THE 16TH FUKUOKA ASIAN CULTURE PRIZES 2005 PUBLIC FORUM

Transcription

1

2 THE 16TH FUKUOKA ASIAN CULTURE PRIZES 2005 PUBLIC FORUM Laos Weaving Tradition Infinite Design Inherited Textiles Douangdeuane BOUNYAVONG Arts and Culture Prize Laureate Date & Time 14:00-16:00 Sunday, September 18, 2005 Venue Fukuoka Art Museum, Auditorium (Ohori Park, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka) Program Introduction to Lao Culture Professor Nitta Eiji (Faculty of Law, Economics and the Humanities, Kagoshima University) Part 1 Keynote Speech Ms. Douangdeuane Bounyavong Recess Part 2 Panel Discussion Panelists: Ms. Douangdeuane Bounyavong Associate Professor Suzuki Reiko (Faculty of Foreign Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) Coordinator: Professor Nitta Eiji * The text on this and the following pages summarizes the forum for Ms. Douangdeuane Bounyavong, the Arts and Culture Prize laureate of the 16th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes 2005.

3 Overview of Laos and Outline of the For um by Pr ofessor Nitta Eiji Location, Geography and History of Laos When we hear Laos and are asked where it is, I wonder how many of us can answer the exact location. Laos is a small nation in Southeast Asia. There are a total of 11 independent nations in Southeast Asia, but Laos is the only landlocked country. The other 10 countries are all coastal nations, but much of Laos consists of mountains. To the west, there is a large river called the Mekong, forming a border with Thailand. To the east is the Phou Luang mountain range, a range of tall mountains over 2,000 meters, separating Laos from Vietnam. These two are geographical characteristics of Laos. Laos may be a small country now, but back in the 14th century, it was a very powerful nation called the Lanexang Kingdom, meaning The Nation of a Million Elephants. It was a thriving country, ruling over what is now Myanmar, possibly even Thailand. There are a number of beautiful temples in the Northern Laos. An ancient city called Luangphrabang which is designated a World Heritage Site is also in the area. In the central region is the Plain of Jars, where hundreds of urns carved from rocks weighing several tons each line the land. And to the South is the site of an ancient Khmer-era temple called Wat Phou, another World Heritage. As these sites suggest, Laos is a nation rich in history and culture. Ethnic Makeup and Traditions of Laos Determining exactly how many ethnic groups exist in Laos has been difficult to organize into statistical data, and one theory presents 49. However, the actual number of groups in the country is probably greater. Each ethnic group has its unique costumes and clothing, textiles and weaving traditions. Also in Laos, there is a tradition of passing down weaving skills and patterns inside the family, from mother to daughter. So the weaving tradition encompasses unique patterns for each family, in addition to each ethnic group. I have studied Southeast Asia for over 30 years. When I first visited Laos, I saw an incredible number of very beautiful textiles being sold in a market in Vientiane. I was immediately hooked, and would make a purchase every time I visited the country. I see a number of you here today are wearing woven pieces from Laos or Northeastern Thailand. I suspect that like me, you have been captivated by these traditional textiles of Laos and the rest of Southeast Asia. Today, I would like to introduce you to the world of various textiles and patterns of Laos, and look at the weaving tradition nurtured by Laos as well as the position occupied by women, the designated weavers, in society. We only have a brief time together, but I hope you will fully experience the power of Laotian textiles during this interlude. 1

