WEAVING TIES AND TRADITIONS
Continuing our Female Leadership series, Life talks with Wongduean Udomdechawet, who co-founded the first silk woven cloth group of Ban Na Wa, Nakhon Phanom
Wongduean Udomdechawet smiles when she talks about the craft of creating the tie-dyed silk woven cloth, known as mudmee. Now 80, the grand dame of mudmee silk — and president of the Community-based Enterprise Group of Craftwork of Wat That Prasit in Nakhon Phanom — has every right to be proud that the traditional cloth weaving group she co-founded 45 years ago improved her family’s life and the lives of others in the community.
The group was the first to operate under the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Technique of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand, or the Support Foundation.
“We never sold our woven cloth until Her Majesty the Queen showed us that our cloth has value,” she recalled the royal visit in 1972.
Since then, mudmee silk has become one of the best known royal-supported products, an example of local craft and wisdom.
Wongduean is a descendant of the Tai Nyo (or Nyaw) ethnic group who migrated from Laos during the early Rattanakosin period. Her ancestors settled in Ban Na Wa in Nakhon Phanom. They were farmers who spent their free time making woven clothes for their own use.
Their rural lives would change after His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej and HM Queen Sirikit paid a royal visit to Wat That Prasit for the kathin (Buddhist robe presentation) ceremony on Nov 13, 1972. Their Majesties also brought their teenage daughters, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn, with them.
Wongduean did not want to miss the chance to see the royal families up close.
“My family was not rich, but I wanted to offer something to Their Majesties,” she said. She found a tie-dyed silk cloth that could represent her Tai Nyo heritage. The cloth had a pineapple pattern and was woven in twotones; purple and white.
She and five neighbours who also wanted to offer woven clothes to Their Majesties were placed at the end of the line, but at the front row. It was the last spot before Their Majesties would board the royal vehicle to leave the village.
Wongduean put her present on a pedestal tray. When she saw Their Majesties walking towards her direction, she held the tray up high and bent her head down. She believed it would not be appropriate to look at the faces of the royal families directly.
“Her Majesty the Queen bent down to get my gift and asked me if I wove the cloth. The Queen also told me that ‘It was very beautiful’.” At that moment, she could not resist her instinct to look at the Queen. “I couldn’t give my answer because my tears started to drop. I was overwhelmed with happiness,” she recalled.
A month later she heard the thick noise of a helicopter over her village. She was a nurse in a public health centre and worked in an operation room to help a mother-to-be deliver a baby. Staff rushed in and told her she was being summoned to the police station immediately.
“I was shocked.” She thought she would be sent to a prison because at that time anyone could be excused of being part of the rebel forces as Ban Na Wa was surrounded by red alert zones where communist insurgents were active.
At the station, she saw the other five neighbours who also offered their silk to the Queen. They were introduced to the late Thanpuying Suprapada Kasemsant, the Queen’s private secretary.
She told the villagers that she was a “servant of the Queen”, recalled Wongduean, adding that the Queen said their woven clothes were very beautiful and that they were asked to produce more textiles for the Queen.
Thanpuying Suprapada provided an initial fund for them to weave six pieces of silk clothes.
In January 1973, the secretary and her team revisited Ban Na Wa. She bought all the woven clothes that she had ordered.
“Thanpuying Suprapada gave us 100 baht per piece of cloth. I was thrilled. I had never earned anything from selling my woven clothes before. I felt that the price was very high,” she said.
They were told to keep on their traditional patterns and make their clothes wider and longer. A traditional woven cloth of Tai Nyo was about 150cm long, which was too short to make a blouse or a dress. The palace team kept visiting Ban Na Wa village every month or two to follow up with the orders and to examine living conditions of villagers in nearby communities.
The team also brought experts to teach the villagers the techniques of dyeing and weaving to enhance the quality of their textiles. The team also recruited new members in order to encourage locals to keep their cultural heritage of cloth weaving alive.
The woven group of Ban Na Wa then became well known. From the group of six housewives, it expanded.
“When other people learned that we were earning income from our cloth, they also wanted to join,” she said. Within five years, the cloth weaving group of Ban Na Wa had more than 500 members from the town and other nearby villages.
Another happy moment for those who wove cloth for the Queen’s project was to see their textiles as dresses for Her Majesty.
“Every year, Thanpuying Suprapada showed us a photo album of the Queen’s dresses. We saw our textiles turned into beautiful dresses worn by Her Majesty the Queen. We were overjoyed. Each of us cried out loud with excitement that ‘this is my work’ when we looked at those pictures,” she said.
As a skilful person, Wongduean also gained the trust of Thanpuying. She was asked to be her eyes and ears to help take care of other villagers.
“This is the most auspicious blessing I have ever had in my life. I am a little commoner who was asked to help the work of Her Majesty the Queen,” she said.
Her duty was to visit other villages, collect woven clothes from them and register each textile for the palace team. She later was assigned to work as a teacher and to share the techniques of tie-dyed cloth weaving to those who were interested in weaving silk textiles at Phuphan Palace in Sakhon Nakhon, centres of the Support Foundation in several provinces and other places in and outside Nakhon Phanom.
When she reached her retirement age 20 years ago, she decided to attend a professional silk-weaving class. Although she had been weaving since the age of eight, the class helped her understand the entire process of cloth weaving from raising silkworms to create marketing programmes.
For the past 45 years, she said she has never tired of working with the silk-weaving group. The group also has their working space and a showroom at Wat Thai Prasit in Ban Na Wa.
Among those who have worked at the centre for many decades is Khambon Phayai, 85. She said she liked working in the weaving centre because she had friends and can earn an income. “At my age, who would believe that I can still work. I love what I do because I can sell every woven cloth I make.
“Last month, I sold a 21m long black woven cloth for 30,000 baht,” she said with pride, adding that thanks to the group her family has had steady income for years.
The weaving centre has welcomed notable customers including ambassadors from the United States, Britain and Israel. Their woven cloths are certified as the five-star One Tambon One Product of Na Wa.
Although their tie-dyed silk woven textiles are regarded as premium products, there is still a room for further development. A research team from Suan Dusit University and with the support of the Thailand Research Fund plans to work with Wongduean’s group to help improve packaging of their products as well as to further develop Ban Na Wa as a community-based tourism destination where visitors can experience the culture of Thai Nyo and learn to weave tie-dyed clothes.
The cloth weaving brings in not only recognition, but many possibilities to Ban Na Wa. “Our lives have changed for the better. I am very glad to have a chance to work for the Queen,” she said.
“I will keep on weaving and sharing my knowledge on tie-dyed cloth to the young generations so that our cultural heritage will live on,” she added.