Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

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As a
young girl, Kekuwe-ü had
seen her mother and grandmother weaving with the stems of stinging
nettle or thevo. She would pick up a piece left
half-done by her mother and practice on her own. But she had to do it secretly,
because her mother had given her strict instructions not to touch the piece.
That is how Kekuwe-ü
slowly and secretively picked up the skill of weaving Naga shawls without
anyone really teaching her, she says.

Today,
she is a master craftswoman, finding time between her farming and household
work to weave. “While waiting for water to boil to cook rice, or if someone
takes our children for a walk, we try to weave this much,” she says, indicating
the length of her index finger.

Kekuwe-ü
is sitting with two of her neighbours – Vehüsülü and Ezhiehilü
Chotso – in her tin-roofed
house in Rukizo Colony. According to Kekuwe-ü&#39;s estimates, roughly 11 per cent of the 266 households in Pfütsero
village of Nagaland’s Phek district practice weaving. And it’s largely the women
of the Kuzhami sub-group of the Chakhesang community (listed as Scheduled
Tribe) who do it. “Our husbands help,” says Kekuwe-ü, “they might cook too, but
they are not ‘experts’ like women. We have to cook, farm, weave and do other
chores.”

Like
Kekuwe-ü, Vehüsülü and Ezhiehilü Chotso also started weaving at a
young age. The learning process begins with performing small tasks such as
spooling, winding or wefting the yarn. 

Ezhiehilü Chotso, now 35, started weaving when she was around 20.
 “I weave different kinds of clothes – shawl, and wrap-around. I used to
weave around 30 pieces but now with children to look after I can hardly weave a
shawl in a week or sometimes two,” she says. 

“In
the morning and evening, I look after my children and weave during the day,”
she adds, but with her fourth child due, she has stopped working for now.



The women weave their traditional attire – mekhala (traditional Naga sarong) and shawls, for themselves and their
family. Vehüsülü, a fourth generation weaver, also weaves clothes for
the Angami tribe. “I weave them particularly around the annual Hornbill
Festival when the demand is high,” she says. 

Organised
by the Nagaland state government, the Hornbill Festival is a 10-day affair that
begins on December 1. The festival showcases traditional culture and ways of
life and a large number of tourists arrive from within and outside India.

Each
Naga tribe has its own shawl, unique to the community and the Chakhesang shawls received a Geographical Indications (GI) tag in 2017.

“Shawls
symbolise identity, status and gender among other things,” explains Dr.
Zhokusheyi Rhakho, who teaches History at Phek Government College. “No ceremony
or festival is complete without shawls.”

“Traditional shawls signify our cultures and values,” explains Neitshopeü
(Atshole) Thopi, Project Coordinator at Chizami Weaves, a livelihood programme
dedicated to promoting and preserving the unique textile of Nagaland.

“Each
shawl or mekhela falls into different
categories. For example, there are specific ones for unmarried individuals,
married couples, younger women or men and some reserved for funeral services,”
she explains. According to Atshole, spear, shield, mithun, elephant, moon, sun,
flowers and butterflies are some common motifs incorporated into Chakhesang
shawls.

But
the women PARI spoke to were mostly unaware of these categories and the significance
of the motifs that they weave, indicating that while the craft has been passed
on from one generation to the next, the stories have not. Kekuwe-ü and her
neighbours are also not aware that Chakhesang shawls received a GI, but say
weaving helps a lot during financial emergencies. Vehüsülü, weaving a
thread into the warp and tightening it with a wooden beater tells PARI, “we
don’t earn anything from farming until the crop is harvested, but in case of
weaving, it can be sold at any time to tide over a crisis.”

The
weavers usually buy raw materials from the market in Pfütsero, a sub-division
in the district of Phek. Two types of yarns are used in weaving – cotton and
wool are more common now and the traditional natural fibre from plants is
slowly falling out of practice with the easy availability of mass-produced
yarn.   

“We
usually buy in bulk during the peak season, November-December, from a
designated shop, who usually keep our finished products for sale or arrange
orders,” Vehüsülü says. A kilo of local wool and two-ply yarn costs
Rs. 550 and Thailand yarn is priced at Rs. 640 a kilo. 

The
weavers weave on a traditional Naga loin loom made of bamboo and wood. 

Kekuwe-ü
points out the chezherho or backstrap
and the radzü or a wooden wrapping
machine. The backstrap, she explains, is connected to a kepe (wooden bar or rod). This generates tension and wraps the
woven end. However, even without &#39;radzü,&#39;
the wrap beam, known as &#39;radzü kulo,’
can be horizontally attached to a wall or any supporting structure to create
tension.

