of the total national income. At present it is estimated that the number of handlooms in Bangladesh is about five hundred thousand and there are over one million weavers. Handloom products have shown decisive upward trend in the export market since 1972 The product range of handloom is large and includes Muslin Jamdani Saris, Bedcovers, Bedsheets, Tapestry, Upholstery, Place mats, Rugs and Blankets, Satranji Durees, Crochet, Muslin, Tribal textiles, Silk fabrics, Sofa covers, Block Prints, Table cloth and Napkins, Towels, Dusters, Kitchen towels, Bed sheets and other household linen in printed, plain or embroidery. Since independence of Bangladesh, there has been a revival of traditional weaves such as jamdani, Tangail, satranji and other furnishing fabrics. Although techniques remain unchanged, differences in the yarn used have increased. In jamdani, for instance less cotton is used, and weavers have replaced this with a mixture of cotton and silk or pure silk. In Tangail, although weavers continue to use old designs, some innovations have taken place particularly with growing communication between the weavers of Bangladesh and West Bengal. Traditionally men have always worked on the loom and women have processed and spun the yarn. As the yarn used is now procured from mills; in some places, it is interesting to note that women have taken to weaving. DACCA MUSLINS Of all hand-woven textiles, however, none is more renowned in history than the closely woven muslins of Bangladesh. The earliest known reference to this superlative fabric is in Kautilya's Arthasastra which alludes to the fine cottons of Vanga, now Bangladesh. Pliny mentions the muslin as a prized import from Bangladesh and Arrian’s account Circumnavigation of the Erythrean Sea bears testimony to its extreme fineness and transparency. Sulaiman, the Arab traveller who visited India in the ninth century, refers to the muslin as "cotton fabrics made in the kingdom of Rahmi (identified as Bangladesh) are so fine and delicate that a dress made of it, may pass through a signet ring." Ralph Fitch, the English traveller, and Abul Fazi in Ain-I-Akbari, both refer to Sonargaon as the place which produced the finest cotton in India. Under the patronage of the Mughals, and in particular the Empress Nurjehan, Dhaka muslin acquired an unprecedented standard and celebrity. Throughout succeeding times, this legendary fabric excelled in beauty and fineness of texture over any other product of the loom. Dhaka muslins were so famous they were used as shrouds for Egyptian mummies. Egyptian, Grecian and Roman aristocracy wore them. So fine was the cloth that names such as abrawan (running water), Baft hawa (woven air), shabnam (morning dew), vapour, woven winds, mist, nebula were given to them. The superiority of Dhaka muslin was partly due to the superb quality of the Dhaka cotton. The vernacular name of this cotton is uncertain, bairati kapas or photee. Dr Roxburgh in his Flora Indica praises its matchless qualities, but the most important factor that contributed to its superlative qualities, was the exceptional skill required in the spinning and weaving of this fabric. The process used for the carding and testing of the yarn was extremely complicated, but even more specialised was the actual spinning wheel. A certain degree of moisture was absolutely essential along with a particular level of temperature. Therefore all spinning was done in the early morning or late afternoon, when there is greater moisture in the air. The spinners were young women, between the ages of eighteen and thirty, after which their expertise was said to wane due to failing sight. They belonged to a few families around Dhaka and had acquired their remarkable skill over generations. There are numerous fables and stories describing this excellent fabric with its extraordinary qualities and patterns. In his account Dr. Watson lists them in sequence of superiority; mulmul khas (king's muslin) was the finest quality and was proven to have been superior to the finest European fabrics. Abrawan (running water), the second quality muslin was the one which led Aurangzeb to chastise his daughter for being immodestly clad! Shabnum (evening dew) circar ali and tunzeb followed as the third, fourth and fifth qualities. Of the other muslins of Dhaka, jungle khassa, nyansook and nilambari were also of considerable beauty.

JAMDANI The best known and most popular textile of Bangladesh is the specialty Jamdani. The word jamdani is of Persian origin from jam meaning flower and dani a vase of container. For over ten centuries, the Dhaka area has been renowned for this fine fabric. So fine was its texture and quality that it was said to be woven with the "thread of the winds" and the Greek and the Roman texts mention the "Gangetic muslins" as one of the most coveted luxury items for kings and their retinues, for whom jamdani fabrics became a most desired item of clothing. A light, translucent fabric, jamdani is usually made in lengths of six yards and worn primarily as a sari. For the Mughals it was fashioned into elaborate angarkhans or dresses worn by both men and women. In pictures of European courts at Versailles and London we find women in dresses that are made out of yards and yards of jamdani fabrics, or embroidered muslin. Trading accounts reveal how the fabric travelled to the Courts of the Mughals in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, and became a most prized item in the overland caravan trade from Dhaka through to Agra, Bokhara, Samarkand and further west in Asia. Later, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, over a hundred different assortments were exported by the European companies from the Soubah of Bengal to the ports of Hamburg, London, Madrid, Copenhagen and elsewhere in Europe. The most treasured were jamdani weaves from Dhaka. The Dutch, Portuguese, Danes, and the English competed and fought with each other to maintain their primacy over the trade, until eventually the English East India Company gained territorial control in 1757. This is led to an expansion of their trade and to their control over weaving centres. Jamdani, because of its intricate patterns it has always been the most expensive product of the Dhaka looms. Jamdanis manufactured for Aurangzeb in the sixteenth century cost over thirty pounds; it is therefore understandable that they were meant only for the affluent nobility. To this day, the jamdani weaver is deemed the finest weaver in South Asia. The dominant feature of the jamdani is its magnificent design which is said to be of Persian origin. The method of weaving is akin to tapestry work in which small shuttles of coloured, gold or silver threads, are passed through the weft. Of classic beauty, the jamdani effectively combines intricacy of design surface of a sari is scattered with floral sprays of great delicacy. When the ground is covered with superb diagonally striped floral sprays, the sari is called tercha. The anchal is usually decorated with bold corner motifs, it is known as a jhalar. The most prized design is the panna hazaar (thousand emeralds) in which the floral pattern is highlighted with flowers interlaced like jewels in gold and silver thread. The kalka, whose evolution may be traced to the painted manuscripts of the Mughals, has become one of the most widely used motifs in the region. Artisans and designers have altered its shape in innumerable ways, keeping within the tectonic form of the kalka's linear and floral characteristics. The traditional nilambari, dyed with indigo, or designs such as toradar preserved in weaving families over generations are now being reproduced. Other jamdani patterns are known as phulwar, usually worked on pure black, blue black, grey or off-white background colours, these and many other delicate motifs, denoted by the indigenous names of different flowers, reflect the versatile genius of the jamdani weaver. Jamdani has remained a favourite with women in Bangladesh, and even today no middle class women’s trousseau is complete without a red and white jamdani sari. More recently the fabric has been tailored into modern dresses, coats and shalwar kamiz, or used in straight lengths for household hangings or curtains. Today price constraints have obliged the weavers to simplify the designs greatly making them more stylized and geometric. The names too have become more indigenous, having a pleasant vernacular ring dhaner, sheesh par, korelajal, banshphool, punaphool terchi, inchipar, baghnoli buti, taraphool, and the colours are more diverse and imaginative. It is estimated that the production is carried out in over 200 villages in Demra, Rupganj, Sonargaon and Siddhirganj districts in Dhaka. An incredible continuity is visible in production techniques and use of equipment. The main visible change today is that yarn is no longer spun by women in their village homes, but is imported and sold at large yarn markets which are located near the weaving centres. A visit to any weaving village will find women, men and children involved in different stages of the process. Outside the village hut, women are to be seen rolling the yarn onto spindles and preparing shuttles, while nearby, men wind the yarn onto drums, and then prepare the warp across bamboo sticks, the length generally being equal to that of six saris. For jamdani weaving a very elementary pit loom is used and the work is carried on by the weaver, the ostad, and his apprentice, the shargid. The latter works under instruction for each pick, weaving his needle made from, buffalo horn or tamarind wood to embroider the floral sequence. With a remarkable deftness, the weft yarn is woven into the warp in the background colour from one weaver to the other. The motifs (butis) across the warp, the borders (par) and end piece (anchal) are woven by using separate bobbins of yarn for each colour. The fine bobbins are made from tamarind wood or bamboo. After completion the cloth is washed and starched. It is then ready to be taken to the local hat or informal market, or reserved for the retail trader who has paid an advance.

