The Importance of the Lavalava on Lamotrek

Abstract

On the island of Lamotrek in the central Carolines, the lavalava (teor) is not only the most important article of clothing for women but also an article of value and a bartering object. The word lavalava, which came from Samoa, was already used early on in Yap and in lingua franca English is now an established general term for a piece of material woven and worn by the women of the Outer Islands of Yap. Carmen Petrosian-Husa, whose research was focused on the lavalava (teor), describes it in her dissertation Lavalava (1994) as a “textile of fibres or yarns made by the women on the Outer Islands of Yap on a backstrap loom with which tension is produced on the warp. These textiles are woven in simple plain weave. The terms for these fabrics differ according to what material they are made of, their patterns, the interior patterns of the dark longitudinal stripes and also depend on whether the lavalava is intended to be worn by a man or a woman” (Petrosian-Husa 1994: 76-77, my translation).