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Rush Mats / Pang Pedura

rush-mats

8.6862913° N, 80.1837172° E

Weppankulam, Mannar

Altitude

14 m above sea level

Gender

53.37 % Men

46.59% Females

Population

99,051

Pang Pedura is practiced by women in the rural marshy lands while the men are away working in the fields. It is a practice that is considered an absolute essential skill for all girls to learn.Padura weaving is meditative and requires intricate mental calculations.

The pedura is also an important part of communal life. It is where families share meals, sleep, and celebrate religious and social events.

This craft is also practiced as a source of livelihood.

Step 1

Step 1

Women go to the fields to harvest pang leaves from the marshes by hand using pan kattha, a small sickle-shaped knife

Step 2

Step 2

The rushes are then cleaned, dried and tied into bundles.

Step 1

Step 3

The bundles are boiled with indigenous dyes made from fruits and flowers and are then redried.

Step 2

Step 4

When weaving is done on the floor, two dried pang reeds of the same length are vertically placed together, running parallel to each other in the manner of a rail track, then a third is brought into the frame and placed horizontally to tie up the two. The women keep interlacing the rest of the pan, holding the ends of the fibres in place with their toes.

Step 1

Step 5

When weaving is done on a thari (loom). The thread is warp winded.

Step 2

Step 6

The warp thread is separated so it makes it easier for the pang leaves to pass through the loom, this motion is called ‘shedding’.

Step 1

Step 7

When weaving is done on a thari (loom). The thread is warp winded.Inserting the pang strip through the created shredded pang leaf is called ‘picking’.

Step 2

Step 8

Then the inserted pang leaves are pushed into a woven mat hand and this motion is called ‘beating’

While weaving, women sing padura kavi which are long poetic verses made of four-line stanzas describing women walking down to collect pan, then switching to a conversation between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law about who can weave the better mat, and ends with the women trying to outdo each other with designs. When the young woman weaves a hare motif, the older woman weaves a leopard motif that will eat the hare. And so it goes on, describing the padura and the motifs

12

hours

approximately for 1 mat woven by hand 2 hours approximately for 1 mat woven on thari

Pang leaves are collected in the rainy season
and peduras are woven throughout the year.