balinese Textiles

Balinese Textiles – Where Culture is Woven by Hand

In Bali, textiles are more than just cloth. They are worn by gods, wrapped around temples, carried in processions, and passed down through generations.

From everyday sarongs to sacred offerings, textiles are a living part of Balinese identity. They speak of ancestry, belief, community, and beauty. Every pattern, color, and thread has meaning — rooted in ritual, caste, region, and symbolism.

Bali’s textile heritage is one of the richest in Southeast Asia. Whether it’s the shimmering gold of a royal songket, the earthy reds of a protective geringsing, or the iconic black-and-white poleng seen wrapped around sacred trees — these fabrics carry stories that words alone cannot tell.

Textiles in Bali are used in nearly every ceremony, from birth to cremation. They are also a marker of daily life: worn to the market, the rice fields, or temple festivals. The act of dressing — layer by layer — is itself a ritual.

This guide explores the world of traditional Balinese textiles: their types, meaning, ceremonial use, regional origins, and the women who continue to weave them by hand. It’s a journey into one of the island’s most profound and beautiful traditions.

Let’s start with the different types of traditional textiles you’ll encounter across Bali.

Did You Know? – Sacred Textile Facts

Balinese textiles are full of mystery, symbolism, and ancestral wisdom. Here are some fascinating facts about the sacred role of cloth in Bali:

• Geringsing cloth can take up to five years to complete — the most complex textile process in Bali.
• Only three places in the world produce true double ikat: Tenganan (Bali), Patan (India), and Okinawa (Japan).
• Poleng cloth (black-and-white checks) symbolizes the duality of the cosmos — good vs. evil, light vs. dark, sacred vs. worldly.
• Sacred cloths must never touch the ground. They are treated with the same reverence as temple offerings.
• Temple statues are dressed in textiles during ceremonies — a way of “awakening” them and inviting the deity to be present.
• Some sacred weaving processes require fasting and ritual purity before the work can begin.
• Bebali cloths are never worn casually — they’re reserved exclusively for altars, shrines, and spiritual offerings.
• Each color has meaning: white (purity), red (energy), black (protection), yellow (sacredness), often aligned with directions and deities.
• In some Balinese villages, a girl’s ability to weave is still seen as a sign of spiritual and social maturity.

Types of Traditional Balinese Textiles

Bali’s textile traditions are incredibly diverse, each with its own function, symbolism, and origin. Below are some of the most important cloth types you’ll encounter across the island — in rituals, ceremonies, and daily life.

The Role of Textiles in Ceremonial Life

In Bali, textiles are more than aesthetic objects — they are sacred instruments used to honor the gods, protect the body, and maintain spiritual balance. Nearly every religious or life-cycle ceremony involves cloth in some form. It is wrapped, layered, tied, offered, or displayed — always with intention.

Textiles are part of the ritual language of Bali. They communicate respect, purity, social status, and cosmological symbolism. The way a cloth is worn, its color, pattern, and placement — all carry meaning in a ceremonial context.

Temple Ceremonies & Rituals

During temple festivals, textiles are used to dress statues, wrap shrines, decorate bamboo structures, and line offering platforms. Bebali cloths, considered sacred, are reserved exclusively for these purposes and never worn casually.

Tooth-Filing (Metatah) & Weddings

In rites of passage like metatah (the tooth-filing ceremony symbolizing the transition into adulthood), specific cloths are worn by the initiate to signify purity and spiritual readiness. Brides and grooms wear elaborate songket during traditional weddings, not just for beauty, but as a marker of lineage and community pride.

Funerals & Cremation (Ngaben)

Textiles play a central role in death rituals. The deceased is often wrapped in white cloths for purification, and additional layers of endek or patterned cloths are used to guide the soul to the next realm. Cloths may also line the funeral tower or cremation platform.

Color, Direction & the Cosmos

Balinese Hinduism associates colors and cloth patterns with the cardinal directions, deities, and cosmic forces:

• White (Pura) – East – Iswara (Purity)
• Red – South – Brahma (Creation)
• Black – North – Vishnu (Preservation)
• Yellow – West – Mahadeva (Dissolution)
• Poleng cloth (black & white checks) symbolizes the duality and balance of opposing forces — good and evil, sacred and profane.

Wearing Textiles as Ceremony

The act of dressing oneself for a temple visit is also a form of ritual. Balinese ceremonial dress includes multiple layers — each with purpose and order. The sash (selendang), sarong (kamben), and shoulder cloth (saput) together prepare the body for sacred space, aligning it with spiritual etiquette.

In Bali, cloth is not just decoration — it is devotion woven into form.

Types of Traditional Balinese Textiles

Bali’s textile traditions are incredibly diverse, each with its own function, symbolism, and origin. Below are some of the most important cloth types you’ll encounter across the island — in rituals, ceremonies, and daily life.

