Kachin (Jingpho, Jinghphaw, Singpo) bags

Kachin, Jinghpho, Jinghphaw, Singpho: Michael Howard in 'Textiles of the Hill Tribes of Burma' (1999: page 59) refers to how the term Kachin "has come to be used commonly as a cultural category for Jinghpho-speakers, but also includes speakers of Taman, which is a closely related Kachinic Language. Within Burma the Jingpho are usually known as Jinghphaw. In addition to standard Jingpho there are a number of dialects. These include: Hkanu (or Hkahku), Kauri (or Gauri), Tsasen, Duleng, and Htingnai. There are around 600,000 Jingpho speakers in Burma, living mainly in Kachin State as well as in northern Shan State, in a very mountainous region with narrow valleys." Jingphp is a language within the Sino-Tibetan family of languages within the Tibeto-Burman sub-family. Tibeto Burman is divided into five groups of languages: Baric, Bodic, Burmese-Lolo, Nungish and Karen. The Baric group of languages is divided into five sub-groups of which Kachinic is one within which Jingpho falls.

Howard tells of "some 100,000 Jingpho-speakers living in a compact area in the mountains of southwestern Yunnan. There are also around 7,000 Jingpho-speakers in Assam and Arunchal Pradesh States in India, where they are known as Singpo." Howard refers to Horatio Bickerstaffe Rowney in 'The Wild Tribes of India' in 1882 describing the "Singpos as being divided into twelve relatively autonomous clans, each with its own chief. They are Buddhists who also believe in mailgnant spirits."

Kachin bags: Howard refers to W.J.S. Carrapiet in The Kachin Tribes of Burma' (1929:18) citing T.F.G. Wilson who, in his description of Kachin bags refered to: "The Hukawng [The Hukawng Valley is the northeast of Kachin country towards the Naga Hills and west of the Hkanu] and Kha Khu [Hkanu) Kachins wear smaller sized N'hpye (locally made bags known as n'hpye) than those worn by the sepoys. It is woven from silk, or silk and cotton mixed, and of very pretty designs. No red braid is used. The sling is in the form of a rope and is made of different coloured yarns - black and white, dark blue and red, black, brown, and yellow, etc. Lover's knots are seldom attached to Kha Khu bags. They are occasionally studded with a line of silver bosses." top

The Kachin bags above: What do we know about the origins of the bags shown above? We know very little directly about the history of the first bag (on the left) in the top row which is in the collection of Bill Hornaday, other than that he purchased it from someone who sources textiles in Mai Sae and it could have found its way there from either Burma or China. Peter van Ham has indicated that he believes it to be a "Khampti or Singpho (Jingphaw) bag as they are common in the Changlang and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh (NE-India)". The bag is probably more similar to the middle bag in the top row which was collected by Digna several years ago in Yangon, Burma, but with no specific history. It also seems similar to the older bag in the first photo on the left in the bottom row and the bag to the left in the middle row collected by James Henry Green in the 1920s in Burma - see next paragraph for details. The last bag on the right in the top row is from the Northeast India collection of the Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, (Ethnological Museum), Berlin and was collected in the 1870s by Adolf Bastian, the first director of the Museum. Peter van Ham who was fortunate to see the piece whilst photographing the collection for an exhibition.