SILK TEXTILES Traditionally silk fabric was woven in the northern areas of Rajshahi, Rangpur and Dinajpur. A family based occupation; the women cultivated the cocoons and spun the yarn while the cloth was woven by male weavers. Besides a domestic market silk was exported to Europe in the eighteenth century. Today different varieties of silk including tassar, matika, endi and pure silk are woven on handlooms and on machines. While Tassar is a natural silk, endi yarn is made from cocoons reared on castor leaves and dupian or matika are woven from thick yarn waste and pure silk. As Bangladesh does not have a very large area of mulberry cultivation, much of the yarn for weaving silk is imported from China, Korea and other countries. Silk is popularly used in the domestic market for saris, fabrics and upholstery. After the independence of Bangladesh, the Government set up a Silk Development Board, which supervised mulberry plantations, rearing of cocoons and larva, spinning and weaving. While the first three processes were a family based occupation for agricultural families, weaving was undertaken by the Board in two factories in Rajshahi and Thakurgaon. Subsequently, several development agencies started credit schemes and gave technical support to encourage family production of silk. This has spread the production to other districts as well. A Silk Foundation was established in 1991 with support from the World Bank to organize production more efficiently. However, it is to the credit largely of family based units or small investors that the production of silk saris and fabrics has advanced in Bangladesh. The manufacture of silk saris in Dhaka (known as Mirpur Katans) and in Tangail has now led to an expansion in its product range and earned considerable renown for the weaving centres and workshops.

TANGAIL, BHITTI, PABNA Some of the saris for which Bangladesh is also famous are the Dhaka bhitti, the Tangail cotton and silk muslin and the Pabna saris. In these saris the emphasis is on rich warm colours, both vibrant and muted. The attention is on the anchal/end piece and the border, which may be in alternate lines of contrasting shades with an interplay of small paisley, rosette and geometric designs. These saris are sometimes highlighted with lines of gold or silver thread, to add to their elegance.

TRIBAL WEAVING Tribal textiles have a variety of textural effects and are decorated with the distinctive designs of the numerous tribes of Bangladesh. Less known, because it is not a commercial commodity, the variety of cloth hand-woven by tribal communities of Bangladesh is impressive. Along the hilly borders of Bangladesh live a number of tribes; the largest number are to be found in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the most notable being the Chakmas, Maghs or Marmas, Tipras, Lushais, Kukis, Bonjugis, Pankhos, Mrus, Murangs, Saks, Bams, Tangchangyas. Daingnaks and Shendus. The Maghs are also to be found in Cox's Bazar and Kepupara in Patuakhali district. Along the hilly frontiers of Sylhet, at the foot of the Khasia-Jaintia range, live the Khasis, Pangons and Manipuris. The Garos, Hajongs, Hodis, Daluis, Mandals and Bunas have settled in Haluaghat, Sreebordi, Kalmakanda, Barhattia, Birishiri in the vicinity of the Garo hills in Mymensingh and Netrokona district, and in the forests of Madhupur, in Tahgail district. Some scattered settlements of Santhals, Oraons, Hos, Munda, Palias and Rajbangshis are to be found in greater districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogra and Rajshahi. The tribal tradition of weaving is one of self reliance – producing their own cotton, spinning the thread and weaving their own textiles. The yarn is dyed using vegetable colours. The women are superb weavers and use different types of portable looms, girls are initiated into the art of weaving from a very young age. As they gradually acquire a fine sense of colour and design they weave much of their own clothes in the patterns particular to their tribe, as a part of their trousseau. A dominant feature of tribal design is the great emphasis on geometric and linear patterns. Ingeniously used to retain their basic shapes, the geometric symbols are embellished in subtle ways to give cadence and variety. Ornate diamond shapes, rows of stars, triangular forms and zigzags are all interwoven with imagination and flair. Sometimes the diamonds are filled in with smaller diamond shapes in contrasting colours or interconnected in running patterns. Some cloth is woven in deep plain colours, highlighted with striking broad borders, woven in fine linear designs. Others have geometric border motifs at one end with stylised flower or leaf butis sprinkled over the surface area. Shawls are often decorated with field designs of diamonds in complementary colours, enclosed in wide edgings of floral sprays. Broad or narrow stripes are set off with square, diamond and triangular motifs. Diverse arrangements of the hexagon, swastika, trident and other shapes are attractively complemented with vertical and horizontal lines and zigzag emblems. Colours combinations are a vital aspect of tribal fabrics. Inspired by nature, vibrant shades of green, blue, purple and red are used repeatedly, with one colour often being interwoven with black to give it a very special tone of muted warmth. Black as a background colour is a particular favourite. Tribal communities tend to be self reliant. They make everything for their own use; they used to grow their own cotton, spin their own yarn and weave their cloth. More recently they have started to use traditional weaves for commercial purposes. Their hand woven bed covers and table cloths have become popular outside their own communities.

The textiles of Laos once conformed to cultural expectations and sent silent signals of caring and nurturing, love and courtship, wealth and status, loyalty to groups and tradition, and represented generations of accumulated beliefs, knowledge and wisdom. During the unrest of the 1970s many families left Laos and sought asylum in other countries. Traditional weaving came to a stand still and families sold off their heirloom textiles to raise money to survive. With the lifting of the bamboo curtain in the 1980s, western style of clothing became more popular, especially with the younger generation and synthetic yarns began to be introduced into traditional weaves. Unspoken yet clear ethnic markers of motifs, design, colour in textiles and dress began to be ignored and an intermingling of styles was seen. The sacred cloth that was once produced with love and care become slowly commercial.