4 Wat Phou (courtesy of the ASEAN-Japan Centre) 2

5 Par t 1 Keynote Speech Ms. Douangdeuane Bounyavong Hello, everyone. I feel very honored to talk about the textiles and costumes of Laos to the people of Fukuoka City today. Fukuoka is a city of diverse, wonderful cultural traditions, and I am very happy to be able to speak here. I will display photos as I speak, so that you know more of Laos. Weaving Techniques and Patterns, a Landscape with Weaving Like other people of Asia, the Lao people started weaving several thousand years ago. They possess a variety of techniques. There are two major techniques of Lao textiles-- continuous supplementary weft/warp weaving*1 and discontinuous supplementary weft/warp weaving*2. Another frequently used technique is ikat*3. Some minority ethnic groups use a loom called the backstrap to weave patterns into the warp. Other minority groups opt for a plain weave, and then embroider onto the cloth using threads of many colors. Cotton and silk are widely produced and used but hemp, animal fur and chemical fibers are also used. The dying process was basically plant dyeing from leaves, tree bark and seeds, but chemical dyes also began in use about a century ago when Laos was colonized by France. Because of the modern taste for a large number of colors, chemical dyes, unfortunately, have become dominant. However, natural dyes are starting to regain recognition, and there is some movement by textile scholars and nature lovers to revive and slowly popularize plant dyeing. This photograph shows what villagers wear to the temple on festival days. The men wear modern clothing such as shirts and trousers, with a shawl over the shoulder. They keep this style even in the present day. 3

6 The left image is a scene people prepare for weaving in a farming village. A man plays music to entertain the women. Sometimes men work on bamboo ware. The woman in blue in the left is threading the warp through the reed*4. The woman in yellow in the left back is winding thread onto the shuttle*5. The woman in the right front is binding thread for ikat weaving. The threads are bound, and later dyed. Reed Shuttle We asked village people to show this work for us to record the process when we visited there. Usually the work is done at night since the villagers need to work in the fields during the daytime. However, it is too dark to photograph the process at night so we begged them to do this in daylight. As you can see, there are children around the adults. By watching them, these children can naturally learn the work. In Laos, weaving is handed down mostly within families. When a girl turns 5 or 6 years old, she starts to help the parent. In Laos, there are no schools that teach weaving and most of it is learned at home. In the past, Lao women had very little opportunity to receive an education. The temple-run schools accepted only men and offered religious education, which was considered necessary for men. This was partly because women were not allowed their enrollment. Therefore, women learned the weaving techniques at home. A woman who couldn t weave could not have a good marriage was doomed to a low social status. Being good at weaving translated into a sort of educational status, which was equivalent to what temple schooling did for a man. This (left) shows the warp being prepared. Before entering this stage, the weaver decides what she wants to weave, what colors she wants to use, how wide and long the piece is, and all other details, and only then is ready for the warp. The warp is then threaded through the holes in the reed (right). The white threads you see hanging down in the left photo is called the pattern heddle*6. A heddle is sort of a pattern template, and can be used again and again once made. Threading the warp through an existing pattern heddle will recreate the pattern. In addition, if the weaver changes the colors, the same pattern will produce a very different-looking textile. 4

7 The photos below are of a tapestry weaving*7. The weaver raises the pattern heddle and inserts a board to make way for the shuttle to pass through. Among various weaving techniques, tapestry weaving requires a deal of patience since it calls for the thread to be passed through one at a time. The origin of a pattern often comes from the nature or from the myths. In Laos, this pattern (left) is said to be based on coconut leaves. You may think it looks nothing like coconut leaves. For me, too, they are not like coconut leaves at all, but all weavers call this pattern coconut. The next pattern looks like flowers. I do not know the name of the flowers, but it has an odd shape. Someone calls this pattern a candlestick. White comb-like pattern can be seen in the middle. The line of a jagged shape looks like teeth, showing that the weaver of this work is not very skillful. The third pattern is a newly-invented pattern. This is a modern-looking pattern. All three patterns are woven using the ikat technique. 5

8 This left one is woven using the continuous supplementary weft/warp weaving technique. The pattern you see in the center looks like flower petals. The triangular shapes on both sides of the flowers represent mountains. The spear-like forms at the very bottom are flower buds. The left photos show very familiar patterns for the lowland Lao people. It is very frequently used for the Lao and Tai ethnic groups*8. The Tai people especially like the pattern to weave their bed cover. Enlargement In addition to nature, there are motifs originated from various folklores. A particularly prominent presence in Lao textiles would be the Naga, which means a dragon or a large serpent. This pattern is a two-headed Naga. Of course, it is a nonexistent creature in the real world, but it has come out of the weavers own imagination. You can find numerous textiles patterned with Nagas from the northernmost tip of Laos all the way to the south. Another distinct pattern would be the one called frog person. You may ask why the people in Laos use frogs as motifs. This is because frogs symbolize rain. When frogs croak, rain falls, crops grow and farmers can work. Frogs were a well-appreciated presence and are therefore used as a cherished pattern. People call this same pattern gibbon person in some regions. Why? This is because when there was no rice crop, gibbons were a welcome presence, bringing fruits and nuts to people. 6

