test
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Adivasi Cloth Clothing culture Design Hand-woven crafts Hills Identity Imitation Lotha Motif naga North East Pattern Renchano Humtsoe Replica Ritual Shawl tradition tribal Weaving Wokha Wool Woven Yarn Young generation youth
The weaving tradition of Lotha Naga tribals is becoming rare as young generation stays away from it.
In Wokha district of Nagaland where Lotha tribals like our correspondent Renchano lives, most of the young men and women are unaware of the great value attached to their hand-woven clothes. The craft is now practiced only by a few women of the older generation and the fall out of this is, young Nagas are getting alienated from their history and traditions.
For a Naga tribe, any hand-woven cloth is much more than just a piece of warm clothing. It is an indicator of his community and his social standing. So every Naga tribe has it’s own distinct designs. Each of these design has multiple patterns and together they are supposed to reflect the wearer’s complete identity – which tribe he belongs to, the group of villages he came from, his social status and the number of ritual feasts he had performed.
The clothes, especially the shawl woven by the Lotha tribe has several patterns which indicate the number of social feasts given by the wearer. Interestingly all the designs are woven only by women. But unlike before now young Naga women often travel to other states either for higher education or jobs which keep them away from home. As a result, they don’t get to learn weaving which is so crucial for their tribe. Renchano, a Lotha Naga tribal herself, doesn’t know how to weave as she spent several years out of Wokha. She points this out as a reason why the tradition of weaving slowly vanishing.
And as production of shawls and other woven materials decrease, imitations of Naga shawls are now being produced by machines in Delhi, Chennai, Patna or wherever and being sold at a little over Rs 100, when an original shawl of the same design should fetch nothing less than Rs 1,000-1,500 in the Nagaland government shops.
Renchano says, it’s important that the tribals themselves value their tradition, instead of blaming others for creating replicas of their hand-woven crafts. As we see in her video, Renchano herself became more aware of the value of weaving while producing this video. She has now decided to learn the art of weaving and practice it in future. She wants others young members of the community also take pride in their craft and help preserve it.
We see that all over the world in every culture. It is like a bad bug that will not stay away. I as a mother and woman whom see all things of the life here in The United States talk to the kids about all this stuff where ever I go, In hopes of drawing them into the crafts again and again for talking of the importance of keeping the crafts alive..That can be hard because kids think they know it all. I am thankful my kids do respect my need to push my own self to craft all the crafts I do as needed I have so many projects that need finished. Thats my goal to finish them and that is why I keep so many going at once to make sure I am around to finish them.
I grew up in a schooling system that taught us that the future was in computers and machines.It has come to that and with those it took so many jobs that it has caused more riff between the adults and kids. The generation gap got wider.
I am as well thankful to live in a place where we have a Weavers and spinners Guild and with the members of that group we teach the kids in many different areas how to do many different crafts with fibers of all kinds.
It is what is needed in all areas of the world for it is what had given us the cloth to cover our nakedness of birth in the start with out it would be a colder world.
To keep the kids into doing something allow them to do different patterns have a Poker Weave Drawing to keep the interest skill gaining and learning along with the composition of skills and imagination of color etc.. to do a Poker Weave Draw You will need to have 5 to 7 bags small ones that you can keep handy for later use in other poker weave draws… in side each bag there will be slips of paper that will tell what kind of weave to do, what color , what color scheme,type of fibers to use and what size to make.
I see you use a back strap loom but I know here are some nations that have floor looms some are even big…some use sheep fibers some goat there are other plant fibers and even fibers that are classified not legal but there are people that will use it as well..don’t for get silk makers as well. The colors are of all kinds. Color Schemes, two colors, The Primary triad, Secondary triads etc.. the patterns are amazing there are loads of them on line and in books all over the world. Sizes depend on the loom size.
We have dyeing party here in America where we color the fibers have a lunch and back to the dyes and fibers and cleanup time… a time to be together as friends no matter the age to include the older and younger generations as one. The older generation as well and the younger laugh about this all the time. It will be hard to lose our elders but at least we had time with them and fun in those times..
Suppose you have one that is very stubborn and they wish to write let them write about the group or write children stories I bet that too is a dying craft of the tribes.. I know its gotten harder to read to the kids and they really don’t want to hear what the others have done so that is why we write ….
I don’t weave much and wish to do so with the Poker Weave it helps get me wanting to weave more…
For those whom don’t care to weave fine cloth make tee shirt rugs… The whole world is in this together the money market if what is at fault with the tribes children going to other things do not feel so bad about this for it was coming. Just stay open minded about keeping the crafts alive have awards worth while for this Poker weave make the older generation judges of the works turned in.
And give to other tribes that are lacking as well for the world need to go back to a working trade of the crafts we all came from for machines have taken our heritages from the way we were.. WE the People Demand our natural lives back away from the policing and laws of lazy ways of sitting and saying one can not do this etc… that is why the good lord gave his son he paid his ransom in his son so we can live yes its wrong to do things but to be hounded by them laws and such every day no way! Lets put the world back as it was in the beginning! Let me know if you need more help in what to do! Its a hard world to live in with machinery that had taken over!
Dear Nora
Thank you so much for your comment and offering to support. You have expressed your views so well. It seems you are a good writer. So we feel you can definitely help us by blogging/writing/telling others about this video and the issue that it highlights. Also please keep watching more of our videos and giving your valuable comments.
Thank you
Thank you so much for the wonderful content you have created!
Interesante post! Muchas gracias.