Traditional Faren belts
Traditional Faren dress has a belt (Nem (Faren language): sein) used to tie the tunic on the waist. The practical use of the belt is to tie their tunic in place and hang some small possessions from it. The belt is usually wrapped around the body once, and tied in the front. The way the belt is knotted depends on the region. Some rich people have belts that are overly long and are wrapped more than once.
The belts also transmit a lot of information for those who can read them. Different towns and individual weavers have their own styles, and different families have different styles and colour they prefer. The designs can abstract, but can also represent different topics such as the parton deity of the owner. Every single belt is thus a unique work of art, but the belts of close family members usually resemble one another.
It is common to get a new belt on a very important occasion, such as when becoming adult, marrying or being widowed, and these stages of life can often be seen on the patterns. Usually everyone ownly has one belt, and a worn belt represents all the experiences the owner has went through, and so an old belt is an honourable thing to wear.
The rich can afford finer belts that are more colourful, made from more expensive materials and are longer and wider. Purple, extracted from a rare type of seasnails, is an especially rare colour. Farens like bright colours in general, but for a poor peasant a nicely done belt may be the only colourful piece of clothing.
The ability to write is still not very common on Salan. Written documents are rare, and there are no official documents of citizenship. Thus the clothing styles are very important indicators of one's heritage. Often the born citizens of a town wear different designs than the immigrants.
by Pracar (wikimedia user)
Some simple belt designs
Comments