Cotton ceremonial cloth with crocodile pattern

Unknown artist

This cloth is a pua. The main function of these ceremonial cloths is as a means of communication between the human and spiritual world. Powerful motifs have their origin in the contact with Kumang, an ancestral spirit. These contacts with spirits are made while sleeping under the pua. \Pua are used for several ceremonial purposes, such as during one of the biggest celebrations among the Iban, the 'gawai'. The pua then mark sacred places. Objects and people are wrapped in pua and they are used to decorate altars and offerings to the gods. Newborn babies are carried in pua to their first ritual bath in the river. Finally, pua are also used to cover the dead. The more powerful the motifs, the more protection they offer, for example also during preparations for a great journey (van Hout, 1999:12).\Ikat is a technique whereby the threads of a fabric are first tied off, according to pattern, after which they are dipped into a dye bath. The tied off parts are not dyed. This process can be repeated a number of times, so that a multicoloured pattern is created.\ Depending on whether the dyeing process has been applied to the warp, weft or both threads, this technique is called warp-ikat, weft-ikat and double-ikat. The first is the most common.Before the threads are tied off, they are often folded over each other, both lengthwise and widthwise. With such a method, the motifs appear in mirror image.