Name: Blue on Blue Curled Tailed Naga Cloth
Item#: 18001
Marvelously jagged-spines large-scale curled-tailed light blue naga (mythological river serpents) are the outstanding figures on this large shaman cloth. The larger naga frame two-headed naga and flowers that fill the full textile with movement and color. The textile is handwoven from village raised, hand reeled, naturally dyed silk, and woven on hand-built looms that are usually located underneath houses in the village to protect from the elements. The naga are believed to live in the rivers, and, since the rivers irrigate the rice fields and rice is life, the naga represent a female spirit. These shaman cloths are traditionally used by being folded in front of an altar, and the shaman will kneel on the cloth to connect with the spirits woven in the cloth to help him or her to reach the ancestor world to bring back an ancestor spirit to help with the ceremony. Naga are present in both the Tai animist cultures and the Lao Buddhist cultures and, as such, are ubiquitous in textiles woven by the Lao-Tai peoples. Naga have recently been designated by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.
Size: 29.75" x 87"
Origins: Houaphan Province, Laos
Price: $1,125.00
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