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EveryParampara

Tapa

Bark cloth beaten from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, decorated with patterns.

A pattern drawn for this page, not a picture of Tapa.

Also: siapo, ngatu, masi

Tapa is a cloth made across the Pacific from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, soaked and beaten with wooden mallets until it is thin and wide, then felted together into large sheets. It is decorated with stamped, stencilled or hand-painted patterns, in brown and black dyes, called siapo in Samoa, ngatu in Tonga and masi in Fiji. Women make it together, in a social setting, and the finished pieces are given at weddings, births and funerals, as gifts of high value, and worn on special occasions. Some pieces are many metres long. The craft is a living tradition and a source of pride.

Region: Oceania

See also

LavalavaKava

Find traditions that mention Tapa

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