SD1-329
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2023-08-16
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Genre: Personal narrative/Weaving. Title: 'Weavers’ histories and methods' (1. Mangge du'a. b c. 1947). Mr. Mangge du'a speaks about the weaving process he witnessed as a child, primarily of his mother Lengu and grandmother Meti Tokane. Meti had three daughters who all became skilled weavers, Lengu, Meré, Ngole. Lengu passed on her skills to Longge, Mangge's youngest sibling. The recording is rather long, some 29 min, and rather free flowing as intended, next to the main theme of how weaving was and has evolved among the Palu'e. Major takeaways of the interview/talk are: 'Nae huta', the men's sarong for daily wear, or as its name ('huta', wild plants, jungle) indicates, for plantation work. It is a non-ikat sarong with a few thin red bands on a black background, and it has only very recently made a comeback due to Our efforts. Its width, over 90 cm weft, requires the weaver to extend her shoulders and arms to the extreme. The weft becomes the length of the sarong, as it is sewed together directly along the weft, at the unwoven end. Two 'nae' can be joined together along the warp to form one very large sarong. The warp It is very rare that weavers create such wide cloths, anywhere, with a back-tensioned loom. To achieve this, the weavers used a wider breastbeam ('hati katéne) than is commonly used today and measured the width of the 'nae' between the breastbeam's two holes for the backsupport rope. Accordingly, the 'dhubo', the warp closer, was also longer, and the stick shuttle, 'niku', was also as long as the 'nae'. They did not yet use the tube shuttle, 'dhibo/béko', which became common from bout the 1980s and due to Sikka influence. The latter speeds up the weaving process to 3 days instead of 1-2 weeks. The 'Nae huta' was warped standing, not on the ikat or weaving rack. They hammered two pieces of 'kuku' wood into the ground and did the warping between the two poles, vertically. Then they moved the warp to the 'dhata' for the weaving. The 'Nae romo', Palu'e men's only ikat sarong, made in all the clothmaking domains, was and is first set up on the ikat rack 'ra'a', before being moved to full warping on the weaving rack/loom. 'Nae romo' is, or should be, as wide as the 'Nae huta', hence 'nae' (wide). The loom, called 'dhata', used 'hao' bamboo poles that were hammered into the ground outside of the house, not mobile like today's alternative with a plank or bamboo as warp beam sitting on a wooden support. When Mangge was young and his mother still lived (Lengu passed away 1972 after Mangge went to prison because he took responibility for Kéli's part in the border war with Woto, another "traditional domain"), the weavers made everything themselves, the handspun cotton yarn, the dyeing process. Except that the men helped making the tools and perhaps acquired some dyeing materials. Practicing: The children practiced weaving directly with sliced lontar leave or bamboo leave strands (other narratives, incl. Vischer 1992, have mentioned a play loom of long grass) on an improvised loom of lontar or bamboo. They played weaving, using a small beater. They did not ikat. Competition: In the village there are no strangers. And if somebody was skilled at weaving, everybody knew, at least all weavers. So, everybody knew that Meti du'a or Lengu, the family, were skilled weavers. Being a skilled weaver, then, translated into wealth, because the woven attire is a feminine good given to the wifetakers ('weta hina', lit. 'siblings of the mother', the wife's family) in reciprocary exchange for the masculine goods, "the pig goods" ('ngawu wawi'), the wifegivers are given by the wifetakers. The better and more weavings, the more pigs and ivory (or goats and money). Hence, they could be called 'ata nu'ane' (wealthy people), and people who lacked weaving skills in the family, could be called 'ata ratane' (poor people). Mangge du'a emphasized that weavers competed, or compete (still), because of weaving's integral part of the traditional economy. Hence people would say that the colour of a cloth was not good even if it was good, and like that. Because natural dyes were used, the blackness was difficult to achieve, and it was/is very important, as the main (background) color of Palu'e cloths. Mangge emphasizes a good aspect of this competition, it increased the quality of the weaving. The mother too would say the same to her daughter, so that she would try even harder the next time, or dye yet another time. If people just give praise, they get lazy. Before warping, or before doing weaving work, the main weaver would call the helpers to eat a chicken together. When it was time to clear a plantation for green grams, and planting seeds, the whole village (Mata mere and Kaju keri) would go to work together, and it required, poka mosa, the slaughter of several pigs to give everyone a large or several pieces of flesh as a reward for the work done. Mangge also tells about the shirt he was wearing, made of a 'Dhobe' cloth, a cloth (2 pieces) used only in the Kéli New boat ceremonies by the ceremonial dancers. It is not used in other domains, and it was never made again until recently. Its origin is unclear, the cloths in Keli are old and torn. Mangge has made some of his wife's wqeaving tools, including the beater, the most exquisite partt, made of tamarind wood. He says he cannot make the breast beam, afraid of becoming ill, arthritis, because it should only be made by certain people, with such a line of descent. In the past a breast beam was bought for a small pig, or baby pig, from the makers. It was/is made from 'langalidhi', or another ('cewa'?), wood. The tamarind for the beater was brought from Lio, or it was made from the local 'kote' tree, which is also dark like the tamarind. When Sikka cloths became popular, the Palu'e made the cloths themselves, after observing their techniques but not necessarily following them. The Palu'e make many types of cloths, and they do it well too. According to Mangge, they make the Sikka cloths better than the Sikka, tidier, and that is why they make them themselves. The Palu'e make all types of cloths with quality. Today, Sikka type cloths are often given as a good to the wifetakers, and many Palu'e weavers know only how to weave Flores cloths. Dyeing: Black, as described and demonstrated by Yuliana Longge, but not detailed. The red was achieved with repeated immersions (7-8) boiled mangrove 'moro hae' and 'langalidhi' leaves, while Morinda citrifolia (and ash water, also used for the previous, although unmentioned here) was used for Sikka cloths. 'Langalidhi' makes the dye stick better, like a fixative, while it is also red, but not strong enough to dye red alone. The recording was made in the morning of 16 Aug 2023 by the bamboo platform behind Mr. Mangge du'a's house, with the Zoom H4N recorder (without the windshield, sorry) and a Sony handicam that captured the first 11 min. Mangge is the only man interviewed about weaving so far (Nov -23), and it was well worth it. This work was supported by a Firebird Foundation research grant for the documentation of oral literature and traditional ecological knowledge. See also items SD1-130–SD1-135 about traditional methods or processes before weaving, and SD1-330, a major interview with Mangge's youngest sister in the same series.
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Sara Lu'a
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wav file 00:29:19 II mp4 file 00:11:32
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wav file at 44,1 KHz 16 bits
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Palu'e, Flores, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. Recording made in kampong Ko'a, Ko'a domain.
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