Pua Kumbu is a traditional patterned multi-colouredceremonial cotton clothing created and occasionally worn by theIban people ofSarawak inMalaysia,[5][6]West Kalimantan ofIndonesia,[7] andBrunei during varieties of the ethnic festive such asGawai and otherDayak celebrations.[6][8][9] It is a sacred cloth among the Dayaks especially the female community, with anyPua Kumbu that was made may tell a weaver's personal story or a mythological tale which represents the purpose for which it has been woven.[10][11]
The woven cloth ofPua Kumbu carries the meaning of ablanket used to "cover" or "wrap" one's body.[12] The wordPua means blanket whileKumbu is referred to be the cover, which is also defined as a blanket made byikat (tie) orkebat (dye) processes that was used as a ritual textile.[13]
The oldest textiles of Sarawak were recovered at theNiah National Park, which is home to the 40,000 year oldNiah Man.[14]Mat fragment that were uncovered are mostly associated with burials with some graves are found with woven "winding sheets", the earliest dated fromc. 500B.C.[14] The burying of the dead with their best clothes and graves gifts such asjewellery continues to be practised among some of theindigenous groups.[14] In 2012,Pua Kumbu was declared as a Fine Art National Heritage by the National Heritage Department of Malaysia.[15] Since the recognition, the elements ofPua Kumbu are getting more recognisable and influencing a variety of shirt patterns.[16]
In West Kalimantan, attempts at preservation of Iban textiles received resentment and protest from the indigenous female community in the early 1970s, where thePua Kumbu was burnt and accusations such as "trying to keep the indigenous primitive" and "frozen in time" were spread.[17][18] By the 2020s, there began a growing interest in the textile with further encouragement towards the local provincial government to preserve the indigenous culture legacy.[19]
The origin ofPua Kumbu can be traced through the manymyths andfolklores of the Ibans,[20] with the most prominent ones being theDara Tinchin Temaga and Menggin stories.[21] The story goes on whenMenggin, a skilful Ibanhunter, goes to thedeep forest ofBorneo in search of game. During the hunting, he encountered ahornbill, which he shot with hisblowpipe and fell to the ground.[21] He rushed towards the target, only to be greeted by a beautiful woman screaming in pain, and the hornbill was nowhere to be seen. The woman later became his wife, and they are blessed with a son.[21]
As days passed, his wife used to weave special clothes and constantly gaze at thesky while feeding theirinfant.Menggin was always curious aboutTinchin, but he was forbidden from asking the background of his wife as a term for their marriage.[21] With the increase of her husband's curiosity,Tinchin finally revealed that she is the daughter of the IbanGod ofSingalang Burong, and with the broken term, she needs to leave both her husband and son to return to her original place.[21] Prior to her departure, two handwoven clothes, thePua Kumbu, were left for both the husband and son to wear whenever they visit her in her realm.[21] Since then, the clothes were passed down through the Ibans for generations, and their ethnic women continue to weave similar clothes to attain proximity with their God and the spiritual realm.[21]
The process starts with preparing the yarn for theweaving, which consists of the following:[20]
Nabu' – winding the thread into balls
Muai – to sort out
Ngirit – the process of stretching and pulling a skin of thread horizontally, one thead at a time, to form the base or warp
Ngarap – the selection of alternate warp
Ngebat – tying
Mampul – to cover
Muka' tanchang – untying
Ngerembai – unfolding
Anak andAra – adding side designs