Weavers
use five to eight tools essential to the weaving process: a lojie or wooden beater plays a crucial
role in determining the quality, smoothness, and firmness of the shawl; a
weaving shuttle known as mephetshüka
is a simple stick with yarns. For designing intricate patterns, weavers use
thin bamboo heddle sticks – lonü thsüka
– strung with yarn heddles. The lopü
or bamboo shed stick is used to separate the warps into upper and lower groups
during weaving. Thin bamboo rods called kezhe
thsüka and nache thsüka act as
lease rods to keep the warp yarns separated and in order.

The
main crop here is paddy cultivated in May–June used for self-consumption. On
their small plot of land, Vehüsülü also cultivates khuvie (Allium chinese) –
a kind of aromatic herb used in salads and other dishes that Vehüsülü
sells in the local market. 

“In
the period between sowing and harvesting, there is the usual farm cycle such as
weeding, nurturing and guarding crops from wildlife,” she adds, leaving limited
time for undivided attention to weaving.

Kekuwe-ü
recalls being taunted by her family for not contributing enough to farming and
spending her time weaving instead. But she did not change her mind. “Even though
I did not go to the field often, weaving provided a vital livelihood source for
us. Before my marriage, I used to help the family pay tuition fees for my
brother’s children and assist them in whichever way I could during festivals,”
she says. During the off-season, the money she earned from weaving paid
for the family’s rations, Kekuwe-ü adds.

The
wages are not enough, say the women. 

“If
we go for daily wages we might earn around 500 to 600 rupees and if we weave,
we earn around 1,000 to 1,500 rupees a week,” says Vehüsülü. The low
daily wages, adds Kekuwe-ü are because “a daily wager earns around 600 to 1,000
a day, but women get a mere 100 to 150.”

“Poisa paili hoishe [it’s fine so long as
I get paid],” Ezhiehilü Chotso chimes in on a lighter note and then
raises a serious concern, “there is no assistance from the government here.” 

There
are health problems too. Sitting in one position for too long or bending leads
to humorbikha (backache), which, Vehüsülü
promptly says, is one of the biggest challenges of her work. 

There
is also competition in the market from machine-made products. “People pay a
higher price when buying such clothes from the market without any complaints,”
says Kekuwe-ü, “but when it comes to items made by local weavers, even if there
is a single loose thread, people will ask for a discount.” 

This
story is supported by a fellowship from Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation (MMF).

In Nagaland: women weave through challenges

ନାଗାଲାଣ୍ଡରେ: ମହିଳାମାନେ ଆହ୍ୱାନ ଭିତରେ ବୁଣାବୁଣି କରନ୍ତି

ناگالینڈ کی بنکر خواتین کو درپیش چیلنجیز

நாகாலாந்தில் சவால்களினூடாக நெசவு செய்யும் பெண்கள்

ਨਾਗਾਲੈਂਡ: ਜਿੱਥੇ ਬੁਣਾਈ ਦਾ ਮਤਲਬ ਹੈ ਚੁਣੌਤੀਆਂ ਨਾਲ਼ ਨਜਿੱਠਣਾ

ঝড়ঝাপ্টা সামলে তাঁত বুনছেন নাগাল্যান্ডের মেয়েরা

ನಾಗಾ ಲ್ಯಾಂಡ್: ಸವಾಲುಗಳ ನಡುವೆ ನೇಯ್ಗೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮಹಿಳೆಯರು

നാഗാലാൻഡിൽ - വെല്ലുവിളികൾക്കിടയിലും സ്ത്രീകൾ നെയ്യുന്നു

પડકારોની પરે: નાગાલેન્ડની વણકર મહિલાઓ

बजार आ कम मजूरी के बीच अझुराइल मेहरारू बुनकर

नागालैंड: कतको चुनौती झेलत माईलोगन मन

নান প্ৰত্যাহ্বানৰ মাজতো তাঁতশালখন এৰি নিদিয়া নাগালেণ্ডৰ শিপিনী

नागालैंड: मुश्किलों की डोरी से ज़िंदगी की चादर बुनतीं महिला बुनकर

Akole

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In Nagaland: women weave through challenges

For the women of the Chakhesang tribe, weaving is a traditional occupation, passed down from one generation to the next. But low wages and competition from machine-made products are posing a problem

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