Tewuni Rai Savu - Bridewealth bag / tas kenoto

Description:

Kenoto refers to a marriage ceremony. A bridewealth bag filled with ingredients for betel chew is brought to the family of the bride; after the ceremony and the sharing of betel, the bag is hung at the male pillar of the bride father’s house as a material proof of the marriage. In a society with no written tradition this equates a marriage certificate.Knowledge about the peculiar weaving technique of the Savunese bridewealth bag was on the verge of disappearing in 1998 when a photo from the archives of the National Museum of Ethnology in the Netherlands was brought to the island. Efforts by weavers in the hamlet of Ledetadu, village of Pedèro, over several years allowed producing again this very special bag. Important here is the technique used for weaving the bag; the same warp threads run through the body and the handle which makes it very sturdy although it never has to carry a heavy load. However a few threads have been severed and twisted so that the
handle is not too wide. The bag belongs to the group of textiles with continuous
warp and no empty space. This very ancient weaving technique has been documented on sarongs found on Sulawesi and dated 15th to 17th C. So far no similar technique for weaving a bag has been found in Indonesia.

Dyer and weaver: Lena Jami
Moiety: Greater Blossom
Maternal lineage: wini Ga Lena

About the history and revival of the bridewealth bag,
kenoto, see:
https://journals.openedition.org/archipel/408?lang=en

Material: commercial cotton,

Dyes: indigo and morinda

Dimension: L73cm x l 37cm

Color: Red, Blue, White