9 This pattern is often used in the hem area of skirts. These are lions. There are no lions in Laos. The weaver of this skirt hardly ever ventured outside her village and no opportunities for study, so I think she must have imagined the creatures from the folklore and other stories she heard. This textile uses the discontinuous supplementary weft/warp weaving technique. It uses many colors. The motif contains mountains, flowers and other images from nature. The technique used in this textile is the tapestry weaving. This technique is very difficult, and was in disuse. I found an old photograph of a tapestry piece and had a weaver recreate it. This actually led to a revival and a number of tapestry pieces are now being produced. This is a pattern for skirt. It was considered very difficult to weave in the past, because many techniques have to be applied in this single textile. The red part is ikat and the color is dyed with insects called Laccifer lacca*9. Silk is used in one part. Cotton, too. The indigo part is also ikat. The zigzag pattern uses the discontinuous supplementary weft/warp weaving, and next to it is a section woven with the continuous supplementary weft/warp weaving. There are small bits of ikat in between these as well. Three weaving techniques -- ikat, discontinuous supplementary weft/warp and continuous supplementary weft/warp -- are in use in this one piece. 7

10 In the past, people believed that evil spirits fled in fear of the beauty of this skirt, and only male shaman was allowed to wear the garment in order to drive out sickness and evil spirits. In the present day, everyone, not only the shaman, wears this pattern. Textiles for Everyday Use I would like to talk a little bit about how textile is used. In Laos, there are many uses for woven cloth, from birth to death. Women start weaving from childhood, and are ready for their own wedding costume once they reach marriageable age. They may only be able to weave simple things as little girls, but by 16 or 17 years old, they become skillful enough to make their own wedding costumes. Weaving also brings men and women together. For example, a man will wear a red shawl to court a woman he is interested in, as a way of showing off his own mother s weaving skills. A woman will look at the shawl, and if she is impressed by it, will want to marry into a family of such a fine weaver of a mother-in-law, even if she is not interested in the suitor. In that case, the woman will want to express her feelings and also display her own weaving skill. She will present the man a shoulder bag she made from textile woven with distinctive patterns of her ethnic group or family. A bag (Tai Dam) Women in Laos are just like you, the women of Japan. It is rather difficult for both of us to confess how we feel, even if we like someone. This is why we present a bag to convey our feelings. I once asked a woman of about 70 if she had ever given a bag with the same patterns to more than one man at a time. She said she had. When a man looks around, he immediately finds several other men having same bags. This is a strategy of a woman, a ploy to have the man she loves to respond quickly. When a man accepts a woman s feelings and wants her to know that he also likes her, he places a gift in the shoulder bag he received and returns it to the woman. (The bag is of course given back to the man later.) If the woman likes the gift, she chooses and boils the fattest chicken raised by her family and presents it to the man, asking him to give it to his mother. His mother looks at the chicken and decides on a marriage, reasoning that this woman seems to be a good weaver and seems to be good at keeping chickens and other animals, and will therefore be a good wife for her son. Once a match has been made, the woman will weave a large number of items before the wedding. She weaves beautiful cloths for her husband-to-be, his father, and his mother as presents. After the marriage, she will weave plain fabric diapers for her babies, carrying strap for carrying a baby on her back, and cloth to make a cradle from. Indeed, Laotian children grow up surrounded by mother-woven textiles. They wear cloths woven by their mothers even when they marry or enter priesthood. I hope you now understand from these examples that what Baby-carrying strap (Mon) 8