PRACTITIONERS “When officials of the UNIFEM program were asked how many skilled weavers exist in the country the answer was ‘potentially half the population or some two million women since most daughters are still taught to weave by their mothers”, write Cameron Brohman and Nick Pigott in their unpublished article, Identification of Market Development Needs for the Silk & Wood Handicraft sectors in Lao PDR. Young girls learn weaving and embroidery from about the age of ten, from their grandmothers and mothers. They not only learn the secrets of weaving and dyeing but also imbibe the oral traditions that are passed down from generation to generation – stories, poems and proverbs, beliefs and culture that come to life in the woven motifs and cloth. Most women can judge the quality of a textile at a glance. An expert dyer and weaver, with mastery over the differing weaving techniques indicates that the weaver is from a good family and has had plenty of time to develop her skills, probably has had a skilled mentor, and a range of heirloom textiles to use as a reference. CURRENT STATUS In the emerging commercial industry, the master weaver has become the hub who uses the market information – patterns, export requirements and orders – and creates patterns that are stored using the vertical heddle – a template that is then transferred to the villages and inserted into the loom. Commercialization and the blurring of group distinctions have resulted in young weavers borrowing designs and motifs, colours and yarns across group distinctions. Change is also seen in the costumes of all groups. Waist bands, hem bands have become wider and/or narrower with the times. Head cloths, shoulder cloths, and decorated jackets that were once an integral part of daily wear are now used only for ceremonial occasions only. “Even though the clack of the Loom beater is still heard more loudly than at any other time in history there is no guarantee that clothes and fabric and household items made by traditional Lao weavers will be worn and used in the future.”

II. MATERIALS, MOTIFS AND PROCESSES LOOMS All looms are made of bamboo and/or wood. Men take care when constructing the loom, especially the main column which is called the soul column. String that has been blessed is tied around this column during the construction. Tongue and groove joints are used so that the loom can be dismantled when not in use. In southern Laos, both the loom and the spinning-wheel are some-times decorated with the head of a naga or the river dragon/serpent, a protective motif. Two types of looms are used commonly in Laos – the floor and back-strap. The floor loom with a vertical heddle is used all over the country by women of Lao Loum. This loom consists of a wooden frame loom with a horizontal warp. The threads are stretched to form the base and width of the woven fabric. Each thread is passed through a primary heddle, which raises and lowers alternating warp threads through foot treadles. Designs are stored in a secondary set of vertical heddles. The loom is able to memorize patterns through the use of these heddles and can weave the same pattern over and over again. The patterns are never thrown but stored and used again later. Among the Mon Khmer ethnic groups the back-strap or tension loom is commonly used. This is the oldest weaving technique employed the world over. The textiles produced have simple motifs in limited colours. Weaving in this area has grown out of wickerwork techniques used by the men who produce high quality cane products.

WEAVING TECHNIQUES Lao weavers use several techniques, some of them quite complex. While the earliest weaving decoration in the region was predominantly warp oriented – warp stripes and warp-banded designs, warp ikat, and supplementary and complementary warp weaving - weft decoration such as supplementary weft weaving and weft ikat are commonly employed as well. The complexity of the pattern to be woven and the frequency of the changes will determine the time required for setting up the loom and the pattern rods before the weaving can commence. A complex pattern could take up to a month to set up. By and large an experienced weaver is familiar with the patterns and knows them by heart. Dta Muk or continuous supplementary warp technique comes in various forms and combinations like for example muko - a combination of the muk, mat mi and choktechniques. Heddles are used to raise the supplementary warp yarn and various patterns are created like the dok chan or the red sandalwood flower, dok keo or jasmine, nak or the river dragon. Many Lao groups use supplementary warp techniques to decorate their textiles, especially the ceremonial skirts and waist bands. They appear as narrow, raised, horizontal bands on the cloth woven. Mat Mi also known as ikat in many parts of the world. The weft yarns are resist-tied and dyed to form a specific pattern, before they are woven. Working out the design, tying and dyeing the yarn according to the pattern, the reeling of the dyed yarn on to bobbins, and then weaving the yarn into a fabric require concentrated and pain staking work. As the weaver weaves the design emerges – the dyed weft yarn with the plain warp. Constant checks are required to ensure that no distortion of the pattern takes place. The quality of mat mi is judged by the density of the pattern (the size, type and placement of the motifs), the number of colours used, and the clarity of the pattern. Each additional color requires retying and dyeing of the yarn. Carelessly tied knots can result in distorted patterns. Many Lao groups use this technique to make textiles, especially skirts. Many variations of this basic mat mi pattern exist - the Tai Daeng and Tai Kao make and wear the sin muk which consists of narrow vertical bands of mat mi and patterned supplementary weft with intersecting bands of supplementary warp, creating an intricate checkerboard patterning. Lai Chok is a discontinuous supplementary weft technique that is comparable to weaving and embroidering simultaneously. The weaver uses a stick to carefully place extra threads, after each weft weave, which are then woven into incredibly intricate patterns. These supplementary weft threads pass back and forth only in the area where the individual motif is desired, and not across the full width of the fabric being woven. The supplementary threads can be seen more clearly when looking at the reverse side of the fabric. Chok is used in selected areas only and most commonly found on textiles from Northern Laos. Lai Kit is a continuous supplementary weft technique, where the supplementary thread passes form from one end or selvedge of the fabric to the other, while creating patterns across the entire length of the fabric, usually at repeated intervals. String heddles are often very complicated for lai kit and are never dismantled – they can be bought and sold. Ghot is a tapestry weave technique. The tapestry yarns are not supplementary but actually form the weft of the fabric. However, like the discontinuous supplementary weft technique the weft threads do not necessarily extend across the full width of the material. Each coloured band is woven independently. Variations in the width of the coloured bands and the intricacy of the pattern being created can make the technique easy to do or extremely demanding. The northern groups use bands of tapestry in their skirts.

DECORATION Embroidery is used by many groups to decorate their clothing. The Hmong are particularly known for their embroidery, using a weave stitch, appliqué and batik. Lao Mien or Yao women do not weave; they buy unbleached white cloth and dye, embroider and stitch the clothing for the entire family, endeavouring to produce a new set for each member of the family at the New Year. The most decorated garments are the pants, which have the most extraordinary embroidery on them and take the maximum time to make. They, also, most clearly record the changes that have taken place in the embroidery. The embroidery thread, usually yellow, orange or white, is over spun to make it tight and strong, before being used. Patterns are inspired by local plants, animals, religious beliefs and shared with the other hill tribes. Out of respect, when an older member dies, men do not write and the women do not use the needle, until the funeral is over. Another method employed by some of the ethnic groups is couching. Here decorative multi-coloured threads are arranged on the surface of a woven cloth or garment, to form patterns, and are stitched on to it as decoration. This method is used particularly in the Luang Prabang area to decorate clothing and other ceremonial objects. Women’s and men’s skirt cloths have patterns couched directly on to the cloth. Bands to be attached to the fronts of jackets or collars of blouses are couched separately and then stitched on. Pure gold and silver are sometimes wrapped around the when the garments are used for ceremonial purposes or by the royal family. MATERIALS Natural fibres such as jute, hemp, cotton, and animal hair, silk are all used for the production of textiles. Traditionally, weavers spun and dyed their own yarn, with berries, bark, and leaves to produce hand woven textiles. Commercial textiles are now being woven with the less expensive synthetic yarns that are dyed chemically. This method is cheaper and quicker and yields brighter, more popular colours. In the rural areas, however, locally produced fibres and natural dyes are still commonly used.

