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January 10, 2012

Ceremonial Tai Textiles and Their Uses

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Textile Society of America Newsletter

The complex traditional belief system of the Tai requires different types of ceremonies for various purposes. Rites of passages, such as weddings and funerals, are elaborate, and textiles play important roles in them. Other rituals, such as those for healing, spirit appeasement, and honoring ancestors, call for woven accoutrements for their success. Although many Tai groups are Buddhist, pre-Buddhist beliefs are still part of the lives of the Tai people, and many Tai subgroups are not Buddhist but animist, or belief in spirits.

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