11 role weaving and textiles played in the everyday life of Lao people. Unfortunately, very little of it goes on nowadays. When children are small, women are busy and can do very little weaving. Once her children grow big enough, she starts weaving her own clothes. But even if the completed clothes are in her hands, sometimes she may have no opportunity to wear them and die without having once worn the dress. Different ethnic groups have different ways of treating her clothes when a woman dies. One group will wrap antique documents with a brand-new skirt and donate it to a temple (though, used skirts cannot be used as a donation). It is believed that this way, the skirt will still be of use to the woman in the other world. Another ethnic group will place the woman s cloths in her casket to cremate with her. Yet another will place only a portion of her weavings in the casket for cremation. I sometimes come across old textiles, narrow skirts. At one time, I was told that the skirt once belonged to somebody s grandmother, and was cut half off to put in a casket when she died. Some ethnic groups have specific weaving patterns for skirts for wives to be worn at the funeral of their husbands parents. Or, certain types are for women s won relatives. A skirt to wear for the funeral of a husband s parents Changing Circumstances Surrounding Weaving Ethnicity-specific traditions pertaining to weaving used to be well-observed, but the 1975 Laotian Revolution brought freedom to the country. Different ethnic groups freely moved around and into cities, leading to a denser population in places like Vientiane. The new arrivals brought their textiles with them. Vientiane residents saw them, liked the beauty, and began to introduce the new motifs in their own weavings, creating the diverse mixture of motifs coming from different groups. Some comment that a certain pattern belongs to a certain group, and is not advisable to be copied. But Laotian weavers are highly skilled. If they attend a wedding, or 9

12 travel somewhere, and find a certain pattern appealing, they will just go ahead and weave it. It may not be perfectly the same, but they can weave something quite similar. All they have to do is see something and they can weave it. For example, foreign investors in Laos often request that they want a certain pattern to be exclusive to their workshop. But this is impossible. I find it difficult to explain that in Laos, patterns are handed down over generations, and cannot be monopolized since they belong to everyone. Non-Laotians tend to claim their copy rights, they seek exclusive rights. For the Lao people, patterns and designs belong to everyone and can simply be woven if they appeal to you. A visit to the morning market in Laos will exhibit a number of different woven textiles. Some may look similar, but are made of different materials or have slightly different designs. I believe what is necessary to preserve the weaving tradition of Lao textiles is that we constantly produce new patterns as we do now and continue to use them for long. 10

13 Par t 2 Panel Discussion NITTA EIJ I: We ve just heard a fascinating talk by Ms. Bounyavong on the lifelong relationship between women and weaving. We now know that a person s entire life is closely tied to weaving, but in particular, it is interesting to hear that textiles act as a sort of a love letter in romantic relations. In this context, weaving acts as a messenger. Professor Suzuki Reiko, sitting next to me today, studied at a university in Laos when she was young, and currently teaches Laotian language at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. I first would like to ask Professor Suzuki, a specialist in the Laotian language, to share her views on the fascinating fact that Laotian textiles act as a type of messenger. SUZUKI REIKO: First, I would like to express my deep respect to Ms. Bounyavong for her years of wholehearted commitment to Lao textiles. I would also like to offer her my congratulations on receiving this prize. This year 2005 coincides with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Laos and Japan. In this commemorative year, the first-ever Laotian national receives the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize, which indeed is a happy occasion for both Japanese and Laotian peoples. I now would like to comment what I thought in Ms. Bounyavong s lecture. As Professor Nitta mentioned, Laos is a multiethnic nation with approximately 49 ethnic groups even under loose categorization. They are broadly classified such as Tai-Kadai or Tai- Lao group, Mon-Khmer, Hmong-Yao or Meo-Mien group, and Sino-Tibetan group. One major guide to this classification is a language grouping. However, among the many ethnic groups of Laos are those who have not yet been known because no research has been made. Or classification is very vague especially in the subcategory because the name a group calls themselves is not the same with what others call them. Therefore, in addition to the language grouping, I think textiles could provide us a clue to classify the ethnicity. The great variety of woven textiles in Laos could be a crucial academic importance as well. Among the 49 or more ethnic groups of Laos are a number of groups that do not use the written language. It may be quite natural for these people to pass their feelings and thoughts to others in their everyday life with other means rather than the writing. Or even if they have a written language unique to their ethnicity, younger generations have fewer opportunities to use their own language, partly because they receive their education in Lao language at school. It can be said that textiles function as a substitute for the written language as a communication tool. Ms. Bounyavong mentioned in her talk that women did not have chances for education, thus were not able to write. Instead writing, the women might have put their wishes, feelings and 11

