Textile : Threads of Myth, Incan Khipu, and Global Tassel Cultures

Beginning with the fundamental thread of textile culture

I plan to write a series of articles based on Beverly Gordon's book, Textiles: The Whole Story: Uses, Meanings, Significance. The titles will all begin with "Textile," and the content will be reorganized according to my own logic for categorization after reading the entire book.

This book does not currently have a Chinese version, but if you read through the several notes I've compiled, you'll likely grasp its core ideas. From Beverly Gordon's table of contents, it's clear that she focuses more on the cultural, historical, and spiritual significance of textiles, rather than the emphasis on material function and craftsmanship found in conventional textile literature.

The Very Fabric of Existence
Living on the Earth
The Ties That Bind
Cloth and Temporal Power
Cloth as Communication
Textiles and the Spirit

This book is perfect for intensive reading over a few days or a week. Compared to literary works that require you to savor them slowly and adjust your mood, this is more like a practical cultural reference book with high information density, suitable for focused reading and absorption.

This article primarily organizes the mythological significance of early textiles, starting with the most basic element, the "Thread." It connects myths and legends related to thread, the Khipu knot-record system of the pre-Columbian Andes, and the decorative symbolism of fringes in Native American and West African cultures, among other topics.

Legend

Ancient Greek mythology and European folktales contain many stories related to textiles. Thread is often compared to the path of a person's life—thread as a pathway.

The three Fates (Moirae) of ancient Greek mythology, among whom Clotho was responsible for spinning the thread, Lachesis for measuring it, and Atropos for cutting it, controlled human destiny.

In the lower left of the picture below, a shuttle has fallen to the ground, suggesting the end of a destiny. The three goddesses are standing on the fallen woman.

The 'span' in the phrase 'life span' is a variant of 'to spin'.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the goddess Isis had the ability to communicate between the underworld and the world of the living. One of Isis's most important acts was to collect and reconnect the dismembered body parts of her husband, Osiris. This act of "weaving" scattered parts back into a whole is highly consistent with the connecting and suturing function of thread. She used her magical powers to reassemble Osiris's body, enabling him to be reborn and become the ruler of the underworld.

The Tyet Knot (Knot of Isis) is the symbol held in Isis's left hand in the picture above. It is also an iconic symbol for women today, similar to the ancient Egyptian Ankh, or key of life. In ancient Egypt, the Tyet Knot was used as an amulet, especially in funerals, often placed on mummies to ensure the deceased's rebirth and protection in the afterlife.

Isis, Osiris, and their falcon-headed son Horus are often depicted holding the Ankh, or placing the Ankh to the pharaoh's face to bestow the breath of life.

During the Midsummer festival held annually at the summer solstice in Northern Europe, a Maypole (Midsommarstång) like the one pictured below is erected. Once the Maypole is up, people hold hands, singing and dancing around the pole, weaving colorful ribbons into brilliant patterns as they dance.

Girls often wear crowns woven from fresh flowers, symbolizing youth, purity, and natural beauty. In many school or community celebrations, a "May Queen" is chosen from among the students or residents to represent spring and the renewal of life.

In Norse mythology, there are also goddesses associated with thread and weaving. The Norse goddess Frigg is the wife of Odin, the king of the gods in Asgard, holding a status comparable to his as the queen of the gods. "Frigg" originates from the Proto-Germanic root Frijjō, meaning "beloved, dear." Her name has also left its mark on the etymology of "Friday" in English, which is "Frigg's Day."

Frigg was skilled at "spinning fate" and also possessed the ability to foresee the future, though she often chose to keep it secret. Isn't this the power of Thor's mother in the Avengers?

There is also the ancient Greek myth of the Minotaur, Ariadne, and Theseus.

Minos was the king of Crete. He possessed a terrifying creature called the Minotaur, which was half-man, half-bull, and extremely ferocious. The Minotaur was imprisoned in a complex Labyrinth built by the famous craftsman Daedalus.

Due to a past defeat in a war with Crete, Athens was forced to send a tribute of seven young men and seven young women to Minos every nine years. They were sent into the Labyrinth to become sacrifices for the Minotaur. The Athenian prince Theseus could not bear to see his compatriots suffer, so he volunteered to go to Crete to kill the Minotaur.

When Theseus arrived in Crete, King Minos's daughter, Princess Ariadne, fell deeply in love with him at first sight. Out of her love for Theseus and her disapproval of her father's cruelty, Ariadne decided to help him. She sought help from Daedalus and learned the secret of the Labyrinth. She then gave Theseus a ball of thread and a magic sword, teaching him how to use them: tie one end of the thread to the entrance upon entering the Labyrinth, and then unwind the thread as he went. This way, after killing the Minotaur, he could follow the thread back out of the maze.

