Ethnic Textile Traditional Dhaka Weaving by Limbu Women

Limbu women from the eastern part of Nepal used to be great fabric-artist entrepreneurs and very hard working a couple of centuries ago. There were no imported threads available for weaving then, therefore they used to grow cotton themselves in their fields. They used to spin thread for weaving after harvesting raw cotton and drying it in the sun. The women used to weave handloom cloth called "Dhaka". Traditional Nepalese Dhaka weaving is characterized by colorful geometric designs. The loom is made of wood and bamboo. This type of traditional weaving has been bequeathed to their female descendents. This traditional material is also used in interior decoration for modern contemporary houses; you can find it used for cushion covers, curtains, table runners, table mats, wall hangings, etc. This material is also used in boutiques to make unusual and unique designer outfits. Definitely the credit goes to our mothers and grandmothers for passing such skills down through the generations. The skill of weaving Dhaka material is endangered because of mass production of imported material from China and India.

I visited Nepal in March, 2007 and met with Kalpana YongHang. I asked her how this traditional weaving is done. Kalpana weaves at her home in Gokarna outside of Kathmandu. She wants to continue this work to preserve this traditional weaving art of Limbus. She started weaving 5 years ago with just one loom, now there are about 12 women who weave with her. She is looking for a designing partner to produce items which meet international standards to sell in the global market.
Kindly write to us by email at EkshaCreations@aol.com.
Your suggestions are welcomed to help preserve this "Traditional Dhaka Weaving of Limbus in Nepal".

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Ethnic
• Textile
• Weaving
• Limbu
• Women
• Nepal
• Eksha
• Creations

[CroDigTap]

Beautiful textiles!

[eksha]

Hi CroDigTap,

Thank you very much for the compliment.

Sincerely,

Eksha

[jeetphago]

very good eksha ji its the brillent video for the tradointional of limbu society thank you very much bye

[eksha]

jeetphago jyu, I am very glad to hear your comment and appreciation. Thank you. - Eksha

[iampeeay01]

Very impressive... I wonder how many crafts would they finish in a day... :)

[vickiksandoval]

That is extraordinary. I don't have the patience or time to warp so many strings in my loom and to weave so little weft per hour. Thank you for sharing this, and for the weaving lesson! Just amazing!

[yomamafool1]

@diliprai stop commenting things that aren't relevant to this video. kirat rai have different type of textile. their textile are completely different its lighter than the limbu ones. this particular textile belongs to limbus not all kiratis. let me give you a example

dances

chandi dance=rai

syander sili=sunuwar

ke lang = limbu

see every kirati clans has different culture and this particular culture belongs to limbu people.

[rubixspolypreggo]

amazing wow so so incredible

[lolnepal]

thanks for showing this close shots. Many don't know how much toil gets into creating a rug that they have beautifully placed in their house. Hard work Equals = Quality. Nepal produces some of the finest Textiles.

Thank you Dilpia for sending me this video.

Be well you all

NV Team

[diliprai]

@adamlimbu, In order that this traditional will continue to exist in next decade and beyond, a small group of weavers has formed a fair trade cooperative called SiD Nepal or Society for Indigenous Development Nepal. Hopefully by having such society, this tradition of weaving dhaka would be preserved. But the new generation Nepalese must appreciate the artiste value and effort to learn this trade if dhaka weaving is to continue into next century.

[diliprai]

@thunderstruck1341,

Textiles are believed to date from pre-historic times evidence of weaving being traced to a period before 3000 B.C. in the earliest civilizations of India, China and Mesopotamia. In Nepal, the indigenous Rai & Limbu ethnic group (Kirat) have been practicing this trade for over 5000+ years now. Some historians and scholars have already pointed out that Kirat used to meet Chinese at Yangtze valley between 1000 BCE and 500 BCE for trade, cultural and business purposes.