As the Rumah Gare Indu Ngar, Bangie is committed to her responsibility to conduct the ritual at least twice a year. — Photos: BEN FOO
Bangie Embol can’t remember how long her ancestors have lived next to Sungai Kain, an almost two-hour drive from Kapit in central Sarawak. But the 79-year-old remembers her first weaving experience.
“At 10, I learned to weave from my master weaver grandmother, who raised me after my mother died when I was only two months old.”
Morning mist rolls in from the surrounding mountain range. After sunset, pitch darkness descends on Rumah Gare, nestled in a forest clearing.
While modern amenities add to the Iban tribe’s convenience, certain practices endure.
Fresh fish caught in the river and deer shot in the jungle provide their daily meals. The communal hallway, the heart of the longhouse, sees community members constantly gather. And in pua kumbu, they weave their identity, heritage and wisdom, from tales passed down for generations.
Sourced from the jungle, the natural dyes are painstakingly prepared to ensure vibrant, clear colours.
Cultural identity
Pua kumbu is a traditional single-warp ikat textile, handwoven on a backstrap floor loom. More than just a fabric, it symbolises the weaver’s womanhood and her value within the community.
Fashion designer Edric Ong, who is also an author of two books on Iban textiles, says: “Traditionally, the Iban woman’s status in her community is marked by how well she can weave. The highest status is accorded to the dye master and weaver.”
In that sense, pua kumbu is a sacred textile, filled with symbolism and history, representing the Iban community’s spiritual and cultural heritage. Its intricate craftsmanship also holds deep cultural significance, straddling physical and spiritual worlds.
Historically used in ceremonies and rituals, the woven cloth plays a vital role, from birth to death, marking rites of passage and healing.
Conventionally, pua kumbu skills pass down matrilineally. However, Bangie, born to a Rumah Gare descendant of Indu Ngar (master weaver) was initially reluctant to accept the master mantle, as it entails daunting responsibilities.
But the spirits in her dreams were resolute about her fulfilling her duty. Warned of a curse striking her longhouse, she finally accepted the title 34 years ago.
Among her obligations as the honoured celestial leader and pua kumbu custodian, Bangie conducts the Ngar ritual at least twice a year. The mordant ritual, prior to creating significantly complex and sacred pua kumbu, lasts up to two weeks.
The deeply spiritual ceremony invokes gods’ and ancestral spirits’ blessings, guidance and protection to cleanse, prepare and approve the weaver.
Each piece carries the weight of ancestors, gods, and tales of the past.
The solemn communal event involves a series of rituals to empower weavers to create not only a piece of art, but a repository of spiritual connection.
Steeped in history and mythology, prayers and offerings with traditional songs and chants invoke ancestors’ spirits to bless the cloth, along with imparting wisdom and power to the weaver. Water and sacred herbs purify both weaver and materials in a cleansing ritual.
As the women here adhere to the ceremony, Rumah Gare weavers are renowned for their expertise.
Indeed, they are considered the finest pua kumbu weavers. Ong says: “The mordanting pre-treatment of cotton threads with ginger, nut oils and natural palm salt ensures good natural colours of the threads, guaranteeing their naturally dyed pua kumbu continues to be the best.”
Always at one with nature, the weavers used to forage deep in the jungle for natural dyes, as their ancestors did. Now, though, they have planted many closer to their longhouse.
Natural dyes produced from tarum (Indigofera tinctoria) leaf, engkudu (Morinda citrifolia) root and janggau (Aporosa confusa) bark create the textiles’ signature reddish-brown and black hues.
Simple hand-carved wooden tools, along with purchased cotton and silk thread, are all that they require.
The weavers step on the soaking threads at intervals to ensure the dye seeps in well.
Inspiring women
Despite her fame and many accolades – among them the Master Weaver title by Unesco in 2017, Hasanah Gold Thread Award for Best Traditional Ikat (2023) and Tokoh Kraf Negara (2024) – Bangie’s dedication to her calling and craft continues.
“If I don’t weave, what do I do?” she asks emphatically. Tall, slim and soft-spoken, her steely determination is beyond dispute. Quiet and assured, even as she laughs and gossips with the other women, she always returns to her loom.
