Finger weaving

 

Finger weaving:

The Kalash women also weave without a loom - when making the  Shu’manns

These are ribbons used around swaddled infants, as belts for children,
as the special decorated ribbons for the initiation ceremonies of the small boys, as the straps of the women's (Nuristani manufactured) conical Kawa baskets made from twigs and goats threads and carried on the back.

In particular the shu'manns are used as the women's presents honouring an appreciated guest, a person of importance, a beloved one at the spring festival joshi or a person giving a feast, like the father of a child receiving the first kupas or trousers. The shu'mann is hung around the neck of the honoured person (who later may use them as string in the shalwar trousers).

As giving a shu'mann is a sign of special feelings, everybody curiously ask the person, who received it:

"Kura prau?" Who gave (it to you)?

 

The women also produce long strings with beads of apricot kernels. In the same way these are given as a sign of appreciation. (Men's presents may be cheese, walnuts or small things from the shops.)

 

Shu’manns nowadays are made from threads bought in the shop - mostly in white cotton with synthetic colours as decorations and as stripes wound around the fringes.

 

The very exquisite shu’manns, decorated with warp designs all over are made from synthetic threads in several colours.
The weft then is in one colour and is covered by the warp threads picked up in the different designs. These shu'manns were earlier made from fine dyed woolen thread.

 

The warp

First all the skeins are tied together and wound into balls. Then the thread is wound like a spiral into a circular warp between the right big toe and the left hand. Then the warp is placed around the body stretched by the right knee, as in the weaving.

 

The shed is now made by the fingers - the threads are alternately placed above or below the forefinger and the middle finger. After this small sticks are inserted for a short while to keep the shed.

 

Leaches are made in one of the sheds as at the loom. Only the leaches are not tied around a stick, but tied together with a strong string.

Around the warp threads forming the other shed a strong string is also tied.

The weaving of undecorated parts is done by lifting the leaches and the shed string alternately.

 

Decorations are made on the white warp by inserting coloured threads using kelim or soumak techniques.         

 

For finest shu’manns with warp designs, the warp consists of two contrasting colours - one colour i each shed. So horizontal stripes are made automatically.

For the different designs the woman with her fingers exchange the warp threads, so that whenever one colour is lifted up, the opposite colour is lowered. In this way the designs become double sided with one side the negative copy of the other side.

These design are bordered with warp threads in different colours along the edge and in the middle so that two symmetric borders adorn the shu`mann.

During the late eighties embroidery (flowers and cross stitches) has been introduced as decorations on the Shu’manns - probably inspired by the Chitrali embroidered napkins from the Bazaar of Chitral or by the work of the Muslims living in the valleys.

 

Braided Shu'manas:

Sometimes the women also produce ribbons by braiding 20-30 strings in 2-4 groups of different colours.

During the work, the colours are often arranged symmetrically, and V-shaped designs are made.

The tool for this work is a stick held between the knees. To the forked end of this stick, the ribbon is attached and twisted as it grows in length.

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¹ Sperber Glavind, Brigitte, 1990. Kalash: Dresses, Body Decorations and Textile Techniques. In Proceedings of the Second International Hindu Kush Cultural Conference,  pp 52-54