In the middle row, The first bag to the left in this row 'Bag, Kachin, Jinghpaw Hkahku, northern Kachin State and Hukawng Valley' was collected by James Henry Green during the 1920s and is shown on page 164 (Fig. 6.3.1.iv) of 'Textiles from Burma: Featuring the James Henry Green Collection' and edited by Elizabeth Dell and Sandra Dudley. The middle bag was also collected by James Henry Green in the 1920s and is probably Jinghpaw Hkahku. Both bags are in Green collection at the Brighton Musem. The final bag in this row - which is very similar to the middle bag collected by Green - is shown in Michael C Howard's book 'Textiles of the Hilltribes of Burma' (1999: page 163 Plate 120.) The bag itself is in the Bankfield Museum, Halifax (UK) collection and was originally lent to the Museum in 1900 by E.C.S.George and subsequently given to them by him in 1937. The description of the bag is: Jingpho: 120. N'hpye (shoulder bag), plaited cotton strap, body mde of plain white cotton warp thread with the weft made of various colors and including some patterning near near the top of the bag, body 26cm x 32cm. R A Innes on page 19 of 'Costumes of Upper Burma and the Shan States in the collections of the Bankfield Museum Halifax, 1957, reports that, according to E.R. Leach, such bags with plaited straps "probably came from the Maru or Lashi region which lies between the N'mai Hka river and the Yunnan border." (BM:GK1). top

In the bottom row the first photo on the left (shown on page 71 of 'Textiles from Burma' referenced in full above, Fig. 4.4i ) shows two bags: on the left a new man's bag, Jinghpaw Hkahku, woven by Gwi Kai Nan in Myitkyina, 2002 as part of the 2001 commissioning by the Green Centre at the Brighton Museum (UK) of weavers in Kachin State to make 17 wedding outfits. To the right in this same photo is a second, much older, bag which has been in Gwi Kai Nan's family for more than four generations. It shows similar designs to those on the bag collected by James Henry Green in the 1920s shown in the first image to the left of the middle row. The designs also seem similar to those in Bill Hornaday's bag, slightly more so than those in the bag in the collection in Berlin shown to the right of the top row of photos. This may suggest that Bill's bag is a Jinghpaw Hkahku bag from northern Kachin State and the Hukawng Valley. The middle photo of this bottom row shows models wearing traditional outfits associated with the Jinghpaw Hkahku group with the man wearing the new bag shown to the left in the first photo on the left of this bottom row. Both outfits were commissioned by the Green Centre at the Brighton Museum (UK) as referred to above. The photo was taken at the Manau festival ground in Myitkyina by Htoi Awng 2002. In the photo to the right in this row is a detail of this newly woven bag. (See further photos of this bag on pages linked to each of the photos on this row.)

The 'dragon motif': According to Lisa Maddigan in her essay '6.3.1 Making textiles in Myitkyina, 2001-2' in 'Textiles from Burma' edited by Elizabeth Dell and Sandra Dudley "Traditionally the 'dragon motif' bag would only have been carried by a Kachin chief. The rare suppplementary weft design is considered one of the most difficult to reproduce." Elizabeth Dell and Sandra Dudley in their Introduction, page 9, to the same book say against a photographic detail from a women's belt, Kachin Jinghpaw valley, northern Kachin State and Hukawng valley, collected in the 1920s (by James Henry Green and in the Green collection at the Brighton Museum) reiterate the difficulty of executing the dragon design and say that it "represents Baren Num Raw in Jinghphaw mythology, and is a symbol of duwa (chief) status." See information and material on this bag on the Brighton and Hove Museums' Collections website.

Snake motif: Peter van Ham referred us to 'Art of the Northeast Frontier of India' by Verrier Elvin. Forum member Siriol Richards has a copy of this book in her library and quoted from it on the 'Puzzling Bag thread on the forum. It would seem from this that the pattern on the bag collected in the 1870s in northeast India shown to the right in the top row may represent two snakes. "The colour plate facing page 40 is a colour drawing of designs on a Singpho textile which features two snakes forming bold zigzag patterns wraped around a central panel. The snakes heads converge at the top. It is described as a border design." Elvin refers to the mythological significance of the snake motif in the textiles of Arunachal. Folktales suggest a connection with fertility. One of the tales, from the Sherdukpens of western Arunachal Pradesh, that he quotes goes as follows: a girl falls in love with a snake who at times takes the form of a handsome youth. The snake coils in her lap as she weaves and she copies the patterns on her lover's body and soon makes the most beautiful textiles ever seen.