Here, the Minotaur represents the lower, unconscious, selfish self, while the ball of thread represents guidance from the soul's depths, love, or a higher intuition. In a labyrinth-like predicament, we may lose our way, and this thread is like an inner voice or intuition that guides us out of confusion and danger.

Other mythological goddesses related to textiles and the abilities they represent:

In mythology, besides governing destiny, spirituality, wisdom, and creation, goddesses' weaving is also related to marriage, family, procreation, and maternity. In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope "pauses time" by weaving by day and unraveling by night, waiting for her husband Odysseus to return.

Khipu

The story of how the Inca Empire used khipu—with different types of knots, and ropes of varying colors and lengths—to record things is translated directly from the book below:

The khipu was the key means by which the Inca Empire managed its vast administrative system. Early Spanish chronicles record that khipu documented a wide range of information, including tribute payments, census data, inventories, calendars, and records of events. In the 1570s, the colonial government began to regulate the use of khipu and, for a short time, required khipu specialists to maintain specific records for them (the Spanish typically transcribed their contents into written documents). At that time, the general populace also used khipu for private purposes; for example, during their forced conversion to Catholicism, they used knotted cords to record key points of doctrine or to confess sins. But this brief period of acceptance soon ended. By the 1580s, when clergymen discovered that khipu were also being used to record "pagan" matters, such as offerings to pre-Christian gods, they began to strongly resist their use. In extreme cases, they even deliberately destroyed khipu and suppressed the transmission of knowledge about their creation and use.

Although other pre-colonial Andean institutions gradually disintegrated, khipu knowledge was preserved for several centuries. Even without a central Inca state to manage imperial affairs, local villages continued to use khipu to record activities, and individuals used the system for private purposes. (A moving description left by a 16th-century missionary tells of seeing new converts creating khipu-like devices from readily available materials—such as small stones or corn kernels—to recite prayers.) As people became more familiar with written systems, khipu "literacy" gradually faded. By the 19th century, people could no longer fully interpret its "language." Even so, local communities cherished the khipu passed down through generations and still use them in rituals today.

When modern Western scholars began to study pre-Columbian Andean cultures, they were surprised that these highly organized and technologically advanced civilizations had no writing system. They knew of the existence of khipu (hundreds of examples from the pre-Columbian period alone have survived), but this system was so different from the phonetic writing forms they were accustomed to that they found it difficult to recognize the rich data within. In the 1920s, anthropologist Leland Locke proposed the hypothesis that khipu were memory aids based on a decimal numeral system, primarily used for accounting. This view was widely accepted for decades.

In recent years, as we have begun to appreciate the highly abstract way of thinking of the Inca people, and also because "binary coding" has become an important way for us to understand the world, we have gradually realized that khipu may have had a completely different function. One theory suggests that khipu operated like a computer language, essentially using "0s" and "1s." Harvard professor Gary Urton, in his book Signs of the Inka Khipu, points out that information on a khipu might be presented in a seven-bit encoded format. The khipu maker would choose the length and color of each pendant cord and then tie knots in a specific sequence, combining the above variables. Based on all possible combinations, Urton estimates that this system could carry over 1,500 independent units of information—a number that even exceeds the amount of information needed to read a Chinese newspaper using pictographic characters. He believes each knotted cord unit might function like a graphic symbol, representing a certain value, object, or event. Although we have not yet cracked the entire code, nor have we found a "Rosetta Stone"-like tool for comparison, mathematicians are currently inputting descriptive information from existing khipu into databases. Using technological tools similar to those for DNA decoding, they have identified thousands of repeating knot sequences that may represent different "phrases."

Scholar Frank Salomon, who has extensively studied khipu, believes that these knotted cords do not correspond to language but are representations of reality, similar to musical scores. He points out that khipu reflect the structure of social practices and spatial understanding, serving as three-dimensional dynamic models with "operating parts." Different social strata (such as the ayllu community units, which resemble collective land ownership and fraternal organizations) each maintained their own khipu records. Salomon believes that these records were updated annually as part of a calendrical cycle.

Considering that Andean peoples treasured textiles to the point of giving them sacred status, it is not surprising that they used fiber as a recording tool. They created this language system because they fundamentally thought in a textile logic. For this reason, the key figures in decoding the khipu are precisely the weavers—those who think in a textile way.

Another point is that during the Pre-Columbian period, both Mesoamerica and South America in the Andean region revered the sun. The Khipu cords above are arranged in a circle, and the traditional local blouse, the huipil, has the same shape, just needing a person to wear it to fill the empty space in the middle. When her head emerges from the neckline, a symbolic message is also completed—as if the sun is rising. The "Inca" in Inca Empire means "children of the sun."

I will later write a dedicated article on the cosmological worldviews of various traditional peoples represented by these patterns.

Pre-Columbian period native Andean balance scales and slings made from rope.

Tassel & Fringe

Strictly speaking, the dense ornament on the left in the picture below is called a Tassel, while the edge of a scarf or carpet is called a Fringe in English, but the terms can be used interchangeably. In Chinese, they are both called liúsū (流苏).