SILK Silk textiles indicated special occasions such as weddings, religious events, and funerals and are often indicators of wealth and royalty. Hand-woven silk textiles produced on manually operated looms go through several stages, all done by hand –

• Rearing of the silkworms: The young silkworms are fed freshly gathered and finely chopped mulberry leaves for about a month. At this stage they begin to change colour, and are ready to spin the silk fibre. From here on, the worms are closely watched so as to ensure they do not chew their way out of the cocoon, thus breaking the silk fibre.
• Reeling of silk fibres: A pot of water is placed over a hot fire. The temperature is controlled to facilitate the releasing of the filament once the cocoons are placed in the water and reeling starts. Ten to twenty cocoon filaments are drawn up at a time and reeled into a single strand. These strands are then reeled on to spools, later to be rewound into skeins.
• Grading of silk fibre by thickness and quality: Each cocoon can yield three grades of yarn which is naturally yellow. The first variety of fibre is darker coloured and of thick and poor quality; the next variety is paler and firmer; the innermost variety is soft and fine and pale in colour.
• Spinning the silk thread: is done by hand.
• Dyeing the threads – The silk yarn is first bleached with lye and then dyed. Silk is absorbs natural dyes more readily and achieves a bright hue, lending its own shine to the colour.
• Preparing the threads and setting up the loom and weaving the cloth. The weaver manipulates the threads, shuttle and other moving parts of the loom entirely by hand.

The three areas are known for silk production: In the South - Pakse, Savannakhet, and Saravane and in the Central Provinces - ientiane are known for their fine, light-coloured silk. In the North - Phongsaly, Luang Namtha, Houa Phan, and Oudomsay soft, thick, yellow silk is produced. The silk sector is growing rapidly as the beauty of the Laos hand-woven, natural dyed textiles is being discovered. CHAI LAO, a Japanese assisted programme, to upgrade the Lao silk textiles sector to meet Japanese standards – including testing of dyes, consumer labeling, design of products to appeal to Japanese aesthetics - is one such programme towards the commercialization of textile production. Cotton Cotton is grown to meet the need for cloth, all over Laos, and more so in the Vientiane area. It is planted during the rainy season and takes six to seven months before the cotton balls can be harvested. Once harvested, the cotton-bolls are dried in the sun and then deseeded. A large seed variety of cotton is preferred as the seeds can be extracted, by hand, using a mangle, otherwise a gin is required. The cotton is then carded with a beater or a bow and rolled into long cigar shaped rolls, with the hands and shaped with a fine bamboo stick. The spinning can then commence on hand operated spinning wheels. Cotton is wound into large spools made from bamboo or wood. Yarn is then transferred from the spool into wooden frames and is ready for the weaving. The number of warp threads and hence the width of the fabric is related to the beater used in weaving. On the first full moon after the cotton has been harvested, a ceremony takes place in the evening, which flags off the weaving period. Women and young girls gather in the village house and fluff up the first batch of ginned cotton as a token, asking for the blessings of the village spirits for good quality cotton with long fibres and uniform thickness. Hemp This high-fibre yielding hemp plant is cultivated and used by the Hmong, to meet their needs for cloth. Silver and Gold Yarns Lao weavers use locally produced cotton and silk yarns. However, imported silk and silver-and gold-wrapped yarns have been used for many years by the wealthy lowland Lao as a status symbol and are predominantly in their bridal skirts and shoulder cloths. Some of the upland Lao groups, such as the Tai Daeng and Tai Kao, also occasionally use silver yarns to accentuate the patterns in ceremonial cloths.

DESIGN AND MOTIFS Motifs are the decorative and design elements of a cloth, but usually, in addition, have a special significance or interpretation that they convey. They are worked in an immense variety of techniques and are an expression of the creator’s skill, imagination and ability. The use of colours and motifs on hand-woven textiles and their placement and combination are all ethnic markers and serve traditionally to distinguish textile of one group from another. As ancient beliefs have been absorbed into Buddhist traditions many symbols have more than one interpretation like the rhombus or lozenge pattern seen on many ancient textiles. Designs and motifs on textiles take their inspiration from nature, mythology and ritual practices and include the following: Living creatures – small and large elephants, horses, lions, snakes, deer, oxen, buffaloes, birds, hamsa or goose, crabs, fish, earthworms, snails and even humans. Auspicious motifs which appear on ceremonial and house hold cloths include the peacock, butterfly, deer, and the rooster. Nature and the surrounding environment – motifs include the sun, stars, streams, clouds, mountain ranges, paddy fields, plants and plant parts like vines, stems, flowers, petals, leaves, seeds. Mythological creatures such as lion-elephants, horse-deer, magical snakes are important motifs seen on many textiles. Dragon or powerful serpent the dragon design (naga) One of the most dominant symbols woven in Lao textiles, the naga takes on more than thirty variations and is said to represent a variety of serpents, ranging from eels to the mythological naga or dragon and is created with respect and imagination. It is considered a protective motif – for it is believed that the naga is their ancestor. Artistically created with imagination and respect the naga motif appears on wide variety of cloths, ranging from blankets and baby carriers to clothing. Red is the colour of the Naga’s crest and in many parts of Laos people will avoid weaving red clothes or sinh and red headscarves or waistbands, when crossing a river out of fear and respect for the naga Siho or Elephant-lion- The elephant-lion is an important motif of the Lao-Tai people in the north. It is called elephant – lion because it has an elephant head with tusks and the body of a lion. This pattern is woven in continuous and discontinuous supplementary weft. Mom or Magical Horse Based on mythological and other stories where flying horses are magical animals transport the hero; these motifs are known as mom. Mythical beasts based on stories and created from the imagination. On one half of the indigo-based Tai-Nuea pha biang are mythical beasts done in dense white silk brocade, with eyes in bright discontinuous silk thread. Objects like stupas, ships and small boats, airplanes are also a part of the textile iconography of the hill-dwellers in Laos and can be found on many Tai shawls in the bands that surround the central design. Yantra designs in powerful geometrical shapes, drawn from Buddhist, Hindu and sometimes more ancient beliefs. Many of these designs, such as the mandala and the rhombus, serve as vehicles for meditation, detachment and spiritual discipline. Rhombus: The diamond, rhombus or the mystical lozenge shape, known as douang tda (star eye or third eye) is an important, powerful shape. It has several interpretations that link it to ancient beliefs and other cultures and has taken on additional meanings over time. The douang tda is done in supplementary weft weavings of the Tai Nuea and Tai Lue of Laos. The pha biang displaying this yantra is wrapped around the shaman’s head so that the centre of the diamond section (or third eye) falls mid-forehead, at the annual Tai-Nuea spirit-healing ceremony. The diamond is also popular on baby carriers and wedding curtains. In the Tai Designs the central diamond is decorated with stylized creatures and ancient cross-hatching and key ornamentation including hooks, spirals.

