Prayer Strands on Each Toraja Sheet of Weaving Cloth

Twisting the unuran, traditional yarn spinner

- Sakti Karuru

When entering To’barana’ Village, North Toraja Regency, South Sulawesi Province, village guests were greeted by the activities of women from various ages who sit in a wooden house with slats while leaning on a hammer or waist support device while weaving, their hands swinging to form a neat and beautiful strand of cloth with a blend of typical Toraja colors. Meanwhile, other women are seen busy spinning an Unuran or a traditional yarn spinner with one hand while the other is holding a cotton bandage that will be shaped into thread as the main material for making woven fabrics.

This weaving is a souvenir that is very popular for tourists, apart from the unique combination of colors and motifs, the traditional manufacturing process is also an added value. Toraja woven cloth is basically the main raw material for clothing, sarongs, as well as pasappu or a type of headgear used by traditional and religious figures in Toraja traditional rituals and parties. Certain types of woven fabrics are even used as markers of social status during traditional ceremonies.

Toraja weaving generally uses manufactured yarn and yarn from cotton spun and pineapple leaf fiber. Before using pineapple fiber, Toraja people used bark fiber as the main material for weaving. The resulting cloth is more often used as a wrapper for corpses because of its excellent absorbency. According to Michael Frederik Sosang, after traders from India and Gujarat began to enter South Sulawesi, cotton fiber began to be used as a mixture of pineapple fiber because the material is softer.

The dyes used are sourced from plants such as tree trunks, roots, bark, and fruits. The red color is obtained from teak and henna leaves, the yellow color is from turmeric, the green color is from pandan leaves, the reddish-brown color is from the mahogany tree, the soil brown color is from tamarind seeds and the dark brown color is made from rotting banana stems. The color of the basic fabric is red which comes from the roots of the noni fruit and areca nut, and the black color comes from the bark of the Bilente tree.

The women weavers in the village of To’baranna’ use cotton fibers that are spun into yarn using unurans made of bamboo. After the threads are dyed, the threads are arranged and tightened one by one using ballads to form the desired motif. This process is done by inserting the weft between the warp threads until it resembles weave. Each strand of weft thread is inserted back and forth into the warp threads, pressed up and down alternately so that the threads are tightly interwoven to produce a cloth of better quality.

Toraja weaving has been widely known as a form of local wisdom that is worth selling. However, only a small number understands the function and meaning of traditional Toraja fabrics which are generally worn during traditional or religious ceremonies such as Rambu Solo’ (a mourning ceremony) or Rambu Tuka’ (a thanksgiving ceremony).

In addition to weaving, there is also Toraja wastra that uses wax-resist (wax resistance) in its manufacturing technique. This species also has a very significant role in the implementation of traditional ceremonies in Toraja. The type of maa’ cloth, for example, has a sacred value so it is often only used by traditional priests in Toraja as a headband when leading ceremonies. In the Rambu Solo’ ceremony, maa’ is usually used to wrap the corpse.

The type of cloth that resembles maa’ although it is wider and shorter is the sarita which has a distinctive long and narrow shape, and is generally brown

Weaving in the village of To’baranna’-

Sakti Karuru

or dark blue and white. Both maa’ and sarita are generally hand painted using the wax barrier technique. This technique is a local adaptation of the batik dyeing method and sometimes uses mud – on plain fabrics, woven locally or, often by machine from India.

Generally, this type of cloth is used as decoration or banners in Tongkonan houses to be held for ceremonies, because it is considered a symbol of blessing. Both maa’ and sarita are considered as valuable heirlooms from the ancestors of the Toraja people, which are passed down from generation to generation. The older the age of this cloth, the more valuable its presence in every traditional ceremony. Stories about maa’ and sarita are also often told in the oral narratives and litanies of the Toraja people, which are important evidence of their presence for this indigenous people. The Toraja people document and transmit their oral narratives through symbols and motifs that are often found on their traditional fabrics, such as hieroglyphs. For example, several motifs are attached to female figures, such as the pa’sekong kandaure motif which is a symbol of the greatness of Toraja women. This motif is the hope that every descendant, the children and grandchildren who are born, always live in happiness. Another motif that is also widely known is tau-tau, a motif that resembles a human, according to the meaning of tau-tau in the Toraja language. Tau-tau is a replica or statue of a dead Toraja person and is usually placed around the place where the body is buried. The tau-tau motif is widely used by Toraja nobles.

The buffalo motif or pa’tedong is a symbol of strength, prosperity and welfare because of its role as the highest offering sacrifice in traditional ceremonies. Having a woven cloth with a pa’tedong motif is a matter of pride because of the presence of buffalo in the life of the Toraja people as pets, which are generally very loved. Even in the passomba tedong oral tradition, the ancestors of buffalo are told to meet human ancestors in the forest and were asked by Puang Matua, who in the

Kain sarita menghiasi atap Tongkonan -

Sakti Karuru

religion of the ancestors of the Toraja people is believed to be the creator of the first humans, plants, animals, and even tools made of metal to give themselves. as sacrifices to the gods and ancestors. The most common motif found in Toraja woven fabrics is the pa’bannang motif, which is a motif of straight lines like threads. This motif can be found on the pa’borong-borong woven fabric, where straight lines of color fill the fabric. In the meantime, the pa’bannang motif on the pa’miring woven fabric is only found at the ends or edges of the fabric. The straight lines on the woven fabric are a reminder that every human being is equal, so it is important to be able to live side by side with mutual respect and appreciation for one another. Each motif that tries to be displayed conveys a series of diverse stories about people’s lives including the role and status of the wearer in adat and about hopes and prayers for prosperity. Each sheet of cloth that is woven becomes a medium to represent the social and cultural life of the Toraja people. For these indigenous peoples, weaving is not just a work of art, more than that its presence as a messenger to future generations in the process of their social interaction in traditional life. (Susia

Kartika Imanuella, South Sulawesi Oral Tradition Activist)

Sarita cloth adorns the roof of Tongkonan -

Susia Kartika Imanuella