Preserving Brunei's traditional Anyaman
A tradition: (Top) The art of weaving has flourished for generations at various levels of sophistication and in varying degrees of intricacy. A vast variety of forms are created to serve different functions, decorative and functional. (Bottom) Bruneian women have been known for both the fineness of their plaiting and the variety of their patterns. Picture: Rozan Yunos Collection
Sunday, August 10, 2008
ONE of Brunei Darussalam's more visible traditional handicrafts is the products which are sold at the tamu (open market) and at some of the traditional handicrafts outlets. These included the baskets weaved from flexible young bamboos.
Some of the traditional hand made crafts which are more popular would include the tudung saji (dish cover) which is widely used in Brunei.
Even though many now prefer the plastic dish cover to keep out flies and other insects attracted to the food, the traditional tudung saji is used for ceremonial functions.
Making products out of buluh (bamboo) or rotan (rattan) is known as menganyam.
Menganyam or weaving is translated as plaiting or weaving certain parts of bamboo, rattan and the leaves of other plants into a variety of articles. This is indeed one of Brunei's very traditional handicrafts.
Menganyam requires skill, concentration and patience. It was said that this weaving was started by Brunei Darussalam's housewives many generations ago.
In those days it was carried out by the womenfolk as a hobby to while away the time as they waited for their husbands to return back from their fishing trips or farming.
Over time, these housewives' efforts became more valuable, as more handicraft products are demanded. It became an income earner for some of them.
However until the establishment of the Brunei Arts and Handicraft Centre, the skill and the art of weaving were not widely available.
Those who learnt the skills kept the skills to themselves and only passed on to their family members. Skills understandably were important assets that one must acquire and this is why those skills are guarded jealously by those who owned the knowledge.
There are many products that can be made with bamboo. The most popular are the tudung dulang and bakul (basket). Though other articles were also made from these same bamboo, some are less popular than others.
One article published about a few years ago argued that the art of weaving baskets originated from Sengkurong and Tanjung Nangka. Others contended that the art of making dishcovers could have originated from the houses in Kampong Ayer. Though with the prevalence of a wide usage of these products throughout Borneo and also parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, it may be very unlikely that their origin came from those two places mentioned above.
Albeit all that, the products produced are indeed varied in terms of sizes, shapes and colours. They also have different names depending on what is the function of that particular product. For instance, there is the takiding which is usually used piggy-back and allows for the carrying of many things especially farm produce.
Another is called the nyiru which is mostly used for drying food stuffs in the sun and other things. This is more like a tray.
Takung is another one used in the kitchen mainly for washing food such as vegetables. According to the Dusun people, one can make anyaman from any of the following raw materials which are bamboo, mengkuang (dried leaves), rattan, kulit pelapah rumbia (rumbia barks) and bamban (barks).
From the different types of bamboos, various anyamans can be made.
Depending on the bamboo, only certain products can be made. There are generally three types of bamboos being used which are the buluh nipis, buluh nanap, buluh batong and a few others.
Buluh nanap is the one most widely used. Whereas buluh batong can actually be used to make a product which can be used to carry water.
To make an anyaman, the bamboo will be cut, stripped and smoothened. These strippings are then dried in the hot sun. This is repeated until the bamboo became pliable and no longer coarse and sharp. It can also be coloured before it is weaved.
The colours can also be obtained from local products such as powdered ginger and cutch. Black, red and yellow tended to be the favourite colours as these are easily available.
Another product used to make anyaman is the mengkuang leaves. Again there are many types of mengkuang leaves and depending on the end result, one can choose carefully. The mengkuang leaves can be demayan, peropok, pandan and berasan. Depending on which products, weavers can choose the different size leaves.
To make an anyaman out of these leaves, these leaves have to be cut and then these leaves are similarly dried and stripped so as to keep the leaves dried and pliable.
Different types of rattan too are available to make the different products. Rotan Saga is the once considered the best.
But there are other rattan such as Rotan Kibah and Rotan Lampit.
The Dusuns in making their anyamans relied on rattans with their local names such as Uwai dabor, Uwai tumbu, Uwai baba, and Uwai asu and a few others.
Rattans are also used together with bamboo in most weaving products. Most of the bamboo products require rattans to be the rim and the framework.
Rattan Dahanan, double layered act as grip for the edges and other parts of the plaited bamboo strips.
The grip would be further secured with Rattan Paladas or Rattan Manuk. Though nowadays, many weavers use strong strings like tangsi or catgut.
