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Samoan Material Culture

Bundling Process

Bundling Process

Each scraped strip is folded separately into quarter lengths with the internal surface of the first quarter uppermost on the board. The ta shell is used on the folded strip to express as much moisture as possible. From the manner of folding, the external surfaces will be to the outside both below and above. Other folded strips after scraping are placed above the first and the whole bundle again scraped with the blunt ta shell after each addition. The butt end is reversed with each alternate strip so as to make the bundle as even as possible. The bundle may contain from two to seven folded pieces. The topmost one is left as folded so that the outer surface of the bast is to the outside of the bundle both above and below. The Samoans attach importance to the method of folding. The bundle is called tapapanga u'a. Pratt (23, p. 64) gives the alternative name of ulututunga.

The pressure with the ta shell, besides removing any extra moisture, presses the strips closer together so that they appear as one piece. The tapapanga bundles are put under cover of an old strip of cloth to prevent their drying before the next process, which must wait until all the bast strips have been dealt with.

The term ta means both washing and expressing as much moisture as possible. It is nowadays applied to the washing and wringing of textile clothing.