Supporting Palaung backstrap weavers

Palaung women in traditional dress

Our December wouldn’t be complete without a day at the Doi Kham Fair in Chiang Mai. At this annual exhibition of the King’s Royal Projects in northern Thailand, we were fortunate this year to meet a group of Palaung weavers. The Palaung (also spelled “Palong’ or, as they call themselves, “Ta’ang”) are the most recent displaced peoples to settle in Thailand from Burma.

In Burma, where they are one of the oldest indigenous peoples, they live primarily in northern Shan State in an area long recognized for tea production. A new report released by Ta’ang Students and Youth Organization estimates that 63% of farming families have lost their land to confiscation by the Burmese military and their cronies, primarily for massive hydroelectric and pipeline development projects. Read more on the Palaung Women's Organization website.

Cotton scarf, naturally dyed

The Palaung women we met live close to the Thai-Burmese border, about 3 hours by bus from Chiang Mai. Their traditional dress, which they were wearing, centres around red fabric but the handwoven scarves we bought from them are naturally dyed. All were woven with thick, cotton yarns on backstrap looms.

The older women we met belong to a 42-women strong weaving group, while the younger women from whom we also bought belong to another group in a nearby village. As with all the women's weaving groups with whom we work, weaving brings important additional income to these communities.

To learn more about the Palaung people, visit Indigenous Peoples of the World. For more information on backstrap weaving, visit Backstrap Basics. And see our post about another backstrap weaving group from last year's Doi Kham Fair.

Cotton scarf, naturally dyed

Cotton scarf, naturally dyed

Cotton scarf, naturally dyed

Cotton scarf, naturally dyed

The Cycles of Nature: When Black is Brown

Whenever we visit our weaving partners in Thailand and Laos, we’re struck by the cyclical nature of this work. There is a season for everything. Dye in rainy season and cool season. Weave in cool season. Rest in hot season. Begin again. And throughout, grow rice. Plant. Tend. Harvest.

For us too, there is a season. We spend 4 months here each year during weaving season. We make orders, choose textiles already woven, visit the dyers and weavers in their town shops and, sometimes, in their villages.

For the weavers, their constant is growing rice, the crop and food that underpins life in this part of the world. Our constant is learning – about the lives of these women, their techniques, their skills, their capacities, their interests in working together. And, always, we learn more about the effects of natural and its cycles.

An example: This year Panmai Group in Northeast Thailand told us that it’s a bumper year for ebony in their region. The fruits of this tall tree yield browns that, when dyed again and again, produce a deep, rich espresso black. Delighted with the news, we immediately placed an order with Panmai for a dozen ebony black scarves. In the process we learned that, unlike other colours, they dye only finished scarves with ebony as the dye makes the fine silk threads too sticky to handle in skeins.

We also ordered black scarves from Lao Sericulture Co., which works with hundreds of families in Northeast Laos. Their black is achieved using other dye materials available in their area. But black – in any region – is difficult to produce with natural dyes. It depends on both the skills of the dyer and, more unpredictably, the weather.

This year, when we saw our first samples in Laos, the “black” scarves were definitely brown – and a pale brown, at that. Tactfully, they offered to re-dye the organic silk yarns. We gratefully accepted their offer and hoped for a deeper, chocolate brown next time. Today, the second samples arrived: the colours are beautiful – one style a lovely chocolate brown and the other a deep espresso brown – so we eagerly await the completion of the order. Yes, these “blacks” are browns, but they’re beautiful and this is what nature offers us right now.

This is handwork that shows the hand of the maker. It also shows the hand of nature, yielding colours that can only be achieved by knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation, coupled with experimentation and trainings in methods that will improve colour fastness and colour depth, even new colours. There will always be variation.

What’s important to us at TAMMACHAT is that, whatever the result of our order, each piece is unique. Each respects nature. Each supports rural women. What could be better?

When the weaver becomes part of the loom

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

Proud Karen weaver with her work

Today we attended the Royal Project Fair that celebrates the King of Thailand’s support for sustainable agriculture as well as the hilltribe peoples’ cultures and self-sufficiency. There we found some beautiful phaa ngung gee e-ow. The best news is that it was being sold by the Karen weaver herself with assistance from 2 bilingual (Karen/Thai) young women.

We bought 2 of these pieces in red, constructed in a traditional way with 3 long, narrow pieces sewn together. Each strip was 15” wide and almost 2 yards long. Each finished piece makes a stunning textile that traditionally is wrapped around the hips or simply tailored into a tunic top. These beautiful cotton weavings can also be used as to create contemporary fashions or home décor: wall hangings, table coverings, cushion covers and other upholstery uses.

I’m not fond of going to language classes but I love talking with people at markets – especially with tribal peoples whose mother tongue is not the one we’re speaking – especially when we’re talking about weaving or food.

My “Word of the Day” was gee e-ow. The young woman who taught me gee e-ow apologized that she didn’t know the English translation. So I taught it to her. “Backstrap,” I said pointing to my lower back while saying the Thai word for that body part. Then I fell into another vocabulary void, so I mimed a strap going around my hips.

One of the pieces we bought

While I may not have known the word, I did know that Karen (aka Kariang) women are renowned for their skill at backstrap weaving. The Karen people are often described as a nomadic “hilltribe” people who have migrated from China. This is literally true but many Karen settled in valleys north of Chiang Mai long before it was part of the nation state called Thailand.

While backstrap looms have largely been replaced by stationary floor looms, some traditional cultures still create beautiful textiles with this deceptively simple technology in which the weaver becomes part of the loom.

The huipiles of Guatemala are perhaps the most widely recognized example of backstrap weaving. However, every year the women who excel at this art number fewer as these traditional cultural practices are lost.

Discussing good sizes for handwoven shawls

Today everyone was excited with our purchases, which also included several unbleached cotton scarves with a lovely texture. We told them about our business in Canada and they invited us to visit their village weaving group to learn more and, perhaps, to make a special order. This type of exchange often marks the beginning of a longer, fair trade relationship that is based on mutual benefit, learning and respect.

Until next time,
Alleson