Ritual Mat, lampit

When travelling and visiting homes in the villages of the highland of west Lampong, Sumatra, the hosts will always roll out a large bamboo mat for their guests, but a lampit is a type of mat used only on importand occasions. Limpits were prominent in circumcisions, weddings and funerals. Made and decorated by men, they are usually paired with tampans, the ship cloths made by women, to express the principles of male/female duality.The images etched onto the bamboo with smoldering ambers, with two lateral edges hemmed with cotton.