SIMBUT CLOTH

Simbut means ‘blanket’ in Sundanese, and is one of the traditional cloth pieces of the Baduy tribe. Usually used for birth, death and circumcision rituals, it is believed to protect its wearer, and is used for the wrapping of ceremonial paraphernalia. The simbut pattern uses a paste of sticky rice and subsequent application of the resist dying technique. It used to be hand drawn. It is believed that this technique represents the origin of batik resist dying. In this process, a piece of cloth was spread out, and a hot rice paste was applied to create certain motifs using a bamboo stick with softened bruised edges. When the rice paste had dried, the dyes would either be daubed onto the cloth, or the cloth would be soaked in a dye bath. Because the rice paste would resist the dyes, the motifs would then appear on the covered parts of the cloth.