Bangie translates her dreams into exquisite pua kumbu textiles, juxtaposing ancient belief systems, ancestral ties to land, and cultural identity.
“I never copy,” she reveals. “My designs are always original, inspired by nature and my imagination.”
Her dreams, often complex, inspire the weaving, with shorter stories forming part of a larger narrative. Each pua tells a piece of the weaver’s imagination, history and cultural legacy.
“History has a story, part of a large life story,” Bangie says.
She initially turned to weaving after her husband’s passing. This helped in educating and supporting her five children. Meanwhile, she kept planting padi, tapping rubber and tending to the land.
She was also instrumental in persuading others in her longhouse to focus on weaving as their sole income source, moving away from farming.
Every weaver has her own story to tell.
When we visited her, Bangie was teaching her weavers a neglected traditional technique as part of the Maybank Women Eco-Weavers programme. Part of her legacy and promise to the gods is to pass on her knowledge. The younger women and her grandchildren are learning, she says, especially her very keen six-year-old great-granddaughter.
“I like to teach women. By sharing my skills, they can become independent and earn their own money.”
A narrow cotton shawl takes over a week to weave and sells for about RM500. Though the weaving process is time-consuming, her greatest challenge is ensuring her vision manifests itself perfectly in the pua kumbu.
Her deepest satisfaction comes when someone appreciates or purchases a piece, but her most cherished works are those she creates for her children, weaving dreams of abundance as good luck charms for their future.
Considering Rumah Gare is a renowned, prosperous longhouse, social enterprise Tanoti Crafts co-founder Jacqueline Fong started working with them in July 2020, during the pandemic, when they began to struggle without the means to sell their popular pieces.
The women know that weaving is an income generator, so they eagerly participated in the Maybank programme, where they are paid to learn and enabled to sell their pieces afterwards.
The programme has already succeeded, as girls as young as 14 are sending her photos of pieces they are working on. Adds Fong: “The project is meant to activate interest – lessons for the next generation to keep their skills in their fingers.”
Passing on her knowledge is both a part of Bangie's legacy and a promise to the gods. — Photos: JACQUELINE PEREIRA
Reviving tradition
Bangie is unambiguous about her inheritance. Not only is she inclined to continue weaving, she wants to pass on the age-old techniques and skills steeped in history and hard work.
All Rumah Gare’s women’s rooms are filled, some ceiling-high, with meticulously woven cotton or silk pua kumbu.
Even with countless pieces woven over the years, it’s difficult to explain pua kumbu, “only those who are really interested will understand”.
A key skill to cultivate in a good weaver, Bangie believes, is discipline.
“You have to work from morning until night.”
She leads her team. Some days she is the first person at her loom, working until late. She is so consumed that the others have to remind her to eat way past lunch time. Not surprisingly, under Bangie’s tutelage, the women have become independent and entrepreneurial. However, in creating a new economy for her tribe, she still ensures they remain true to the art.
As co-producer of the Hasanah Gold Thread Awards (HGTA), Fong views the annual event, now in its second edition, as “a point of inflection, a platform to ensure heritage textiles survive”.
Sustainably sourced, the dyes are derived from roots, stems and leaves.
This year, HGTA received 158 applications, surpassing 2023 in creativity, quantity and quality.
Siti Kamariah Ahmad Subki, managing director of Yayasan Hasanah, which presents the HGTA, reiterates the organisation’s continuing commitment. “We are dedicated to long-term advocacy, not just aiming to present awards but to sustainably support the livelihoods of weavers and artisans, as well as passing on their knowledge.”
What is needed, she adds, is more demand, not just for purchases, but also normalising the wearing of weaves regularly, beyond formal occasions.
Bangie continues to live by her dreams, on her own terms: Weaving diligently, telling stories of goddesses, head hunters, warriors and ancient legends. And through that, Bangie undoubtedly leaves an unforgettable legacy.
Go to www.hasanahgoldthreads.com/hgta2024winners for more information on Hasanah Gold Thread Awards 2024 winners.
