Threads

The Kalasha have a highly developed textile culture. With the making of a long sash as a frame, the documentary deals with the myth of the loom, the women's processes of carding, spinning and weaving sheep wool and modern knitting yarn with or without loom. We see how the introduction of sewing machines and manufactured cloth and yarn has inspired the women to new techniques and fashion. Also the introduction of small beads has inspired to new techniques. The Kalasha world is divided into sphere of pure and impure. As the goats are pure, the men spin and weave the goat's wool at the pure places. The textile work is so essential in the women's life that a new born girl is given a spindle and carding bow to hold during the purification with burning juniper when in her mother's arms she is presented to the family goddess Jestak in the temple 20 days after being born. Afterwards a tuft of the babies hair is cut through a hole in a flat bread that is folded around the small tools and left in the temple wall for Jestak. When laid to rest in her grave, again the woman is given the small tools to hold so that she can continue her textile work in the afterlife. The documentary ends when the sash is finished.