14 reams in their weavings. The patterns in a weaving are thus considered to have an important communication function as alternated. Textiles appear in many occasions in the course of one s life. When it involves man and a woman, weaving may often be a vessel for a woman s beauty and artistry. For me, weaving itself testifies the varied ethnicities in Laos, or the life and its philosophy of the weaver. However, in the present modernization or unification of the world, weaving tradition has gradually been changed. This is also the same for traditional costumes. My student time in Laos was more than a decade ago and most Lao women wore wrap skirts called sin as everyday wear at the time. But nowadays, most men, particularly younger generation in a city wear trousers and other clothes. It seems that the trend is for relegating traditional costumes to formal occasions or for the use as uniforms. On the other hand, the weaving industry is being used as a way for women, previously limited to only a few opportunities, to participate in the society through job training and in the form of employment. It seems to me that weaving itself, through women who practice it, is gradually transforming its place in Laotian society. To live side by side in a country like Laos with its many ethnic groups and many weaving traditions, as well as its diversified and interwoven cultures, it is important for each individual to cooperate, preserve, learn and pass on their traditions from grandmothers to mothers and then to daughters as they did so in the older days. This may be the way to protect indigenous cultures and at the same time the shortcut to symbiosis. NITTA: I was in Laos for 3 weeks this August for my personal research and found the country especially in the city area is rapidly modernized. In the world of weaving, today s topic too, the new patterns and different kinds of textiles pop up one after another. Modernization brings new changes such as creating new designs suited for the taste of overseas people or being affected from overseas due to the door opening to outside of the world. My question to Ms. Bounyavong is how difficult it is to maintain traditional production process and skills for textiles and how the weaving tradition could be passed down to the future generation. DOUANGDEUANE BOUNYAVONG: This is a difficult question. I always explore this particular problem, and it is very important. Laos changes rapidly these days. It is drastically changing. Since it is a small country surrounded by many larger ones, it feels like Laos is under pressure on many fronts, including its economy and population. The change will further in the form of various kinds of exchange instituted in a different areas in order for Asian countries to coexist peacefully. At present, many new things which are very exciting come into Laos. The speed of the change is sometimes too fast for us to follow. Up till recently, every Laotian family made objects and textiles for their own use by themselves. Every house had a loom. Girls traditionally learned how to weave from their grandmothers and mothers before. Nowadays, however, they go to school in the daytime. By 12