Weaving as Heritage

In Bali, weaving is more than a skill — it’s a sacred inheritance passed down through generations of women. Many girls learn to weave from their mothers or grandmothers, beginning with spinning threads and preparing dyes before mastering complex patterns. In some villages, weaving is a social and spiritual duty, closely tied to ritual life and community identity.

The Role of Women

Most traditional Balinese weavers are women. They sit for hours at simple wooden looms, often in open-air workspaces at the back of their homes. Weaving is done not just to earn a living, but to fulfill cultural expectations — preserving cloth traditions that define ceremonial life. In some regions, a woman’s ability to weave is still considered part of her social value and spiritual readiness.

Mythological Origins

According to Balinese lore, the art of weaving was gifted by Dewi Ratih, the Moon Goddess. The loom itself is seen as sacred — its upright post represents the cosmic axis, linking heaven and earth. When a woman weaves, she is said to re-enact cosmic creation, bringing order out of thread and color.

Natural Dyes & Traditional Tools

Many traditional textiles are made using natural dyes sourced from roots, bark, leaves, and minerals. Red from morinda, black from soot or iron-rich mud, yellow from turmeric — these colors are steeped into the threads by hand.

Weavers typically use two types of looms:

• Backstrap looms (also called “cagcag”) — tensioned by the body, used for smaller or sacred textiles like geringsing
• Frame looms — for larger or commercial production, allowing longer weaves and more stability

Sacred vs. Commercial Weaving

There’s an important distinction in Bali between textiles made for ritual use and those made for sale. Sacred cloths follow strict patterns, rituals, and timing — sometimes even requiring fasting or offerings before weaving begins. Commercial cloths, while still crafted with skill, are not bound to these ceremonial rules.

To weave in Bali is to preserve the invisible threads that hold belief, identity, and balance together.

Types of Traditional Balinese Textiles

Bali’s textile traditions are incredibly diverse, each with its own function, symbolism, and origin. Below are some of the most important cloth types you’ll encounter across the island — in rituals, ceremonies, and daily life.

Where Bali’s Textiles Come From

Balinese textiles are deeply tied to place. Each region on the island has its own techniques, colors, and sacred patterns — influenced by local belief systems, clan traditions, and historical trade. Below are some of the key centers of textile production in Bali today:

Types of Traditional Balinese Textiles

Bali’s textile traditions are incredibly diverse, each with its own function, symbolism, and origin. Below are some of the most important cloth types you’ll encounter across the island — in rituals, ceremonies, and daily life.

Buying Textiles in Bali – What to Look For

Bali is a wonderful place to buy handwoven textiles — whether for ritual use, home décor, or as wearable art. But not all fabrics are created equal. Understanding the difference between mass-produced tourist items and authentic handcrafted pieces will help you shop more consciously and respectfully.

Handwoven vs. Printed or Factory-Made

Real Balinese textiles are handwoven on traditional looms, often using natural dyes. You can usually spot authentic cloth by its slightly uneven texture, subtle imperfections, and depth of color. In contrast, many cheap “ikat” or “batik” pieces sold in markets are screen-printed or machine-made.

Respect the Culture

Sacred cloths like bebali and poleng carry spiritual meaning. Avoid sitting on them, wearing them in casual settings, or treating them as costume props. If you’re unsure whether a textile is sacred, ask — and when in doubt, treat all Balinese textiles with respect.

Support Local Weavers & Artisan Collectives

Choosing to buy from weaver cooperatives and heritage-focused shops directly supports Balinese families and helps preserve endangered techniques. It also ensures that the people behind the cloth are fairly paid for their artistry.

Where to Buy Authentic Balinese Textiles

• Threads of Life (Ubud) – Museum-quality textiles, ethically sourced from across Indonesia, with deep cultural documentation.
• Sidemen village – Home to many of Bali’s finest songket and endek weavers; buying directly from the source is rewarding and educational.
• Traditional markets – Places like Gianyar Market or Klungkung Market offer a range of cloths, but prices and quality vary. Ask questions and inspect carefully.

Buying a textile in Bali isn’t just shopping — it’s participating in a living tradition. Choose with care, and you take home something far more meaningful than fabric.

Woven into the Soul of Bali

Balinese textiles are more than just beautiful fabrics — they are sacred expressions of culture, memory, and meaning. Every thread carries intention. Every pattern speaks of ancestry. Every color, knot, and motif is a reflection of the island’s complex harmony between the spiritual and the everyday.

To understand Balinese cloth is to understand Bali itself: a place where art is devotion, where the visible world is always in dialogue with the unseen, and where even the act of weaving is a form of prayer.

By learning about these traditions, supporting the weavers, and respecting the rituals tied to cloth, we don’t just preserve an art form — we help protect a way of life.

When you wrap yourself in a Balinese textile, you are wearing a story. One that is still being written, thread by thread.