Khami, Khumi, Mru and Sunghtu, southern Chin groups - Bangladesh and Myanmar

The photos above show the front, back and three details of a Khumi woman's tubeskirt now in my collection which I purchased from Susan Stem (of www.tribaltrappings.com) who took the photographs to illustrate the skirt to me.

This skirt is quite similar to figures 87. and 88. on page 152 of Michael C Howard's book "Textiles of the Hill Tribes fo Burma" although the photographs do not show a great deal of detail as the back and front of a "Khumi Tubeskirt 88cm x 44cm2 is at a similar definition to the thumbnail photos above showing back and front of the skirt.  The tubeskirt in figs. 87. and 88. does not show the change in design as does the one above.  However, on page 115 re fig 87, Howard says "Khumi, tubeskirt, cotton black warp threads with red supplementary weft patterning throughout on the front and vertical lines on the rear, thin vertical lines of green and yellow supplementary weft patterning near the edges of the front, double weave that produces a plain balck inside/back, glass beads added along top and bottom as accessories, 88cm x 44cm.  See photograph in Brauns & Löffler 1990: 35. (Private Collection)." (Brauns, Claus-Dieter and Lorenz G. Löffler, Mru: Hill Peole on the Border of Bangladesh (Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag, 1990)

In The Textile Museum (Washington) Journal 1999-2000 article "Notes from the Field: On the Trail of Khumi, Khami and Mro Textiles" by Deborah Lindsay Garner and Jay Bommer on page 29 figures 5 and 6. show a "Khumi woman's lower-body wrapper (nay na) 96.5 x 44.5cm and a detail in which the weave patters are very similar indeed to the one above.  The photos are in black and white so it is not possible to assess colour similarities.  Fig. 7. also on page 29 shows how the skirt would be worn in a "photograph was taken about 1967 and is of Daw Ma Thaoo, a Khumi woman who levies in Paletwa.  She is wearing the traditional nay na, or skirt as well as belts, earings, and head scarf.  Missing is the ne kouk (breast cloth); in its place is a blouse purchased in the marketplace."

Garner and Bommer describe (page 28) the nay na thus: "Women also wear a short, tubular shirt called nay na, which falls just above the knee (figs 5,  6).  These skirts display tightly controlled single faced weaving with elegant geometric patterns.  The top and bottom edges are ornamented with rows of beaded fringes.  This skirt is secured by a metal or glass beaded belt that is tied in front and sometimes draped gradually down in the back to behind the knee."

Also on page 28 Garner and Bommer describe the Khumi as "mostly hill people who inhabit settlements along streams in the vicinity of the Kaladan River and its tributaries (Mi Chung, Pi Chaung, Sami Chaung) north, northeast, and northwest of the town of Kyauk Taw, with a major concentration in the Paletwa area."  Pages 26 and 27 have maps illustrating location.  The Kaladan river valley and surrounding hills are in northern Arkan State and southwestern Chin State in Burma.

See Burma bibliography for details of the two references quoted above