15 the time they come home, the sun is already down and they can no longer sit in front of the loom. Now in the rural villages of Laos, only grandmothers weave in daylight. Young women no longer weave. But in the cities where there is electricity, young people do weave at night. The Laotian government considers weaving as a technology, and is trying to promote the technology. The Lao Women s Union is one of the Lao government organizations. It recommends Lao women to weave as much as possible and provides a financial aid in the form of loans if certain conditions are met. Hand-woven cloths have become very expensive now. Why? Because weaving is their bread and butter. Women need to sell the woven textiles to buy the necessities and secure tuition for school for their children. Women weave textiles, sell the textiles, and buy ready-made clothing to wear with the money. It, in that sense, is really difficult to preserve the tradition of weaving. With so many new things coming in and the desire for change, it is not easy to preserve the old as is. In order to preserve this weaving tradition, we need appropriate policies and the support from numerous organizations. There is also a need to understand and promote the preservation of weaving within our society. It is not enough just to weave and sell; but to actually use what you have woven by yourselves. Now that the weaving skills cannot be acquired at home, it will be necessary for us to construct schools or vocational institutions to train the skills. The old design will also have to be modified with new touches to suit in the modernized lifestyle. NITTA: Let us ask ourselves. What do we produce at home and do we use the home-made for our own use? No, nothing. We buy everything. Being a specialist of archaeology in Southeast Asia, I visited Laos for the first time about 10 years ago; to the Plain of Jars for the field research. At a farm house in one village, I asked the family if they had any weaving textiles. They said yes and showed me some. The family had their own loom. The weaver brought out several pieces, and I though they were for sale. I immediately said, This looks nice. Please sell this piece to me. She turned me down, saying that she had woven the cloth for her own use and it was not for sale. I think this type of community has become very rare in Japan. The time when I was in Laos was a decade ago and major changes have been made since then. But, when you go to the rural area, you are sure to see that the tradition is still alive in the farming communities even now. Efforts have been made to preserve the traditions of weaving and clothing in Laos with the government and other institutions taking the initiative. I met Professor Suzuki, who was studying at a Laotian university, in Vientiane in 1994 for the first time. She appeared in a traditional Laotian woman s skirt called sin with a metal belt, giving me an idea on how university students dress at school. Several Japanese universities, especially women s colleges have uniforms, but none are furisode (a type of formal-wear kimono for young unmarried women). I was a little surprised to see that a traditional costume for women was used as college uniform. I would like to ask Professor Suzuki about the uniform at school, along with other memories of her studies in Laos. 13

16 SUZUKI: Ten years have gone quickly, but I still remember my first day in Laos very clearly. As I requested a home-stay with a Laotian family, I went to the house of a Lao family the very day I arrived in Laos. There, an elder daughter who looked like a main figure in the family said to me. Put down your bags and think if you can live here with us from today on. I had already made up mind, so I replied, Please let me stay here with you. She then brought a woven cloth and said, You will be a member of this family from now on, so let us make a wrap skirt called sin. I bought the cloth. That was my first buy in Laos and the first incident I was recognized as a family member. It took about an hour to make the skirt. Wearing the completed sin skirt, I reaffirmed that I lived here in Laos. Ever since, whenever I visit Laos and put on this wrap skirt, I remember the moment and gain strength from it. As Professor Nitta just mentioned, the sin is used as college uniform, but there is a basic dress code that forbids bright colors such as red and gold to be used in the skirt. But students express their own sense of style in the woven patterns at the hem of the skirt. Also, it is tacitly understood that even nowadays, a visit to government offices calls for a sin rather than trousers. This is the extent to which traditional clothing has become identified with uniforms and ritual use, but when you actually live in Laos, you feel the living presence that textiles play in everyday life, used not just for Laotian costumes but also for carrying bags, pillowcases and other items. An Introduction to Traditional Costumes NITTA: There is so much to talk about, but a look at the actual clothes is better than words. We could just bring them out as is, but that would not be very interesting. Clothing gains their value when they are actually worn, because they re not for display. What is beautiful is the sight of someone walking in an outfit, not the clothes hanging in a display window. We will now look at costumes from several Laotian ethnic groups, and ask Ms. Bounyavong and Professor Suzuki to comment on them. BOUNYAVONG: This red outfit (left) is worn by the local people of the Lao-Tai tribe in the lowlands along the Mekong River. SUZUKI: Let me comment a little more. The Tai of Lao- Tai group, which came up previously in the keynote speech, is Tai that is said with less breath exhaled rather than Thai. In other words, it refers not to the Kingdom of Thailand to the 14