The element of the fringe is indeed widely found in the traditional cultures of many ethnic groups around the world.

On the edges of textiles, especially at the ends of fabrics or ropes, a fringe can effectively prevent threads from unraveling and fraying. By securing the ends of the threads and letting them hang down, it protects the integrity of the fabric and extends its lifespan. This was particularly important in ancient times when textile technology was less developed. The technique for making fringes is also relatively simple, requiring only the bundling or weaving of thread bundles, which made it an economical and easily achievable form of decoration. The lines also become smoother and more graceful.

Located at the edge, a fringe symbolizes a boundary, transition, or connection. It can represent a link between two worlds (such as the living and the dead, the real and the sacred) or serve as a symbolic element in a ritual.

The most famous fringes are the fringed shawls and various fringed accessories of Native Americans. The cardigan, scarf, and bag below are decorated with porcupine quills. Some Native Americans use beadwork, bone ornaments, and featherwork to convey messages about the heavens, the earth, and the sacred spirit.

Porcupine quills, beadwork, bone ornaments, colorful feathers, and fringes are distinct features of Native American clothing, complemented by highly saturated ethnic colors and patterns.

Fringed clothing with porcupine quills and beadwork mainly comes from the Iroquois people of the Northeastern United States. Nowadays, these beaded "whimsies" are often seen as tourist souvenirs at Niagara Falls. The Native Americans of the western United States and Canada, such as the Tlingit and Haida, rely more on patterns and have a more rustic style.

Some cultures believe that fringes have a protective function. They are seen as symbols that can ward off evil spirits and bring good luck, or connect the wearer to divine powers. The draping and swinging nature of fringes makes them look dynamic and vibrant. This adds vitality to static textiles and creates a graceful, divine dynamism when the wearer moves, connecting them with nature, such as in the Native American Chilkat dance blanket.

A related story is the Ghost Dance Movement.

In 1889, a Paiute prophet named Wovoka claimed that during a fever-induced coma, he received a revelation from the "spirit world": if the Native people performed a special dance (the Ghost Dance), their ancestors would be resurrected, the buffalo would return to the plains, the white people would disappear, and the Native world would be restored.

Ghost Dance shirts were hand-painted cotton shirts worn by participants during the dance, adorned with totems, animals, suns, stars, mystical symbols, and other patterns. Many Native people believed these garments possessed spiritual protective powers, even making them invulnerable to knives and bullets.

In the Yoruba culture of Nigeria, kings are believed to possess immense energy during ceremonial events, and looking directly at their faces could be as overwhelming as looking at God. Therefore, they wear a Yoruba beaded crown with a bird on top, from which a fringe hangs down to cover the face. This is both a symbol of power and a form of psychological protection for others.

During deep prayer, Jewish people often pull up their prayer shawl (tallit) to cover their head and face, shielding them from the secular world. (Many interpret the verse in the New Testament, Matthew 6:6, "go into your room... and pray" as referring to the prayer shawl.) The four corners of a Jewish prayer shawl must have fringes (tzitzit) attached, serving as a strong tactile reminder of the covenant with God.

In many cultures, fringes are associated with luxury, wealth, and status. Exquisitely made fringes from precious materials were often used to decorate the clothing, artifacts, and architecture of royalty, nobility, or religious leaders to display their eminence.

The Toraja people of Indonesia imported and absorbed the fringes from Indian patola blankets. The Toraja believed that if a ruler lost control of a patola or allowed it to become damaged, it was seen as a sign that they had lost their spiritual efficacy and power. This cloth was regarded by the locals as an almost sacred commodity. Some patterns were reserved exclusively for Indonesian royalty, thus becoming symbols of royal authority and treated as sacred heirlooms.

Indonesia's demand for Indian patola printed cotton blankets sparked the East India Company, the Opium Wars, the North American triangular trade, and the development of the modern capitalist factory system, but more on that later.

Thread and fringes are also related to sexuality, such as the G-strings worn by strippers, tassel pasties on nipples, and the fringed belts worn by Amazigh brides, with red ones being particularly eye-catching.

Epilogue

It's been a long time since I've read those ancient myths from before the Common Era. In today's increasingly complex and fragmented life, these stories seem simpler, purer, and more capable of sparking the imagination.

The Khipu knot-record system is still being studied by American and British scholars today; it represents another way of thinking. And fringes add a touch of dynamism and fun to conventional, neat, monochromatic linear structures. I've always been very fond of fringes myself. Although it's not very practical to wear clothes with long, trailing fringes in modern life, thankfully, cashmere shawls and scarves have become standard winter accessories.

It just so happened that when I was taking this set of photos, I saw the lotus-shaped red and black sheet metal spinning in the wind in the background, so I spontaneously picked up my scarf and danced with it a bit.

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