Ceremonial textile (pewo, mbesa tali to batu)

The collectors and scholars Anita Spertus and Robert Holmgren described textiles of this type as a “soft, shimmering staccato.” The luminosity is the result of a weaving and dyeing technique unique in Southeast Asia. The cloth is woven with small slits creating an openwork pattern. After the weaving is completed, tiny sections of the textile between the slits are wrapped tightly to protect them from an immersion in a dye bath. When these sections are untied the pattern is revealed.

The names for this textile give contradictory clues to its use. The word pewo means loincloth, and textiles of this shape are used as such. But early reports also document the use of a cloth called pewo to wrap a deceased person’s head before internment. Another term, mbesa tali to batu, means headcloth of the stone man, perhaps indicating a connection to the stones of ritual importance that were erected in villages for ceremonial use.