17 south of Laos but to the Tai linguistic family group as a whole, including the Tai tribe, Lao tribe, Black Tai (Tai Dam) and so on. It is spelled T-A-I and refers to the general group. Sin, a wrap skirt of the Lao tribe, has patterns along the hem as you see here. There are trends that change from year to year, and the preferred style is for narrow patterns now. Two or three years ago, wide ones were in vogue. I d like to also explain the structure of sin. This is not a simple cylindrical wrap skirt, but is in fact properly tailored. There are hooks in two places, with the first for deciding and securing the length of the waist, and the other to fold back and secure at the right or left front. The placement is according to the wearer s preference, and I think this is one of the wonderful features about Laotian costumes. There are two hooks so you can secure the skirt in the orientation that you find comfortable, and in addition, the piece is tailored with two darts in front and another two in the back. BOUNYAVONG: This (left) is a costume worn by the men of the Phuan tribe. The Phuan are people who live in the region of Xiangkhoang and the Plain of Jars. When they attend festivals or visit temples, this is how they dress. For a wedding, they wear numerous ornaments around their feet and other parts of their bodies. BOUNYAVONG: This (two photos) is a costume for the women of the Lao tribe, and is worn when they dance. SUZUKI: The top part is a wide shawl, unfolded and wrapped around the torso and folded in two at the shoulder and allowed to drape over the back. BOUNYAVONG: It is also worn this way as an evening dress. Brides may also adopt this manner of dress as a secondary wedding costume. There is no blouse, just a single length of cloth. SUZUKI: For parties, women will wear one in brighter colors with gold thread, like this. 15

18 BOUNYAVONG: This outfit (left) mixes ethnic styles. The skirt is from an ethnic group called Tai Chai that lives near the border with Vietnam. The shawl is from the lowland Lao tribe. This blouse is constructed like the upper part of kimono, and is worn by many different tribes. Right now, the trend among the young is to wear a mix of styles. If a woman gets tired of this hem, she can find a new hem and attach it. The upper portion can also be replaced, and if the main body develops a hole or wears down, it can be patched to be usable again. Because this skirt is made simple, with no darts or hooks, anyone can wear it. It works whether the wearer is thin or fat, with big bellies or sunken ones. It has free sizing, and can be worn by the young or the old. Only the striped and the plain sections of this hem were woven, and then the piece was embroidered. This pattern takes its cue from nature, such as deer and flowers. Since young women like flowers, flower embroideries are common. Sometimes, patterns of multiple animals are included in the same skirt. There may be many different kinds, such as birds and butterflies, but this hem is mostly deer. The lower part looks a little like musical notations, doesn t it? BUNYAVONG: This is a Leu tribe costume. The skirt is made from an old textile. The black part below is cotton dyed with indigo, and this section can be replaced as well. If you want a shorter skirt, this black part can be shortened. The red shawl is also worn as a turban. The skirt parts Waist The Laotian skirt consists of three parts, the hem, main body and waist. The waist also has a strip of cotton attached, and this can be replaced once worn out, as well as made of different colored material. This is kind of a private style statement, made in a part of the skirt that is barely visible. Main body Hem 16

19 BOUNYAVONG: This is a man s outfit from the Black Tai tribe. The men do not wear too many colors. This is indigo-dyed cotton. The shawl around the waist is the only piece of colored textile. If a man s wife or mother is a skillful weaver, he would be able to wear a great shawl. This is a Black Tai woman s dress. The silver buttons on the jacket are shaped to look like moths or butterflies when clasped together. Silver was the norm in the old days, but now, they are made of the more affordable aluminum. The Black Tai tribe used to live in northern Laos, near the Vietnamese border, but they have now moved to many different areas and can be found in Vientiane as well. Because the Black Tai are scattered across many regions and have many subdivisions inside the ethnic group as well, everything they wear, down to a single hem, is different. A characteristic of the Black Tai is that they do not wear their shawls, but instead use them as a waist sash. Also, the most notable feature is the turban they wear on the head. When the shawl is new, it is used on visits to temples and festivals. When they are older, it becomes a turban, worn during farm work. Once worn out, the cloth may be even used to scrub the floor. The piece is used up until nothing is left. BOUNYAVONG: This is worn by the men of the Phu Tai tribe. Many of them live in central Laos, around Savannakhet. This is worn for special occasions, because it is made entirely of silk. It could be a groom s outfit. For an actual wedding, the groom wears a great deal more ornaments made of metal, such as gold or silver, at the ceremony. This is still the case. The Phu Tai can be found not just in central Savannakhet, but also in Luangphrabang to the north. In Luangphrabang and Vientiane, everyone dresses like this to go to the temple. The men wear a blouse and sarong. The sarong is very long, a single piece of cloth over 3 meters in length. It is first wrapped around the waist, then the remainder is twisted around and around like a tail and secured above to form something like trousers. The men all dress in this manner, but the pattern varies according to ethnic group. SUZUKI: There really are a lot of different ethnic groups in Laos, and each one has its unique costumes. There is a phrase meaning help each other out, the favorite expression used by Laotians. Everyone helps each other, recognizes each other s value, and everyday life allows many opportunities to see costumes like this. What a truly wonderful country Laos is. 17

