‘Towe’ is the Manggarai name for ‘sarong’. The towe is an important part of life for the Manggerai people. When you welcome guests into your home, you give them a towe to wear while they are there.
When a couple gets engaged, the husband will gift his wife’s family a towe. Towes are also received as wedding gifts.
Towes can be worn around the shoulders as blankets, around the waist as clothing (with the most intricate design facing the back), or they can be used to carry babies.
Each has its own woven motif, which is protected by copyright.
These motifs are passed on through generations and are distinctive, used to identify where a person comes from. For Manggarai people, there is no difference between designs for men and women.
The colours used depend on the local climate. In Sabu, for example, the climate is very dry and traditional designs use dark colours representing the plants that are able to grow there. As the climate changes, the availability of natural dyes will also change, influencing the colours of the towe.
For now, towe in East Nusa Tanggara are all hand produced by weavers who work from their homes, there are no machine-produced towes.
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