NATURAL DYES The harvesting of materials and preparation of dye is a time-consuming and laborious process and usually kept a secret within the family. To produce the richest colours possible enhances family prestige. Like most traditional societies many superstitions surround the dye process. When women prepare certain dyes they do so in a corner of the village to avoid the possibility of monks, menstruating women, or newly pregnant women passing by and affecting the strength of the dye. While some plants and shrubs are grown in home gardens for the purpose of obtaining dyes, others are found only in the forests. Dyes are obtained from the bark, leaves, berries, seeds, flowers, roots of trees and plants. The dye sources are harvested only at certain times of the day and year in order to maximize the strength of the dye and the dye yielding properties - some leaves must be picked and crushed when they are young while others are allowed to grow. These days it is possible to buy dyestuffs that have been harvested from forests for sale to weavers. In all cases, natural materials has be harvested in huge quantities, and then processed - by chopping, boiling, pounding, fermenting, evaporating, and adding caustic substances, such as lime, to fix the dyes, and speed up the process of dye production. Cloth is well soaked and pounded before dyeing – for cotton a preliminary dip is made in the grey dye pot of ebony wood to ensure fastness. Some weavers dip silk into the yellow dye pot for the same reason. With the exception of indigo which is fermented all other dyes are boiled. When the colour is dark enough the cloth is removed and soaked in a solution of alum for about 30 minutes and then rinsed and dried. This acts as a mordant. Listed below are some sources of natural dyes and the colours they yield:

TREES NATURAL SOURCE	PART OF THE TREE	COLOUR	OTHER USES
Kapok	Seed pods the ash from its bark		fluffy fibre for stuffing mattresses and pillows makes lye, an integral part of indigo dying.
Wild lime trees	seeds (fruit) and wood	orange	also used as foodstuff
Turmeric andSugar-cane	root	yellow
Areca palm	nuts	wood for dye	‘betel nut’ chew
Ebony	seeds and wood	black
Indian trumpet tree	bark	khaki
Indigo Indigofera tinctoria)	leaves	blue Indigo
Sappan	wood	pink
Jackfruit and Breadfruit	wood	gold
Coccus iacca Sa tree-boring insect)	resinous secretions or lac of the insect	red

III. MINORITY GROUPS AND CLOTHING MINORITY GROUPS AND WEAVING Clothing allows for instant recognition of the differences between one ethnic group or subgroup and another. Each ethnic group displays its identity in the use of different types of looms, weaving techniques employed, the materials, motifs and colours used in the production of textile. These differences were to be important indicators of identity and ethnic groups, but less and less so. All groups do resist dyeing of yarns as well as brocade weaving. While some specializes in weaving with silk, all use cotton yarn to weave cloth for everyday use. Most Lao weavers freely borrow motifs and design elements from other groups. Today weaving and dyeing are primarily practiced among the Tai speaking groups, while the Tibeto Burman and Hmong Yao groups are famous for their embroidery and sewing skills, creating some of the most colourful and magnificent costumes. Lao – Tai Loom: Use an upright/floor loom to weave both wide and narrow weft textiles. Raw Materials: The main raw materials used are cotton and silk. The rich use silver and gold the strands, are woven into the fabrics for special effect. Techniques: including mat-mee, continuous and discontinuous supplementary weft and tapestry. Large diamond patterns are common. The weavers tend to combine different techniques and patterns. They are also skilled in the use of natural dyes and make all the essential colours such as black, red, green, yellow, orange, purple and indigo. Khmu and other Mon-Khmer Loom: Use the body tension or back-strap loom. Raw Materials: Mainly use cotton and hemp. Techniques: Weaving method appears to have been developed from wicker weaving of rattan or bamboo. Patterns are made throughout the length of the wrap threads by means of mat-mee and heddle lifting. Most of patterns are geometrical shapes. Colours: Dark, deep colours like black, red, and orange are used. Sashes worn by the administrative class are decorated with stone beads, which are interlaced into the woven fabrics at specific intervals. Hmong-Yao Loom: Use the upright loom with a narrow weft. Raw Materials: Raw materials used are cotton, jute and hemp. Techniques: Patterns and motifs are done in white batik on an indigo background. They also embroider their clothes with colorful silk threads. Colours: Bright colors such as bright green, red, purple and yellow-green are used for embroidery on indigo dyed cloth. Tibeto-Burmese Loom: Use floor looms and weave with a narrow weft. Raw Materials: Raw materials are mainly cotton with indigo dye. Techniques: The woven cloth is decorated with embroidery, colorful cloth pieces, and silver or plastic buttons. Northern Laos – Luang Prabang area Loom: Frame looms are more popular Raw Materials: cottons, silks and brocades Techniques: Gold and Silver brocades, intricate patterns in supplementary weft using raw silk and natural dyes in combination with cotton yarn. Southern Weavers – Pakse Loom: Use body tension rather than frame looms Raw Materials: Silk weaving with Mat mi, occasional beadwork Motifs: Temple and Elephant motifs. Central Laos - Vientiane Techniques: Mixture of techniques - Indigo dyed cotton, Mat mi or ikat, minimal weft brocade

TEXTILES IN DAILY LIFE Textiles produced by traditional societies can be classified as either secular or sacred. Their use ranges from everyday wear and to ritual and ceremonial usage. CLOTHING Tradition Historically, the power of the chief of a Muang (roughly a state) was measured not by the amount of wealth or land that he owned but by the number of people he could call upon for contributing labour, paying taxes and/or for armed support. The people, used textiles and clothing, to express their desire to belong to certain communities or show allegiance to a particular chief. When people relocated they changed their clothing accordingly. Thus textiles and clothing were an important declaration of a person’s loyalties and served to identify their groups and ethnicities. Most Lao groups use cotton to weave clothing for daily wear. Silk is usually reserved for skirts and shoulder cloths intended form ceremonial occasions. Jackets are generally woven using cotton and head cloths in a blend of cotton and silk.

