Sarong
Aladino Bharudin
A sarong or a sarung (/səˈrɒŋ/) is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist, worn in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, East Africa,[1] West Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric often employs woven plaid or checkered patterns or may be brightly colored by means of batik or ikat dyeing. Many modern sarongs have printed designs, often depicting animals or plants. Different types of sarongs are worn in different places in the world, notably the lungi in the Indian subcontinent and the izaar in the Arabian Peninsula.
The term sarong is an English loanword of Malay sarong ([ˈsaroŋ]) origin, meaning 'to cover' or 'to sheath'.[2] It was first used in 1834 referring to the skirt-like garment of the Malay. Sarong is also the colloquial and old spelling of the Indonesian and Malay word for sarung, while in formal Indonesian it is known as sarung ([ˈsaruŋ]).
In West Africa, the word srong or sorong is found in the Akan language, and this word means "the highest point", in reference to the garment being fastened at the very top in order to secure it.[3]
Sarong or sarung denotes the lower garment worn by Southeast Asian men and women. This consists of a length of fabric about a yard (0.91 m) wide and two-and-a-half yards (2.3 m) long. In the center of this sheet, across the narrower width, a panel of contrasting color or pattern about one foot wide is woven or dyed into the fabric, which is known as the kepala or "head" of the sarong. This sheet is stitched at the narrower edges to form a tube. One steps into this tube, brings the upper edge above the level of the navel (the hem should be level with the ankles), positions the kepala at the center of the back, and folds in the excess fabric from both sides to the front center, where they overlap and secure the sarong by rolling the upper hem down over itself. Malay men wear sarongs woven in a check pattern, while women wear sarongs dyed in the batik method. However, in Javanese culture, the wearing of batik sarongs is common and not restricted to a particular gender; sometimes they are also worn on formal occasions such as weddings.
The sarong is common wear for women in formal settings with a kebaya blouse. Malay men wear sarongs in public only when attending Friday prayers at the mosque,[citation needed] but sarongs remain very common casual wear at home for men of all ethnicities and religions in Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and much of the Indian subcontinent.[4] (In the Indian subcontinent, excluding Sri Lanka, sarongs are sometimes known as mundu or lungi.)
Sarongs known under a variety of local names are traditionally worn by the people of Yemen and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula. Local names for the garment include ṣārūn, fūṭah, izaar, wizār, maqtab and maʿwaz (pl. maʿāwiz). In Hadhramout, Yemen sarongs are called Saroon (Arabic: صارون ṣārūn) in the interior and the coastal region. In Oman, sarongs are called wizār and are often white in color, similar to the Keralan mundu of the Indian subcontinent and it is usually worn under the Thawb. In Saudi Arabia, sarongs are known as izaar. Designs can be checkered or striped as well floral or arabesque, but double plaid (i.e., a vertical section of the izār with a different plaid pattern) designs from Indonesia are also very popular. In southwestern Saudi Arabia, tribal groups have their own style of unstitched izaar, which is locally woven. This is also worn in northern Yemen. However, the tribal groups in Yemen each have their own design for their ṣārūn, the latter of which may include tassels and fringes. It is thought that this tribal ṣārūn resembles the original izaar as worn on the Arabian Peninsula since pre-Islamic times such as the Shendyt. They are generally worn open and unstitched in such a way that the garment does not reach over one's ankles. Other izaars, often imported from Bangladesh, are the traditional clothing of Arab fishermen of the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. It was the traditional garment for men before the introduction of pant-like pajamas and kaftans during the Turkish and European colonial periods. Tube-stitched, as well as open sarongs, are both worn, even informal dishdasha-wearing countries, as casual sleepwear and at home.
Unlike the brightly colored Southeast Asian sarongs, the Kerala variety (the mundu) is more often plain white and is worn for ceremonial or religious purposes. In Kerala, the brightly coloured sarongs are called kaily and the white ones are called mundu. The more formal, all-white dhoti is worn for formal and religious occasions. While there are dresses based on the mundu which can be worn by women, they more commonly wear the sari.
