many parts of the region. Special horse blankets have been created for use by men of high status, and throughout insular Southeast Asia the horse is a familiar and recurring textile motif. Where it is closely associated with male prestige and wealth, it has become an established transition symbol and appears, like the buffalo, on textiles with and without riders. In particular, it is a popular image on men's shawls and wraps. Its depiction varies from the realistic horses of east Sumba and Tetum textiles to the simple schematic patterns of Endeh and Ngada. In mountain Luzon, the horse has also become a popular motif on the supplementary weft ceremonial textiles of the Tinguian.
147,148
153
149,150
151,152
While the complementarity of weaving and warfare is symbolically represented throughout Southeast Asia through the pairing of spear and cloth, it is not only the male activities surrounding warfare that are symbolically linked with the tasks of women. Important rituals performed by men find parallel meanings in the textile-making of women. In ancient Austronesian cultures, male oratory can be viewed as a weaving of legends, genealogies and history, and men's oral symbols can be linked with the visual symbols women provide through matting and textiles. The great oral and written chronicles of Southeast Asia not only extol the feats of gods, ancestors and great leaders but detail their fine apparel and rich regalia. In Iban genealogies, for example, men are identified by their names while women are known by the pua patterns that they have invented.
owes ceremonial shawl; hanging; shouldercloth Tinguian people, Luzon, Philippines cotton, dyes supplementary weft weave, embroidery 116.0 x 192.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.1252
The supplementary weft textiles of central Luzon also contain anthropomorphic and animal motifs, and this mid-twentieth-century example alternates human figures and horses. This type of cloth consists of three red, white and blue panels that are usually joined by bright embroidery stitches. Carried as shouldercloths by men, these figurative textiles are most prominent in the mortuary rituals of the Tinguian and the Kalinga, when they are part of the textile wealth displayed around the body of the deceased.
Boat-building and house construction are two specific male activities that are central to the well-being of the community,61 and both are often linked in legend and ceremony to textiles and weaving. On the small island of Palue, off the coast of central Flores, textiles are hung as symbolic sails at the launching of traditional fishing boats.62 Throughout the Indonesian archipelago, cloth is hung from the roof and rafters of newly constructed traditional houses, temples, rice-barns and community treasure-houses and is also placed along the ridge pole of houses under construction as a symbol of protection. This is also suggestive of masts and sails since houses and ships are often symbolically linked. On the island of Roti, the combination of structures built by men and covering textiles created by women is understood as an essential part of the establishment and maintenance of harmony and order. The T'boli of Mindanao believe that if certain food prohibitions are not observed by young children, boys will grow up incapable of building a house and girls will be unable to weave (Casal, 1978: 96-7). Similarly, the Iban believe that, while in the womb, the unborn child is offered a spear or a weaving-sword, and the choice determines its sex.
Status in these societies is dependent upon age, experience and wisdom, in particular the acquisition of ritual knowledge, and the attainment of great proficiency in those skills necessary to apply it. For women too, special ritual expertise and knowledge establishes status and this often includes prowess at weaving important cloths. The traditional division of labour in all Southeast Asian societies leaves textiles as women's work and art. With rare exceptions, the entire process of making and decorating textiles in Southeast Asia has been the craft of women and their major outlet for creativity and63 Where exceptions exist, the patterns or techniques with which men work are usually closely related to traditional male activities and iconography like carving, pigment-painting and in some societies writing. For example, the braid that is added by Toba Batak men to complete an ulos cloth is called sirat, a term also meaning letters or writing. While their activities are viewed as distinct and separate, at times both male and female crafts are required for the ultimate success of a textile. The apparatus for thread preparation and wooden looms are usually made by men, sometimes lovingly carved to impress a sweetheart or provide a wife with the best possible equipment to ply her highly valued skills.64
The Tinguian of Luzon surround the body of the deceased with textiles while it sits in state before burial. Early twentieth-century photograph
The wearing of tattoos is an ancient sign of ritual maturity for both men and women. In the twentieth century tattooing has remained an important form of body decoration throughout eastern Indonesia, north Sumatra, Borneo, Luzon, Mindanao and the upland areas of Thailand and Burma. It has been traditional in many of these places to apply tattoos as symbols of merit after the performance of a particular feat, such as the successful taking of a head, bravery in warfare, the completion of an arduous journey (Chin, 1980: 60) or the weaving of a ritual cloth (Volgelsanger, 1980). Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, tattoos are also part of the process of initiation into adulthood and full participation in the social life of the group.
154
As in other crucial transition stages, during the rites of tattooing an individual is often protected by a powerful textile. Since clothing and tattooing serve as body decoration and indicate ritual prestige and experience, similar patterns and motifs are often found in both media, and the meaning of certain textile motifs and designs may be explained by a comparison with tattoos, as well as other art forms such as carving and bamboo work. Tattooing is widely practised by the T'boli of Mindanao and many of the motifs are similar to those on their warp ikat and embroidered cloths. Certain stylized motifs, and the tattoos themselves, are believed to have important protective powers. Animal motifs (bakong) and anthropomorphic figures (hakang) are said to glow after a person's death to assist the departed to a safe destination in the afterlife (Casal, 1978: 34, 36). The same parallels between textile and tattoo motifs are evident among the Tetum people of Timor where it is believed that no matter where a person dies, their tattoos (makerek) will also ensure a safe journey to the next world. These protective qualities are also claimed for many textiles throughout Southeast Asia.
ceremonial hanging; heirloom cloth Abung people (?) south Sumatra, Indonesia silk, gold thread, cotton supplementary weft weave, embroidery 221.3 x 152.7 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.1221
Little is known about this rare and important nineteenth-century cloth, although the Abung aristocracy are known to have displayed such textiles as hangings on ceremonial occasions. The iconography and technique suggest that it falls between two different traditions: the ancient supplementary cotton weavings that are filled with symbolic ships and strange mythical animals, and the silk and gold thread textiles of the Indianized courts of south Sumatra. Mysterious creatures are evident here within the clearly defined weft bands, although they also bear some resemblance to the familiar horse motif. On other cloths of this type anthropomorphic figures and spiral motifs have been noted. The images are formed from floating wefts of gold-wrapped thread (which are now rather worn). The horse motifs, each slightly different, were woven without the aid of heddle sticks, and a number of missing motifs appear to have been filled in with couched embroidery, a technique that has been widely used on Abung ceremonial skirts. The magnificent rich colours of the weft stripes are also evident on many early Abung tapis, although on those textiles these colours are displayed in warp bands.
SYMBOLS OF DEATH AND LIFE
Archaeologists
