A traditional textile in Timor-Leste, by using a wooden waving machine and various colours of plant-dyed threads.
Tais is made from cotton, the cotton is dyed with differ plant leaves, roots and parks to give multiple colours.
At cultural ceremonies, Tais is used as a gift to show respect and appreciation towards guests and make traditional costumes for both women and men.
Normally it takes a few days, or even months to complete one piece of Tais, depends on the size and patterns. Each pattern and colours symbolise nature and animals, differs from municipalities and REOA in Timor-Leste.
in some areas tais is considered as an obligation for woman to know how to weave Tais before marriage. As when woman can manage to weave Tais it means they are mature enough to solve any problem and has patience to nurture their family.
There are motifs in the Tais that hold a cultural meaning of story.
Tais for daily life and ceremony are different and some motifs are limited to social classes like the individual that considered as a king, chief of villages worn a different motif that has many lines in the Tais such from Line 4 above.
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