20 NITTA: It may have been short, just for two hours, but we were able to look at the world of Lao textiles through several actual pieces. When I was working on an excavation in Thailand, we unearthed a spinning tool along with a woman s remains from a grave dating back almost 4,000 years. In the burial site deep in the mountains of Iran that I worked on in my 20s, we also found spinning tools from a woman s grave. This proves weaving and spinning have been practiced in greater Southeast Asia and Iran from such a long time ago, or perhaps even before. Women and weaving have a long history and connection. This is probably true all over the world, but in Laos, as you saw today, numerous ethnic groups have their own unique textile tradition, their own world. From what we heard earlier, we know that an accelerated social transformation is underway in Laos, and that patterns and weaving methods are changing radically according to the trend of the day. The same is true all over the world. A mere vogue will not last. People will tire of it, and what they will eventually return to are traditional patterns and weaving methods. And from these, new things will arise, I think. I believe that Ms. Bounyavong will continue to protect the weaving tradition of Laos and leave her inimitable mark on the work of passing on the rich world of Laotian textiles to future generations. To everyone who joined us here today, I urge you to visit Laos. We only exhibited a small sample today, but there are incredible variety and number of textiles in the country. The prices range from affordable to very high-end, and I encourage you to actually touch the right pieces in Laos. Today s forum has focused on Laos, but the whole Southeast Asia is home to very rich textiles. There are the worlds of weaving and dyeing in Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries. I hope you will visit there and sit in the lap of luxury of this rich tradition of Asia. Thank you for joining us today. 18

21 *1: Continuous supplementary weft/warp weaving A technique that weaves out a pattern by incorporating another weft throughout the width of the piece in addition to the foundation weft and warp *2: Discontinuous supplementary weft/warp weaving A technique that weaves out a pattern by incorporating another weft in a part of the width of the piece in addition to the foundation weft and warp Both *1 and *2 are techniques that create a pattern by incorporating (in all or part) another thread that weaves out a pattern through a process resembling embroidery, in addition to the foundation weft and warp. *3: Ikat The warp, the weft or both are dyed after the section that forms the pattern is bound by a separate thread, to weave out a pattern on the surface of the cloth. This is one of the methods for articulating the woven pattern. When the dyed thread is used in the warp, the process is called warp ikat, and in the case of the weft, weft ikat. When it is used for both, the method is referred to as double ikat. *4: Reed A tool that takes the warp through it, determining the width of the cloth and keeping the density of the warp even. It also serves to beat the weft in and achieve the appropriate density. *5: Shuttle A tool used to weave in the weft. *6: Heddle A tool for creating openings for the weft to pass through by threading through warp and moving the warp up and down. It holds the warp as it opens to let in the weft. By threading the warp according to a created pattern and moving the heddle up and down, the warp and weft are combined to produce cloth. *7: Tapestry weaving A technique that weaves out a pattern by zigzagging the weft without threading them all the way across. *8: Tai A general category for ethnic groups that use the Tai linguistic family, such as the Lao, Black Tai (Tai Dam), Red Tai (Tai Daeng), White Tai (Tai Khao) and other tribes. *9: Laccifer lacca An insect that forms the major constituent for a red dye. Also known as cochineal insect. They are generally known as pests that damage fruit trees and ornamental plants, but are used throughout the world for a variety of purposes in addition to dyes, such as medicines, adhesives and paints.

22 M A P CHINA VIETNAM MYANMAR LAOS Luangphrabang Plain of Jars Gulf of Tongking Vientiane THAILAND Mekong River Pakse Wat Phou CAMBODIA