TRADITIONAL WEAVING

Kowalwaan, a spinning wheel

Kanune, cloth made of fibers of the palm leaf

Weaving to cover a dead person (shroud)

Hand weaving is a cultural inheritance that once existed in any part of Maluku. Today, this cultural aspect is dying, except in the South Eastern parts of Maluku. According to the rule stated by the ancestors, a girl is not allow to marry before she masters the art of weaving. Threads for weaving are from wild cottons. The tribes in Seram used fibers of the wild sago palm leaf. Fabrics of sago fibers are called “kanune” originally originating from west Seram.
Before people were able to spin threads from fibers and cotton they used tree bark as basic material for making clothes (loin cloth). Tree bark cloth from Seram is called “cidaku”. Preparing the cidaku they had to use “batu cidaku” (stone pounders).
      A weaving cloth is also used to as tool of payment, dowry etc. Sometimes a cloth is adored with sea shells.