Checking out Chin blankets at Yoyamay textile gallery in Yangon.

A LADY is weaving on the veranda of a wooden house set among mountains whose peaks touch the passing clouds and whose slopes are covered with evergreen trees.

During winter the region blooms with pink cherry blossoms, and with white and red taungzalatt (rhododendron arboretum) flowers, their sweet fragrance mingling with the scent of pine in the clear air.

This is a peaceful scene from northwestern Myan-mar’s beautiful Chin State, known as the land of taungzalatt flowers and famous for its handmade textiles.
The Chin are one of Myanmar’s major cultural groups. Although there are many Chin sub-groups who speak in different dialects, their culture and traditions are very similar. Most of them take part in ethnic celebrations and feasts both large and small, the Chapchar Kut, Khaw Do Pwe and Fang Er Pwe festivals being among the most famous

The local tradition of weaving blankets is the result of this highland region’s cold temperatures in winter, when the Chin covers themselves to keep warm. Even Chin families that move far from home normally take with them traditional blankets called puan dum. Although the name means ‘black blanket’ in English, the description covers a wide range of patterns and colours.

“Every Chin sub-group has its own traditional puan dum,” said U Cin Lamh Mang, the owner of Yoyamay, an ethnic textile gallery in Yangon. “The patterns of the blankets are completely different according to the region, and each sub-group has a name for the blankets in their own dialect, but they all mean the same thing.”

Naga woodcarvings.

In addition to blankets, the Chin also weave textiles to be used as longyis, bedsheets, robes and satchels for carrying infants.

Most textile patterns are zigzagged or floral, and among the most frequently used colours are black, red, yellow, green, blue and purple. The blankets were traditionally made using hemp and natural dyes, which although dull in colour lasted for a long time.

Now most blankets are made using dyes imported from India and China.

Before Chin blankets became popular with collectors, most of them were kept as family heirlooms. U Cin Lamh Mang said he has been seen some Chin blankets that are more than 60 years old.

“One Chin tradition is that women wove blankets for their daughters,” he said. “The daughter took good care of this legacy and took it with her when she got married. And when the daughter had a baby girl, she wove a new blanket to pass on to her daughter.”

The centre of blanket production in Chin State is the town of Kalaymyo, from where they are distributed throughout the country.

“There are many looms in Kalaymyo. Some weavers copy ancient designs, and some mix new and old designs,” said U Cin Lamh Mang.

He said Chin blankets normally sell for K10,000 and up.

Blanket weaving is traditionally done by women, while men spend their spare time making cane baskets.

“Men are responsible for farming and making cane baskets,” said U Cin Lamh Mang. “Women use the baskets to carry vegetables to the market and to carry home things they buy there.”

He said the baskets take a long time to make, and as there is no commercial market for them, they are made only for family use.

The Naga are also well known for their handicrafts. Living in the Nagaland region of Kachin State in northernmost Myanmar, the group produces unusual woodcarvings that are becoming more popular with collectors.

Although the Naga sub-groups are very similar in attitude and behaviour, the design and motifs of the sculptures can vary widely even between two villages in close proximity.

“The Naga mostly sculpt wooden figurines of warriors, respected people in the family and honourable people as memorials,” U Cin Lamh Mang said. “When a person dies families often make a monument, but a when respectable or honourable man dies the Naga sculpt his statue instead of making a monument.”

Contemporary woodcarvings made for the consumer market often depict more lifelike standing or sitting men, women, children, and mothers with children, that can be decorated with clothing and accessories.