confirm that elaborate burial procedures were already practised in prehistoric Southeast Asia. It is clear from several significant burial sites that these rites involved items of wealth -pottery, beads and metal objects (Bellwood, 1979: passim). Funeral ceremonies still dominate the ritual calendar in many parts of the region and elaborate burial rites remain a feature of many Southeast Asian cultures. These are occasions when textiles are especially prominent as ceremonial gifts, as elaborate textile displays, as ritual apparel for both the dead and the living, and as objects of magic and spiritual power.
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When primary or secondary burials are performed, textiles have a prominent role in the ritual. Bodies are clothed, wrapped or draped in decorative shrouds before and during burial. Textile canopies are raised above the deceased, and displays of the finest textiles that a family can muster line the rooms and hang from houses, compounds and graves. Offerings to ancestors and spirits include sacred textiles, which are sometimes perceived as clothing for the gods. Textile causeways are erected along which the dead proceed on their road to the afterworld, and carved effigies of the dead dressed in magical finery are paraded to burial caves- often with the purpose of deceiving malevolent spirits. During secondary burials the bones of the dead are exhumed, washed and carefully wrapped in highly valued textiles.
In some cultures it is customary to prepare special burial clothing. Hmong women, for example, create costumes from woven hemp for both themselves and their husbands. These textiles display additional layers of richly embroidered outer garments and are the finest examples of Hmong ceremonial clothing (Lewis and Lewis, 1984: 128-9). Textiles that are woven specifically as shrouds may require particular precautions, and a Kalinga woman in Luzon will only undertake the task of weaving such a cloth - a dangerous activity best performed by a shaman or seer - if she is barren or past child-bearing (Races, 1985: 3).
Textiles are used on these occasions in particular and regulated ways, which may vary slightly from one village to another even within the same culture. Among the Ifugao, only the first-born son is buried with a full set of four ritual cloths and certain cloths are designated for specific categories of deceased persons. An Ifugao man is buried wearing an ikat loincloth, and a widow in a special type of wrap. Using a shroud fringed at only one border, the Karen place this fringed end of the cloth over the body to indicate to the deceased and any observers that he or she is dead (Lewis and Lewis, 1984: 80).
An early twentieth-century photograph of a man from Luzon in the Philippines wearing a loincloth that repeats the patterns tattooed on his chest, arms and face. A close similarity between textile patterns and body decorations is a common feature of many island and mainland Southeast Asian cultures.
A long warp ikat textile encloses a grave outside a village between the Kalumpang and Rongkong regions of Sulawesi. Textiles from neighbouring regions are used for rituals in this part of central Sulawesi as the women in this area do not themselves weave. This particular type of warp banded cloth from Kalumpang is called rundun lola.
(detail) pori lonjong ceremonial hanging; shroud Toraja people, Rongkong district, central Sulawesi, Indonesia cotton, natural dyes warp ikat 485.0 x 165.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1988.521
The huge pori lonjong textiles, in bold, bright red, blue and white warp ikat, provide dramatic backdrops for the Toraja rituals of death. They are used throughout the Toraja region as hangings, temporary walls and shrouds, and also as women's ceremonial skirtcloths in the north of central Sulawesi. Each pori lonjong has a wide, patterned centre, usually composed of repeating sets of ancient schematic patterns- rhombs, spirals, crosses, zigzags and circles. These designs are bordered on each side by stark red, black (or blue) and white stripes. Most cloths are formed from two extremely long parallel panels. Twentieth century
A wooden chest containing the bones of the ancestors is stored under the eaves of a traditional Lio house. A fringed textile, which has faded over the years, is draped over the chest.
(detail) luka semba ceremonial shawl Lio people, Flores, Indonesia cotton, natural dyes warp ikat 70.0 x 220.2 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.1094
Fringed warp ikat textiles in deep rednues are worn by Lio men on ceremonial occasions, and are also draped over the deceased during funerary rites. This design combines simple spots divided into warp bands with elaborate triangular end patterns. Twentieth century
(detail) At Toba Batak funerals, textiles seal the bonds established in life between individuals and their kin (dongan sabutuha), wife-givers (hula-hula) and wife-takers (boru). In this photograph the body of an elderly woman lies covered with an appropriate cloth (an ulos sibolang) while her kinsfolk surround the coffin wearing other ulos shawls. From a family album, mid-twentieth century
tapis woman's ceremonial skirt Paminggir people, Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia cotton, silk, natural dyes warp ikat, embroidery 143.0 x 136.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1981.1124
tapis woman's ceremonial skirt Paminggir people, Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia cotton, silk, natural dyes warp ikat, embroidery 130.4 x 118.5 cm Australian National Gallery 1981.1125
Ship images appear on the skirts worn in Lampung by women at ceremonies to celebrate a change of status for members of the community. The motifs contained in the warp ikat bands on most tapis are not often identifiable. However, the ikat patterns on these nineteenth-century examples are suggestive of the serpents, ships and mythical beasts also found on other textiles produced in this region. The figures on board the ships displayed in the bands of predominantly white embroidery are depicted in a variety of ways, and both sunburst and horn-shaped head-dresses are evident. The bright detailed embroidery work and its precise filling of stripes, chevrons and checks is in sharp contrast to the sombre brown ikat, although both sections of each textile are dyed in natural colours.
palepai ceremonial hanging Paminggir people, Kalianda district, Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes, gold ribbon supplementary weft weave, appliqué 68.0 x 280.3 cm Australian National Gallery 1985.610 Purchased with the assistance of James Mollison, 1985
palepai ceremonial hanging Paminggir people, Kalianda district, Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes supplementary weft weave 64.0 x 286.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1985.611 Purchased with the assistance of James Mollison, 1985
The ship motif is most highly developed and spectacularly displayed on the palepai and tampan of Lampung, textiles which are used at many ceremonies of the life-cycle including initiation into adulthood, marriage and death. For the Paminggir nobility who controlled the large palepai ship cloths, the presence of these prestigious textiles was