Sarongs are very common in Sri Lanka and worn only by men. (A similar garment is worn by women. However, the women's garment is called redda, which is a wrap-around skirt.) It is the standard garment for most men in rural and even some urban communities. However, most men of upper social classes (whose public attire is usually trousers) wear the sarong only for ceremonial purposes, as a convenient night garment or only within the confines of the house. The Tamil-speaking communities, the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Sri Lankan Moors people also call it saaram or chaaram.
Statistically, the number of people wearing sarong as their primary public attire is on the decline in Sri Lanka, the reason being that the sarong carries the stigma of being the attire for less-educated lower social classes. However, there is a trend toward adopting the sarong as a fashionable garment or as a formal garment worn with national pride, only on special occasions.[5] Political and social leaders of Sri Lanka who want to portray their humility and closeness to the common person and their nationalism, choose a variation of the sarong nicknamed the "national" as their public attire.
Sarongs are ubiquitous in Somalia and the Muslim-inhabited areas of the Horn of Africa. Although nomadic and urban Somali men have worn them for centuries in the form of a plain white skirt, the colorful macawiis (ma'awiis) sarong, which is the most popular form of the garment in the region. Before the 1940s, most macawiis were made of cotton. However, since the industrialization of the market, they now come in many fabrics and combinations thereof, including polyester, nylon and silk.
Designs vary greatly and range from checkered square motifs with watermarked diamonds and plaid to simple geometric lines. The one constant is that they tend to be quite colorful; black macawiis are rare. Macawiis in Somalia are worn around the waist and folded several times over to secure their position. They are typically sold pre-sewn as one long circular stretch of cloth, though some vendors offer to sew them as a value-added service.
In Indonesia the sarong is generally known as a kain sarung ('sarong cloth') except for in Bali where it carries the name kamben, possibly etymologically related to kemben (Javanese torso wrap). The sarung or sarong is often described as an Indonesian skirt; it is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and worn by men and women throughout much of the Indonesian archipelago.[6] The sarong is also commonly described as a unisex tubular skirt.[7]
The most common design of the Indonesian sarong is woven cloth with checkered motifs, usually used by Muslim men for salah prayer. This kind of sarong cloth is stitched together to create a tubular skirt-like lower garment. In Bali, sarongs are not stitched together as a tube, but remain as a piece of cloth to wrap around the waist and secured with a knot.
Other than common checkered motifs, other woven or print methods might be employed, such as batik, ikat, songket, and other kinds of tenun traditional woven clothes. Sarongs are used by various ethnic groups in Indonesia. They are made from a variety of materials such as cotton, polyester or silk.[6] Indonesian women wear traditional costumes called kebaya as upper garments, while for lower garments they wear sarongs dyed in the batik method, with flower motifs and in brighter colors. However, in Javanese culture, the wearing of batik sarungs is not restricted to women on formal occasions such as weddings.
In 2019, in an effort to promote and popularize the sarong among its people, the government encouraged Indonesians to wear the sarong in public at least once a month. President Joko Widodo said the sarong is a significant element of Indonesian culture and that wearing it will be a sign of appreciation for sarong craftsmen.[7]
Sarong from the Philippines are generally known as tapis in Luzon, alampay in the Cordilleran highlands, patadyong in the islands of Visayas and Sulu, and malong in Mindanao. They are worn by both men and women and can be rectangular or tube-like. They can be knee-length or ankle-length and come in various colors that are usually unique to the specific ethnic group that wove them. Among men, the skirt is usually drawn up and tied at the waist (like a dhoti), forming a trouser-like clothing known as a salawal. They can also serve as shawls or blankets. They were paired with close-fitting shirts or jackets known as baro or bayu.[9][10][11][12][13]
During the Spanish colonial era, the tapis was worn over a longer skirt (saya or falda) due to the shortness of the tapis being deemed too immodest by the Spanish clergy to be worn alone. It evolved over time to become part of the traditional Filipino dress for women, the baro't saya.[11][15]
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