Just got back from a VERY interesting trip to Flores, lots of weaving and good textiles, very encouraging. Charming people too. I will send some travel notes to Pamela soon, and hope they will encourage others to visit.
To begin with I have a couple of beaded sarongs to post here. The first is an old example which is said to have come from Hewokloang village, near Maumere. The seller, who was local and from the area described it as follows:
"Sarong breke, worn by a (village) chief for divination ceremonies that were conducted occasionally, once every few years, for example before rice planting in cases where fields were not yielding as much rice hoped. The chief wears the sarong and stands in front of a ceremonial stone and knife and prays to the sun and mother earth. He delivers predictions about the future while in a trance. The motif on the top panel is the sun, and on the bottom an octopus (gurita)"
The sarong is made of handspun cotton, dyed with indigo. The beads are old glass trade beads, with cowrie shells. There is a detail of a similar(?) sarong said to be made by Sikka people in Flores in "Textiles of Southeast Asia" by Robyn Maxwell, on pages 140-141. That example seems to have been photographed in the field and has similar motifs. I have not been able to find other references to sarongs of this type by Sikka people, so far.
The second beaded sarong is a new "lawo butu", made by Katharina Paba from Bajawa area, for Threads of Life Gallery in Ubud, Bali (which is where I bought it). This type of sarong is quite well documented and is mentioned in Robyn Maxwell's book as well as in "Gift of the Cotton Maiden" by Roy Hamilton. Threads of Life have helped to revive their production in a small way in recent years and I am grateful to them and thrilled to own this weaving. There is more information on their website:
I am interested to know if forum members have other examples of beaded sarongs "in captivity". As mentioned, I think the Bajawa lawo butu are quite well understood, but the sarongs of this kind made by other groups are less well documented.
Attachments: |
File comment: Sarong breke from Hewokloang village, Flores (Sikka people). Handspun cotton, indigo, old trade beads and cowrie shells

KT9-1a.jpg [ 113.79 KiB | Viewed 13785 times ]
|
File comment: reverse side of Hewokloang beaded sarong

KT9-2a.jpg [ 73.3 KiB | Viewed 13785 times ]
|
File comment: detail of beaded "octopus"

KT9-4a.jpg [ 136.48 KiB | Viewed 13785 times ]
|
File comment: Lawo butu (ceremonial sarong), new example made by Katharina Paba from the Bajawa area of Flores, traditionally worn by a high ranking woman at ceremonies such as raising the roof of a new house in the village. Made in 2009-10. Commercial cotton, indigo a

KT35-1a.jpg [ 240.91 KiB | Viewed 13785 times ]
|
File comment: detail of boat (kowa), said to represent the boat that ancestors migrated to Flores in from regions to the west

KT35-2a.jpg [ 93.49 KiB | Viewed 13785 times ]
|
|