WOMEN’S CLOTHING With her costume, a Lao woman can show her age, group affiliation, place within the group, and marital status. The length of the skirt, the width of the decorative border, and even its placement in the skirt vary from group to group. Sinh or Skirts Long, straight, tube or cylindrical skirts are worn by the majority of the ethnic groups. There are regional variations in materials, weaves, colours, motifs and embroidery. Majority of the skirts are made with a separate waistbands and hem pieces attached to a narrow, main skirt piece. The colour and woven pattern often reflect the wearer’s age - older women wear sober colours and smaller patterns, while young women wear more vibrant tones and larger patterns. The Lao believe an individual’s power is transferred to the clothing s/he wears. A woman’s skirts are considered to have immense protective powers and often amulets or small charms, made of a strip of cloth taken from a woman’s skirt, are worn around the neck, to ward off illness or injury. Common Patterns Skirts have different names according to the type and arrangement of patterns that vary from one ethnic group or region to another; over 100 patterns have been recorded. The name also varies according to the weaving technique, colour, overall shape and structure. Some patterns The commonest and best known are the sinh mi (‘ikat’ skirt), the sinh chok (broken weft skirt) and the sinh khid - the name coming from its main pattern. The sinh mi is woven with alternating vertical bands of mut mi and supplementary weft designs, with an added border. Skirts with horizontal stripes are known as sinh muk. They are difficult to weave as they incorporate both, supplementary weft and supplementary warp decorations, and weft, and sometimes warp, mut mi. It tests the skill of the weaver and only a master weaver can create it. This skirt is often given by a mother-in-law to her new daughter-in-law, with the understanding that it will be worn at her funeral. The muk fa-sadeuang-muong is a famous weave and refers to the skirt worn by the most beautiful girl – often the daughter of the Chao Muang – at the ceremonies dedicated to the spirit of the city. Shawls, Shoulder Cloths and Head Cloths Shawls, shoulder cloths and head cloths - rectangular cloth of differing length and width, but often used interchangeably is designed and woven in a variety of ways, depending on the purpose and use. For ceremonial use, a narrow shoulder cloth or pha biang is worn. A slightly wider version is often folded to become the pha biang. Quite often the pattern on the shoulder cloths, head cloths, and shawls is not symmetrical - the motifs used at each end are of differing widths with the centre left undecorated. Broader and longer than pha biang are the shawls worn for ritual or ceremonial occasion. Some Ethnic Variations in brief A married Tai Daeng woman wears a head cloth of dark blue or black colour. For ceremonial occasions, each end of the headscarf is decorated with bands of supplementary weft weave, usually in a non-figurative design, in a bright colour like turquoise. The cloths are folded three or four times into a narrow band and wrapped tightly around the head. The head cloth worn by Tai Dam women is a black rectangular cotton cloth woven with a few thin lines of colour in the body of the cloth and a bright rectangular decorative patch woven or embroidered on one or both ends. The way the head cloth is worn reveals the marital status of the wearer - a married woman wraps the cloth to expose her face fully, while an unmarried girl wears it hanging lower on her forehead. The Tai Kao head cloth is woven using dark indigo or black yarn with both ends decorated. The ends are meant to be seen when folded and wrapped is a highly decorated rectangle patterned with geometrics and stylized mythical animals. Lue head cloths for daily wear are made of plain white cotton while ceremonial head cloths are dyed indigo and embellished with supplementary weft decorations at the ends. Tops and Jackets There are different styles for men and women’s’ jackets - these signal differences in age and social status as well. Most groups have a variety of special jackets and tops or shirts which they wear for different occasions. The Tai Dam have a variety of tops- plain coloured and fastened in front with silver buttons, often in the shape of butterflies. In Luang Prabang women wear fitted tops for formal occasions, which intricate designs couched in gold and silver yarn. The Phuan wear a black blouse trimmed with red and white for daily wear. For ceremonies, they wear a plain black jacket. The Lue women wear a fitted top with diagonal front fastening like the Chinese. The Tai Daeng women wear a long-sleeved, fitted jacket for ceremonial occasions. Waistbands Cloth bands are used by many groups. They are usually of a bright colour according to the colour tradition of the group and embellished in different ways. Often they indicate the marital and social status of a woman. For example, a married Tai Daeng woman wears a white sash woven with cotton or silk yarn in a plain weave whereas an unmarried Tai Daeng girl wears red head cloths with supplementary weft decoration; and a red waistband. Shifts This women’s dress is worn by the Sino-Tibetan groups: Hmong, Yao and Akha. Pants Trousers are generally worn by men of all groups, but also the women particularly the Austro-Asiatic (Mon Khmer) and certain Lao Tai groups. Yao women wear pants that are beautifully embroidered. Pha Sarong and Pha khoma and Langoutis Throughout Lao, men wear pha sarong at home the colour varying with age. Young, virile males wear bright plaids, while older men wear sober blue, black, or brown plaids. The striped pha khoma was originally a loin cloth; it is now used as an all purpose cloth serving as a head wrap to being used as a baby carrier. The langoutis similar to an Indian dhoti is a kind of long cloth worn by the older generations and once formed an indispensable part of traditional ceremonies. The Tai Dam often wear a long cloth woven in silk for weddings. It is usually woven in solid colours with a band of gold as border. Shoulder Bags Neither the pha sarong nor the pants worn by village men have pockets. Instead men carry shoulder bags, elaborately woven and decorated with supplementary weft decoration, in bright colours. Baby’s Cradle Mother weaves and embroiders the cradle cloth father plaits the bamboo frame of the cradle.

FURNISHINGS Textiles woven for everyday use are also decorated. The amount of decoration and the type of motif indicate the purpose of the cloth. Household items made as part of a dowry or reserved for special guests are woven and decorated with much more care, using motifs that are believed to be auspicious or protective. Pillows and Cushions: Pillows and cushions are made for a variety of purposes other than sleeping. Beautifully woven and decorated triangular and oblong pillows are made to serve as armrests. A newborn baby is given a special pillow as bedding. Buddhist monks use special pillows to sit and lean on during ceremonies to ensure that their heads are higher than those of other people present. Ceiling Cloth and Wall Hangings: Hanging cloths are hung at home and in temples and are used for many purposes – they may be used to enclose a special area for monks to shield them from the lay believers while they are chanting, to indicate where an honoured guest is to sit, to serve as contemplative vehicles etc.. Women weave a wide variety of multi purpose rectangular cloths in both silk and cotton yarns, decorated with supplementary weft patterns. They can be used as

• Mats: for sitting on, or to kneel on when praying at the family altar or to wrap a gift for ceremonial occasions
• Covers or sheets or sleeping cloth
• Baby carriers to bind the baby to its mother’s back.

Matresses The Lao cotton homespun mattress is filled with kapok natural fibre. Usually the cover is dyed with dark blue indigo and trimmed in red. When not in use, the matress is rolled up and stored in a corner of the room. Some weavers attach a separately woven decorative panel which is seen when the mattress is rolled up. Blankets are often woven in long, narrow lengths and then joined together in the centre for the requisite width. Blankets are decorated using many different weaves - the quality and sizes of the decoration indicating its use. The Tai Daeng and the other northern Lao groups decorate one end of the blanket with a distinctive red border using continuous and discontinuous decorative weaves. For ceremonial use, a wide, elaborately patterned border will be woven. A ceremonial blanket will be filled with a beautiful silk brocade weave in a variety of colours and designs. For normal household use blankets are likely to be woven using a thick cotton yarn with decorations in supplementary weft patterns in colours, such as indigo. Interlocking swastika, and ancient symbol of well-being, is a popular pattern. Some groups, such as the Lue, use a twill weave to create a thicker, warmer blanket in bright colours, such as red. The Phuan and Phu Tai weave beautiful ceremonial blankets using cotton and/or silk yarns in bright orange, yellow, purple and green, with decorative bands. Carpets Carpet weaving, a tradition of the Middle East, is now being combined with the Lao silk weaving tradition. These carpets use high quality hand-spun silk yarn are locally dyed with natural dyes.