!Weaving or anyaman has also changed. Weavers are now not confined to making traditional items but can make new and modern ones like handbags and tissue boxes.
These skills are now taught, thus the continuity of the traditional weaving is assured for us here and generation to come in Brunei Darussalam.
The writer runs a website on Brunei at bruneiresources.com.
The Brunei Times
Some of the traditional hand made crafts which are more popular would include the tudung saji (dish cover) which is widely used in Brunei.
Even though many now prefer the plastic dish cover to keep out flies and other insects attracted to the food, the traditional tudung saji is used for ceremonial functions.
Making products out of buluh (bamboo) or rotan (rattan) is known as menganyam.
Menganyam or weaving is translated as plaiting or weaving certain parts of bamboo, rattan and the leaves of other plants into a variety of articles. This is indeed one of Brunei's very traditional handicrafts.
Menganyam requires skill, concentration and patience. It was said that this weaving was started by Brunei Darussalam's housewives many generations ago.
In those days it was carried out by the womenfolk as a hobby to while away the time as they waited for their husbands to return back from their fishing trips or farming.
Over time, these housewives' efforts became more valuable, as more handicraft products are demanded. It became an income earner for some of them.
However until the establishment of the Brunei Arts and Handicraft Centre, the skill and the art of weaving were not widely available.
Those who learnt the skills kept the skills to themselves and only passed on to their family members. Skills understandably were important assets that one must acquire and this is why those skills are guarded jealously by those who owned the knowledge.
There are many products that can be made with bamboo. The most popular are the tudung dulang and bakul (basket). Though other articles were also made from these same bamboo, some are less popular than others.
One article published about a few years ago argued that the art of weaving baskets originated from Sengkurong and Tanjung Nangka. Others contended that the art of making dishcovers could have originated from the houses in Kampong Ayer. Though with the prevalence of a wide usage of these products throughout Borneo and also parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, it may be very unlikely that their origin came from those two places mentioned above.
Albeit all that, the products produced are indeed varied in terms of sizes, shapes and colours. They also have different names depending on what is the function of that particular product. For instance, there is the takiding which is usually used piggy-back and allows for the carrying of many things especially farm produce.
Another is called the nyiru which is mostly used for drying food stuffs in the sun and other things. This is more like a tray.
Takung is another one used in the kitchen mainly for washing food such as vegetables. According to the Dusun people, one can make anyaman from any of the following raw materials which are bamboo, mengkuang (dried leaves), rattan, kulit pelapah rumbia (rumbia barks) and bamban (barks).
From the different types of bamboos, various anyamans can be made.
Depending on the bamboo, only certain products can be made. There are generally three types of bamboos being used which are the buluh nipis, buluh nanap, buluh batong and a few others.
Buluh nanap is the one most widely used. Whereas buluh batong can actually be used to make a product which can be used to carry water.
To make an anyaman, the bamboo will be cut, stripped and smoothened. These strippings are then dried in the hot sun. This is repeated until the bamboo became pliable and no longer coarse and sharp. It can also be coloured before it is weaved.
The colours can also be obtained from local products such as powdered ginger and cutch. Black, red and yellow tended to be the favourite colours as these are easily available.
Another product used to make anyaman is the mengkuang leaves. Again there are many types of mengkuang leaves and depending on the end result, one can choose carefully. The mengkuang leaves can be demayan, peropok, pandan and berasan. Depending on which products, weavers can choose the different size leaves.
To make an anyaman out of these leaves, these leaves have to be cut and then these leaves are similarly dried and stripped so as to keep the leaves dried and pliable.
Different types of rattan too are available to make the different products. Rotan Saga is the once considered the best.
But there are other rattan such as Rotan Kibah and Rotan Lampit.
The Dusuns in making their anyamans relied on rattans with their local names such as Uwai dabor, Uwai tumbu, Uwai baba, and Uwai asu and a few others.
Rattans are also used together with bamboo in most weaving products. Most of the bamboo products require rattans to be the rim and the framework.
Rattan Dahanan, double layered act as grip for the edges and other parts of the plaited bamboo strips.
The grip would be further secured with Rattan Paladas or Rattan Manuk. Though nowadays, many weavers use strong strings like tangsi or catgut.
!Weaving or anyaman has also changed. Weavers are now not confined to making traditional items but can make new and modern ones like handbags and tissue boxes.
These skills are now taught, thus the continuity of the traditional weaving is assured for us here and generation to come in Brunei Darussalam.
The writer runs a website on Brunei at bruneiresources.com.
The Brunei Times
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