The central panel of this ‘ulos rujat’, or ceremonial cloth, is woven by the ‘warp ikat’ technique, where the vertical threads are tied and dyed. The soft blurry features of the central panel contrasts with the detailed and sharp patterns of the fringes. The braid that completes the cloth is known as ‘sirat’, which also means letters or writing, and is done by men. While textiles are usually the domain of women in Southeast Asia, for the Batak people, sometimes both the crafts of both male and female are necessary to complete a piece of textile.