IV. HMONG WEAVING, BATIK, EMBROIDERY AND APPLIQUE The Hmong can be easily identified from other groups by their clothing - the embroidery, appliqué and batik that are used to create and decorate each garment. The subgroups among the Hmong – the White Hmong (Hmoob Dawb), Blue/Green Hmong (Hmoob Ntsuab), Black Hmong (Hmoob Dub), Red Hmong (Hmoob Liab) - each have their own traditional dress, motifs and variations of embroidery and decoration. Ceremonial hangings with bold red, black and white diamond and triangular borders done in appliqué, blue indigo hemp skirts decorated with white batik designs, appliqué and traditional weaving stitch in bright silk threads - yellow, pink and white, are all characteristic of the Hmong. Tradition Cloth and clothing is an important indicator of wealth and status - the number of skirts that a young girl takes with her as part of her dowry is indicative of the affluence and importance of her family and the skill of the creator and the amount of time she has spent on weaving and related activities. Traditionally, a young girl was expected to weave a complete set of traditional clothing for each of her parents. This formed an important part of the death ceremonies and was put on the corpse of the parent, at the time of death. The skirt that she wove for her mother had to be wholly or partly made of hemp, the cloth of her ancestors. This skirt was given in exchange for one of the skirts woven by her mother, for her, as part of her marriage dowry. The daughter wore this on her own deathbed, so that when she died, her mother could identify her and finally be reunited with her. When an older member of the family dies, men are not allowed to write and women are not allowed to use the needle until the funeral is over. Thread is used to connect the real world to the spirit world. Practitioners Not only are the women, responsible for the weaving and embroidery but are also adept at growing, preparing, spinning and weaving the hemp fibre that is used to provide clothing and bedding for the entire family These arts are mastered by the women from a very young age. Young girls learn embroidery, appliqué and batik while working alongside the older women in the family, graduating slowly from copying patterns and helping the older women to working on decorative appliqué and batik panels themselves. Raw materials Cannabis gigantea or high-fibre yielding hemp plant is cultivated by the Hmong, to meet their needs for cloth. It grows in fertile red or black soil at an altitude of between 1,200 and 2,000 metres. The seeds are sown in the month of April, and it takes about three months for the plant to flower. The long, straight stalks are then cut and stripped off their leaves, and then thoroughly dried in the sun, before they yield the fibre. The bark is then peeled from the stalks to get the fibre. Peeling the bark is hard on the hands as it is done without any tools. To make the process somewhat easier the bark is often softened by leaving it out at night, in the damp of the dew. Fibres are joined to each other by twisting the ends together, to make a continuous long yarn. The colour of the thread at this stage is pale green, the colour of the bark. This thread is then repeatedly boiled in water and wood ash and washed and beaten until it turns white. The thread is finally spun to give it strength, before it is ready for weaving.

Dyes The indigo plant is cultivated and used for making dyes. In September, basket loads of indigo are gathered and soaked in large wooden troughs. The decomposition of the plant is checked daily - old leaves are removed and new ones added to the mixture, to get the best colour. Limestone is added to this mixture and forms a white residue at the bottom and on the sides of the trough, which eventually becomes the dye. The residue is transferred into a bucket and left to stand for a few days, during which time it thickens and turns a deep, dark colour. The water is drained off and the dye saved for use. The dye can be used wet, immediately, or dried and saved for future use. Clothing Traditionally, the Hmong women wear a narrow-sleeved jacket, a head dress, and a knee-length skirt, which is open in the front. The opening was covered by a narrow apron with a long sash, which was tied around the waist twice over. Different headgears are worn by different age groups and sexes - babies and small children wear elaborate, colourful hats. Small children are carried on the back in a cloth tied like a backpack. This is the only other piece of clothing that is decorated with batik, apart from a woman’s skirt. The belief is that the intricate batik designs and appliqué work will enclose, trap and confuse the baby’s soul and not allow it to wander away from the infant, thus causing disease or death. The Skirt The heavy Hmong batik skirts are made of three horizontal panels of hemp cloth: the top hip panel usually plain, the central panel worked with batik, and the embroidered hem panel. The upper or hip panel is made of plain white or indigo dyed cloth. The central batik panel, which extends to the knee, is decorated with intricate batik. The hem panel, traditionally narrow, extends to just below the wearer’s knee. It is beautifully embroidered in colourful silk threads. Over time the hem panels have become wider and have come to be regarded as an indicator of family wealth and status. The average length of an adult skirt is about four to five metres, and it takes almost a year for a woman to make a single skirt. Making the Batik Panel The design on the central panel is created by applying a resist of hot beeswax to the hemp cloth using a bamboo stick. The skirt length is divided into a series of large squares - a typical skirt has about twenty-five to thirty squares. These large squares are filled in with traditional patterns, according to the creator’s imagination and applied directly in wax. The patterns range from ancient geometric motifs to things from the natural environment like pumpkin flowers, mountains; shells etc and usually have significance. Water snails are always found in pairs and are usually made on clothing worn on the New Year. Skirts of young women with the water buffalo pattern indicate the desire of the young woman to attract strong suitors. The appliqué design of fallen leaves is often used on funeral garments. Once the final design is complete the cloth is ready for dyeing. Dyeing the batik Panel Dyeing is normally done in a large copper cauldron – as this enhances and brightens the colour. The wax was first removed by dipping the fabric in hot water. The fabric is then re-dipped in the cold dye, producing a pale blue pattern on a dark blue background. Another method that is followed is more complicated and time consuming. Here the wax is removed, and then the skirt is re-waxed in two thin lines on the white pattern, before re-dyeing and re-dipping the cloth in hot water, thus highlighting the centre and outlining the white pattern on the dark blue ground. This requires skillful handling and is very time consuming. It is done only on special ceremonial skirts or baby carrier panels.

Embroidery Hmong batik is often enhanced with a cross stitch embroidery and patchwork appliqué. Bright silk threads are used to enhance the look of skirts, pants, head-dresses of indigo cotton or hemp fabric. The original weaving-stitch has been replaced by cross-stitch in the last few decades. The intricacy of the hem panel not only showed the skill of the embroiderer but more importantly the regional affiliations and family wealth. The number of colours used and the fineness of the work reflected the amount of money and time spent on it. Traditional embroidery on Hmong garments – especially women’s garments – is rich in complex designs. The Hmong women use two methods of embroidery The first consists of embroidering designs directly on to the cloth using brightly coloured threads (red, green, yellow, white and black) in either a weaving stitch or a cross-stitch. Each stitch of the pattern is embroidered by counting the warp and weft threads. The second consists of embroidering rectangular, square or triangular-shaped pieces of material, in bright colours like red, white, black or other colours. These pieces are then sewn on to the clothing or decorative cloths, depending on the subgroup or region. The White Hmong specialize in reverse appliqué. Here the pattern is cut in a piece of material, and the edges of the cuts are turned under and stitched down to a fabric of contrasting color, so that the background material shows through the appliquéd material. Current Status Traditional clothing habits have changed and it is only in the remoter regions that the older women still wear the traditional dress. The skills of growing hemp and traditional weaving are slowly disappearing. Hmong women today have opted for more commercial avenues, embroidering attractive decorative designs not just on clothes but also on sheets, aprons, pillow-cases, bags and rugs. V. TEXTILES USED IN RITES OF PASSAGE Textiles Used in Rites of Passage In Laos, textiles play a major role in a person’s life. Not only do they indicate group affiliation and social position, but also age and marital status and form an important part of life at each stage. At Birth At birth a baby is often wrapped up in his/her mother’s old skirts for the Lao believe that a women’s clothing, especially their skirts, have protective powers and will keep the baby safe. Pregnant women do not weave for their babies as they believe that the new clothes will attract malevolent spirits and bring harm to the infant. Babies are carried for the first few months in a special shawl, by groups like the Tai Dam. Others use the pha khoma or the all-purpose long cloth to do this. In addition, a taleo is placed on the house to ward off evil. The star pattern is one of the most common protective patterns in the Lao repertoire.

