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Shawl made out of stinging nettle bark being displayed at Kisama on December 6.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, Dec. 7 (EMN): A sea of activities happening at Kisama, the main arena of the ongoing Hornbill festival, can easily leave you perplexed but one piece of artistry that will catch your attention is stinging nettle-made clothes that are on display at the festival.
Taking the visitors of the Hornbill festival to the past, the Zhaveme Women’s Society (ZWS) in Phek district demonstrated how Naga forefathers extract fibre from stinging nettle barks and transformed it into clothes like shawl and sarong (mekhala) during olden days, before they came into contact with the outside world.
Stinging nettle does not sting after being put under a series of treatment but it is a herculean task.
“It takes almost a year to weave a shawl (including the overall process),” said Teisovino Movi, executive member of ZWS. She added that ‘our forefathers used to wear clothes made out of nettle stem’ during olden times.
Movi lamented that this age-old traditional form of artistry is dying. “This practise is almost vanishing in today and we feel the need to revive it,” she said, adding that ‘they used to get orders (for nettle-made clothes) from people but hardly weave to sell owing to tedious and long procedure involved.’
Extraction Process: Nettle plant is harvested and left to dry for 4-5 days so that the thorny stinging bark can be stripped from the stalk. The long nettle strips are then split into narrow slivers before boiling in water along with ashes to break down the fibre and make it flexible.
The fibre is then pounded on a stone surface with wooden clubs until it is softened and easily separable. The fine nettle strands are then twisted and reeled into hanks. After this treatment, the thread is bleach-bathed in rice starch, dried in the sun and then rolled into a ball. The refined fibre is finally ready to be used for weaving beautiful clothes.
Cotton spinning and weaving
Another interesting event on display in craftscape corner section, right next to the World War II museum, is the display of textile-spinning process of cotton yarn by Khezha group from Chizami village. The group demonstrates how Nagas used to extract textile from raw cotton before the introduction of coloured staple yarn in the early 20th century.
One of the executive members of the Khezha group, Neikotso-ü Chirhah told Eastern Mirror that it takes at least six days to make a shawl, including weaving and intensive stitching.
Chirhah explained that raw cotton is kept for drying up in the sun for at least one day after cultivation. Seeds are then segregated from cotton by using a wooden spinning machine. It is then squashed and spun before being rolled into a ball to be used for weaving beautiful clothes.