shrine or ritual house. There they are secured away with other sacred objects in the high peaked roofs of traditional buildings - the dwelling places of benevolent ancestors and spirits, and where offerings are placed to ensure their guardianship.73
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Textiles are believed to have the power to ward off evil spirits who attempt to steal an individual's soul, and thus inflict illness and ultimately death. Geringsing are renowned as a type of double ikat cloth in Bali and also as the name of a particular batik pattern in Java, and both have special protective qualities. The chronicles tell of the use of geringsingby Javanese warriors in battle, while in Bali and even in the Sasak districts of Lombok, the double ikat geringsing cloths appear in cyclical ceremonies and rites of passage, and at times of unusual and unexpected crisis.
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The concept of using a textile as a protective barrier against malevolent forces is implicit in the name of the ban gun tulak cloths of central Java, a term meaning 'to turn back evil'. These blue-black and white tie-dyed cloths are an important part of the paraphernalia of the garebag, an ancient annual feast of renewal when the links between the heavenly and earthly realms are stressed and which, since the arrival of Islam in Java, is celebrated on Muhammad's birthday (Veldhuisen-Djajasoebrata, 1985: 132). These cloths are also worn as huge ceremonial wraps (dodot) by court dancers and by royal bridal couples at the marriage rituals that ensure the prosperity and fertility of the court of Surakarta in central Java. Combinations of blue-black and white on textiles are considered propitious in Java and Bali, and are appropriate colours for protective textiles (Solyom and Solyom, 1980b: 278). Banners in these colours were hung at times of community crisis, and in certain villages in one part of Java today, black and white cloths referred to by the term for banner (panjz) are used in exorcism rituals (Heringa, 1985: 120). In Javanese and Balinese legend, black and white checked cloth (kain poleng) is worn by particular gods and heroes, and the stone temple guards of Bali are swathed in poleng checks during temple festivals.
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The depiction on textiles of motifs associated with danger and aggression, including grotesque and mysterious creatures, seems to be a deliberate attempt to harness these qualities to repel life-threatening forces.74 We find, for example, rows of teeth (ipon-ipon) and centipedes (ansisibang) placed on the intricate white supplementary weft panels of certain Toba Batak textiles,75 and these same creatures are also displayed on the bangun tulak alas-alasan of central Java. Bands of poisonous scorpions (maeng ngord and maeng ngao) and pythons (ngu hluam) on Esarn fabrics in northern Thailand are believed auspicious (Peetathawatchai, 1973: 49-51), while saw teeth, tiger claws, thorns, and forks appear on Mien embroideries that are used during important life-cycle ceremonies associated with the notion of repelling danger. The tiger, once a constant threat to villagers in northern Thailand, must be placated with annual rituals. However, it is also believed that its powers can be assumed through the wearing of a textile displaying its symbols. For the Mien, only their priests have sufficient power to control such forces, and the use of the strong tiger design is restricted to the robes of these religious leaders.76
usap sacred textile Sasak people, Lombok, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes supplementary weft weave 45.5 x 58.2 cm Australian National Gallery 1986.2454
(detail) owes(?) ceremonial shawl; hanging Tinguian people, Luzon, Philippines handspun cotton, natural dyes supplementary weft weave Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago 108887
In many parts of Southeast Asia, strange and enigmatic monsters appear on supplementary weave textiles. Today, the meaning of such images is often unclear to the weavers who merely follow patterns established in ancestral times. In the case of the rare figurative Lombok usap, the blue bearded creatures and the diamond-shaped remnants of rider or howdah are no longer a part of twentieth-century Sasak textile iconography. On the indigo and natural Tinguian cloth, the main figure is also bearded. Nineteenth-century textiles.
(detail) kain panjang skirtcloth Javanese people, Yogyakarta, java, Indonesia cotton, natural dyes batik Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden 8110.19
The broken sword pattern (parang rusak) is considered to be one of the most powerful batik designs in central java. It was originally one of the restricted patterns permitted to be used only by the Javanese nobility of the Mataram court (Veldhuisen-Djajasoebrata, 1988: 60). The higher a noble's rank, the larger the parang rusak pattern that could be worn. This example was collected in the early twentieth century by the famous Dutch Javanologist, R.A. Kern, who recorded it as the barong (giant parang) pattern.
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The deployment of dangerous sharp symbols - swords, knives and teeth - for protection is also widespread throughout Southeast Asia. One of the most famous symbols of this kind is the parang rusak (broken sword) pattern used on wax-resist batiks in central Java. There are several interpretations of this pattern, all of them variations on the ancient interlocking double spiral. Significantly, terms remarkably similar to parang rusak are also used to describe certain warp ikat textiles found throughout the Malay world bearing the equally ancient arrowhead pattern. This arrowhead pattern is known as plang rutha in Aceh and plang rosa in Malaysia. It also appears on Toba Batak ceremonial baby-carriers (ulos mangiring), where it is known as the padang rusa design. On another Toba Batak cloth, the ulos rujat, it has contributed to the textile's name. Many of these cloths are used in situations where notions of protection are implicit. In Java, however, the parang rusak was a batik pattern traditionally restricted to the palace circles, which meant that the protective qualities of the symbol were exclusive to the rulers of central Java.
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While ritual cloths are often rich in decorative symbolism, the importance of simple and unpretentious cloths in certain cultures may easily be overlooked. Typically, these cloths are either monochrome77 or woven with a plain, striped warp or weft. Despite their apparent simplicity, these cloths may still be ritually important and many are also regarded as talismans when woven by knowledgeable women or according to particular magical formulae. Some of the simple Sasak textiles woven in Lombok (in particular, the kekombongor umbaq) are an excellent illustration of these themes. Specific combinations of coloured warp stripes are used to create the soul cloth in which a new-born baby is wrapped. The same cloth is present at the child's first hair-cutting, and at rites associated with the attainment of adulthood, such as circumcision. It is then stored away carefully by the individual to whom it belongs so that it can be produced as a protective talisman at any time in the future when danger or disaster threatens. The Sasaks also use simple striped cloths as waist-ties, often loosely and hurriedly woven, to prevent all manner of illness or anti-social behaviour, especially in the case of children. The names given to these simple cloths vary according to the particular ailment for which they are prescribed.78
In other parts of Southeast Asia the most elaborate and prestigious cloths must be used on occasions associated with changes of status - birth, marriage, initiation into adulthood, pregnancy, and death. The ritual function of many magnificent cloths explains why so much energy and enormous care is expended. This contrast between the most simple textiles and the most elaborate is strikingly evident in the case of Bali. In addition to the complex double ikat textiles of Tenganan Pegeringsingan that display extraordinarily elaborate patterns, the Balinese also weave many quite simple cotton textiles composed of narrow warp stripes known as wangsul. Both of these types of cloth are believed to have magical endowments. Furthermore,