Courtship The beautifully woven costumes worn by a woman at festivals and ceremonies are an advertisement of her skills as a weaver and show her suitability as a life partner. Young women also advertise their weaving skills and therefore their suitability as a bride by preparing gifts of cloth for the young men they fancy. For instance, a young Phauan girl may weave and offer a red shoulder bag to a young man to show that she is interested in him. A Tai Dam girl will weave and embroider a piece of white cloth the size of a large handkerchief and give it to the person she admires. In northern Laos, a young Lue girl will weave small Buddhist banners which will be hung in highly visible places around the temple, thus not only making merit for her and her family, but advertising her skills as a weaver. A lowland Lao girl will often weave a warp’s length of pillows – each design different from the other and complex in nature, to show her mastery of weaving. Wedding A girl’s dowry will include hand-woven covers, sheets, blankets, flat pillows, curtains to separate the newlywed’s area, and a mosquito-net with a specially woven decorative band. The number and quality of dowry items brought into the home by the girl indicate not only her weaving skills but the wealth and status of her family. As part of the dowry a Pue Tai makes a wide shawl for her prospective mother-in-law. This shawl is worn as a shoulder cloth for ceremonial occasions, and eventually used to cover her coffin when she dies. A Tai Daeng mother weaves specials skirt to give to her daughter in law. The young woman wears this skirt at the funeral of her mother-in-law. The bride in turn brings presents of textiles for her in-laws - sinh for the women and pha sarong for the men. How elaborate a wedding dress is will vary from group to group and family to family. The traditions are different as are the auspicious colours. A young bride typically wears a skirt and matching shoulder cloth of the finest material. The border of the skirt and shoulder cloth could be decorated with sliver or gold yarns using supplementary weft techniques. The groom wears a long cloth made of fine cloth with a wide hem of supplementary weft woven in possibly gold threads and a ceremonial jacket and shoulder cloth worn over the left shoulder. The long cloth is usually a family heirloom, handed down among male members of the family and may eventually be used as a coffin cloth at a man’s death. A Tai Dam and Tai Daeng groom is generally dressed in indigo-dyed cotton clothing because black is considered more auspicious than white. Pidan cloths are used as wall-hangings in the house during marriage celebrations. Banners or tung are flown in connection with death rituals. These could be plain white on which the name of the deceased and the donor are embroidered or beautifully woven family heirlooms. The anniversary of the death of a respected member of a clan is usually marked by the flying of banners and merit-making donation of clothing to the monks at the local temple.

Textiles for Religious and Ritual Use Ordination ceremonies The whole village is involved in the ordination of young men into the Buddhist order – the event forms part of the festivities in the village held during this time. The textiles, several sets, to be worn by the boy during the ceremonies are woven by the women of the house. They also weave the items the young monk will require at the wat such as a mattresses, pillows, bedding and towels. Women make merit by giving sons to the Sangha or priesthood, by offering food to the monks, and by preparing cloth to be used by the monks or in the temple. Cloth for the Temples Women weave elaborate pillows for the monks to sit and lean on while praying and cloths to adorn images of the Buddha. The pidan are cloths are used as wall-hangings and ceiling-cloths in Buddhist temples and monasteries. They are presented to temples and monasteries to gain merit. Ceremonial fans, which serve as screens between the monk and the congregation, are also made by the women; they are decorated with religious scenes. In Luang Prabang, the scared Pra Bang image of the Buddha is surrounded by beautifully embroidered panels, woven by various queens and their daughters. The assembly hall where the monks chant prayers and give sermons has the main images of the Buddha. This image is often draped in orange-coloured cloth and orange banners are hung above the main image. Banners or tung of diverse sizes and shapes, and decorated with a variety of motifs, are hung in and around temples. They may be made of a simple plain weave or elaborately embroidered, in solid bright or white colours and flown outside a temple - in memoriam, to announce a festival etc. In Laos, religious and other texts are recorded on manuscripts made of palm leaves. These are wrapped in manuscript wrapping cloth and then stored in wooden caskets to keep them safe and preserve them. There are two kinds of manuscript wrapping cloth - fascicle manuscript wrapping cloth and palm-leaf wrapping cloth. A fascicle is a booklet consisting of 7 to 30 palm leaves is called a fascicle. Monks use a fascicle wrapping cloth to cover the fascicle every time they read a fascicle. This cloth is used on a daily basis. When weaving this kind of cloth, a 1 cm wide flat piece of bamboo is inserted and the cloth stiffed so as to maintain the shape of the palm leaves. The palm leaf wrapping cloth is a large piece of cloth, which wraps sets of 10-25 fascicles. When tied together these sets are usually 20-25 cm wide. Therefore, their wrapping is a large piece of cloth made of cotton or silk, and is woven with various colorful patterns, depending on the ethnic group. While men help preserve manuscripts by copying them, women make beautiful cloths for wrapping them, thus making merit jointly. Designs and colours for the scripture cloths are similar to the textiles produced in the region. In Savannakhet there are cloths with Mat mi in cotton and silk and all kinds of sinh motifs. In Luang Prabang, silk cloths woven with a discontinuous supplementary web of different colors. People often donated unused pha sarong or sinh of their young sons or daughters who had died to produce palm-leaf manuscripts to make merit for their dead children, in the hope that in the next life they would live long enough to wear plenty of these clothes.

Healing Ceremonies Healing ceremonies are very elaborate affairs and usually involve the participation of not just the immediate family but sometimes the entire village. Special clothing and costumes are worn by the family as well as the shamans for healing and propitiating ceremonies. The costume/s worn by the shaman reflects the spirit being called. When calling the spirits of the ancestors’ shamans dress in spirit skirts and other distinctive items of clothing to enable the ancestor spirits to recognize and accept them. Red is powerful colour and extensively used in many of the healing ceremonies. For some ceremonies; red shawls or healing cloths are worn on the head and as a shoulder cover. For example, a Tai Daeng shaman wears a deep red silk cloth, as a head wrap at the annual spirit-appeasing ceremony. At one end of the shawl is a dramatic diamond/rhombus, in red and white, woven into the cloth using supplementary weft yarns. This is worn positioned on the fore-head. The diamond pattern is enclosed by bands of indigo-coloured stylized animal motifs. The centre of the shawl is in plain weave and bright red in colour, while the other end is patterned in bands of traditional motifs, such as nak and other mythological figures. A Phauan medium wears a fringed sash with broad bands of coloured motifs woven on a red base cloth. One of the motifs woven of these head cloths is the phi yak or temple guardian. At other places, the medium wears, an indigo-coloured head cloth, a rectangular piece, with a fringe added to each end. The Tai-Dam shaman, costumes comprise long black coats decorated with special appliquéd bands or colour and a special red hat. A coloured sash is tied around the waist. Customs and costumes vary with each group. At the healing ceremonies of the Tai Daeng the wife of the head of the household could wear up to nine layers of exquisitely woven skirts, depending on the sacrifice being made and ceremony conducted. The amount of effort that goes into the dyeing and weaving of a cloth further shows its importance. Inside the home where the ceremony takes place, wall hangings with powerful symbols and motifs such as the nak are hung to mark the ceremonial space and to ward off evil spirits. Ritual symbols such as the nak, mom, siho, ancestor figures, star, diamond, swastika, and hamsa or hongs are included in most sacred textiles.