The time to producepua kumbu takes quite a long time with the carving process takes one week, while producing the colours usingengkudu takes around 15 days.[22] Themampul process takes three days while thengupak process takes another two days. Another week is needed to weave thepua kumbu until it is finished.[22]
In order to prepare for the weaving process, the yarns are unfolded and carefully arranged on a wooden frame. Before the actual weaving begins, the side sections of the unfolded yarn known asanak orara are carefully arranged.[20]Nenun or weaving is done using a backstrap loom placed in a convenient spot within the longhouse. The final stage involves finishing of the top and bottom edges with a crowfeet pattern.[23]
All of the raw materials for the naturaldyes are harvested from the rainforest with the Ibans in both Sarawak and West Kalimantan have traditionally made use of a large number ofplants to produce a range of rich beautiful dyes.[24][25] Therengat (marsdenia tinctoria) plant produces an indigo colour in many different tones.[10][26] Theakar penawar landak (fibraurea tinctoria) is used to obtain yellow colour dye.[27] For themengkudu (morinda citrifolia) dye, ifkapok (ceiba pentandra) orquicklime is added the colour will turn brown. The yarn is dipped into the combination, turned until it is well saturated and left to soak before it is dried under the sun. After the dye process yarns are further prepared by tying sections to build up the design.[28]
^Haji Abdul Karim, Hezlinawati; Pg. Haji Nikman, Ak. Mohd. Aminol Adi Azraie (11 May 2024)."Aktiviti pelancongan, kraf tangan tarikan pengunjung" [Tourism activities, handicrafts attract visitors](PDF).Pelita Brunei (in Malay). p. 28/32.Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 June 2025. Retrieved18 June 2025.
^"Warisan Kebangsaan Seni Halus" [National Heritage of Fine Arts].National Heritage Department, Malaysia (in Malay). 2012. Archived fromthe original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved18 June 2025.
^Zacchaeus, Watt (22 April 2015)."FESYEN GABUNGAN PUA KUMBU SEMAKIN DIMINATI RAMAI" [PUA KUMBU COMBINATION FASHION IS BEING MORE AND MORE POPULAR].Utusan Borneo (in Malay). Retrieved18 June 2025 – via PressReader.
^abcRahman, Manizey Ibrahim; Chan, Dunstan (20 August 2017)."The untold tale of Pua Kumbu".The Borneo Post.Archived from the original on 18 June 2025. Retrieved18 June 2025.
Bolhassan, Rashidah; Cranefield, Jocelyn; Dorner, Dan (2014). "Indigenous Knowledge Sharing in Sarawak: A System-Level View and Its Implications for the Cultural Heritage Sector".2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. pp. 3378–3388.doi:10.1109/HICSS.2014.419.ISBN978-1-4799-2504-9 – via Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Anak Sultan, Ngumbang; Jusilin, Humen (2018)."ESTETIKA MOTIF DAN CORAK TENUNAN PUA KUMBU ORANG IBAN DI SARAWAK" [AESTHETICS OF MOTIVES AND WEAVING PATTERNS OF PUA KUMBU OF THE IBAN PEOPLE IN SARAWAK](PDF).Jurnal Komunikasi Borneo (in Malay).6:1–6.Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 June 2025 – via Universiti Malaysia Sabah Institutional Repository.
Truna, Liyana A.; Tugang, Noria B.; Mohd Shaipullah, Norhunaini C.; D. Mahyan, Nur Rasfina (2021)."Analysis of Frieze Patterns Concepts in Pua Kumbu".Natural Volatiles and Essential Oils.8 (4):10949–10962.Archived from the original on 18 June 2025.
Tugang, Noria; Senang, Bibiana Motey; Asri, Adilawati; et al. (Chong Lee, Yow; Mersat, Neilson Ilan; Durin, Anna; Awang Ar, Hashim) (2022).Warisan Budaya Miring dalam Masyarakat Iban di Sarawak [The Miring Cultural Heritage of the Iban Community in Sarawak](PDF) (in Malay). Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, National Library of Malaysia.CORE output ID542313173.Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 June 2025.
Alpert, Steven G. (29 September 2024)."Borneo Textiles in Global Museum Collections".Art of the Ancestors.Largely Pua Kumbu; includes other Iban textiles. Includes rare 19th century photos of the weavers.
Media related toPua at Wikimedia Commons
