The long island Timor, located less than 500 kilometers from Australia is the biggest island in Nusa Tenggara. The natural environment is characterized by extensive savanah broken by hills and mountains with forests.
The Timorese consist of a variety of ethnic groups, that have different customs, languages and social structures.
Christianity is the main religion of Timor, but the ancient belief of the ancestors is not forgotten.
The island was once divided into two distinct parts: Dutch territory in the west where evidence of Dutch presence can still be found, and the Portugueses territory in the east, today independent and predominantly influenced by the Portuguese. Both sides share a common cultural background.
Earlier Timor was divided into a great number of princedoms and kingdoms, that were inhabited by populations made up of several different clans. Each of these kingdoms and tribes has, or had, it´s own style of textile making.
As in other Indonesian societies, the Timorese textiles have a very important role in community rituals and as they are produced by numerous different ethnic groups they can be distinguished from each other, both in style and technique, and by their cultural meaning.
Timorese textiles in their most traditional form are made of homegrown, handspun cotton, dyed with natural dyes, ornamented by ancestral motifs and woven on a backstrap loom.
In all parts of Timor clothing of men has consisted of a waist cloth and a shoulder cloth, with frequently a headcloth added to this. The women of Timor wore a long two to four panel sarong.
Of the handicraft, like basketry, silver jewellery and carving, weaving is the most important. Weaving is done by women.
Woven textiles are prolific in west Timor, particularly in the central section, but the easters side also produces ikat and extra-warp sarongs.
Natural dyes are still relatively common, especially indigo for ikat, but nowadays increasing use is made of synthetic dyes, which are replacing the natural dyes. Spinning has been relegated primarily to older women. Textiles are now things of luxury and beauty, but for some they still have their traditional symbolism and ikat and ornamental weaving techniques have held their historic ground. Patterns being woven today show a spectrum from exact copies of historic motifs to modern creations.
The trade in Timor weavings outside the island is important especially to non-weaving areas like Papua Province.
