Nevertheless, the red-brown textiles are still highly valued items in the circulation of bride-wealth that accompanies marriage and other rites of passage, particularly funerals. At such ceremonial gatherings the participants restate their kinship alliances through appropriate male and female gifts. Skirts intended for marriage gifts must be worked only in handspun cotton and natural dyes. Since these valued textiles are stored between use, rarely worn, and never washed, bright but fugitive colours - such as the turmeric yellows and greens, and pale unsaturated pinks and blues - are frequently included. The patterning of the central field is a sign of the weaver's clan membership and the motifs are drawn from family heirlooms. The banded borders include the giant ray (mokum) and the boat with paddles (tena). These are important symbols in the coastal whaling community of Lamalera, and indicate that this cloth was probably woven there. Mid-twentieth century
tengkuluak woman's headcloth Minangkabau people, west Sumatra, Indonesia silk, cotton, natural dyes, gold thread supplementary weft weave 246.0 x 103.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.3187
This nineteenth-century supplementary weft headcloth still retains the strong banded elements of early Southeast Asian design using red, white and gold threads. Like many Minangkabau headcloths, cotton is used for the warp threads and also for the weft threads in those sections of the textile hidden from view when it is worn folded.
These early twentieth-century photographs illustrate the characteristic.buffalo-horn shape of the head-dress worn as ceremonial costume by Minangkabau women. Each subdistrict of the west Sumatran highlands has its own method of tying the tengkuluak. The woman in Plate 126 is from the Payakumbuh district, while the woman in Plate 127 wears her tengkuluak in Padang Panjang style. In addition to these regional differences, at marriage ceremonies, the selection and arrangement of the headcloth and shouldercloth also indicate the marital status of the wearer and her relationship to the bride or groom (Ng, 1987).
The most ancient social systems are those based on descent -family, lineage, clan or moiety. These vary from place to place and may emphasize affiliations with either paternal or maternal relatives, or in some cases follow both descent lines. In those societies where great stress is placed on family alliances, particularly during participation in ceremonies, the signs of a person's family membership are frequently indicated by his or her apparel, especially that reserved for ritual occasions. At such ceremonies, the linch-pin of appropriate behaviour is the relationship by birth or marriage between those present and it is important to establish lineage membership.
4
On some textiles certain patterns or the structure of the designs indicate the ancestry of the wearer, and motifs belonging to a particular family or group are confined to its members. Threats of dire consequences are often made if these restrictions are transgressed. In the Lamaholot areas of east Flores and the islands of Sol or, Lembata and Adonara, the family affiliations of the maker or wearer are identified by certain motifs in the widest band or central panel of warp ikat (R.J, Maxwell, 1980). On Savu, where the population is split into two along maternal lines, the two moieties wear skirts with slightly different design structures, and the finer subdivisions of the moiety are revealed in the main warp ikat decorative band (Fox, 1977a: 98-9; Maxwell, 1985: 145-7). The women of Savu also make men's cloths that show quite different banded designs for each moiety.
125,26,127
Even in societies with bilateral family arrangements, textiles also play a significant role at times of marriage and death. Here the focus is on the display of wealth through the magnificent hangings that the extended family can muster for these occasions. Among the Minangkabau of Sumatra the relationships of the female guests to the bridal couple are indicated by the choice of specific garments and the way clothing is arranged, especially the shawl and headcloth (Ng, 1984: 22-38; Ng, 1987: 185-203).
cabir (?) bag for betel-nut and tobacco Bagobo people, Mindanao, Philippines abaca fibre, beads, brass bells supplementary warp weave, appliqué
This early twentieth-century Bagobo betel-nut bag displays an elaborate geometric beaded design. It was photographed in Mindanao.
The ceremonial exchange of betel-nut is an important part of the protocol that is observed at the meeting of traditional rulers throughout Southeast Asia. This mid-twentieth-century photograph from Timor shows two Atoni or Dawan rulers in full costume and regalia.
128,129
130,131
132,133
Since the chewing of betel-nut as a stimulant began in prehistoric Southeast Asia, the paraphernalia associated with the custom also has a very long history.44 Elaborate boxes, bags and wraps were deviseu to carry, store and offer the raw materials of nuts, sirih leaves and lime which are combined to create a mildly euphoric effect. The accoutrements of betel-nut chewing also developed ceremonial significance, and betel-nut is essential in most offerings to gods, ancestors and spirits. Weavers and dyers in Savu, for instance, place offerings that include betel-nut in the roof of the house - the dwelling place of benevolent deities - and at the corners of the loom or ikat tying-frame to distract or repel any mischievous spirits who might meddle with the threads (Maxwell, 1985). In Borneo, the Iban shamans use the flower of the sacred areca ·palm for augury and the betel-nut is a part of the offering covered with a magical pua textile. Beautiful betel-nut bags are part of the grave goods of a great ruler in Timor and Sumba.
130
In many Malay and Indonesian languages, the term pinang, meaning 'to offer betel-nut', is synonymous with courting and the formal request for a woman in marriage when, often in ceremonial procession, the groom's extended family visit the home of the bride or her superior male relative.45 Special textiles are sometimes used to envelop the betel-nut or the bearer. Beaded boxes were often reserved for serving betel-nut at home, while more portable textile pouches with drawstring straps carried betel-nut ingredients, or in more recent times tobacco, when travelling. In the northern mainland regions of Southeast Asia shoulder-bags are an important item of clothing. Special boxes and bags, including many made from fabric, are a common part of a family's heirloom treasures all over Southeast Asia.46
A yovng Rotinese woman visiting the house of her male relative's fiancee, as part of the betrothal ceremonies. Both the woman and the box of betel-nut ingredients that she carries are wrapped in the sidi ana soka (or in some parts of Roti, sidi aba dok), a short cylindrical textile now solely reserved for this occasion. The sidi ana soka cloth is an unusual but important Rotinese traditional textile woven for this one specific purpose. Formed from two narrow panels into a short but uncommonly wide cylinder, it is designed to cover the head and shoulders of the bearer of symbolic betel-nut during the betrothal ceremony. Soka and dok are Rotinese terms for gebang Q.J. Fox, personal communication, 1986), and this suggests that this ritual fabric was originally made from the fibre of the Corypha gebanga palm. This material is used today in Roti to tie ikat patterns on to cotton warp threads.
lidded box for betel-nut ingredients Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia matting, beads, fibre interlacing, bead appliqué 14.0 x 22.0 x 18.0 cm Australian National Gallery
