Get to know Papua Traditional Clothing: Sali, Yokal, and Koteka

PAPUAAROUND — Koteka for men and grass skirts for women have become synonymous with the Yali tribe in the Central Mountains, Papua. So how is the traditional clothing used?

It is common knowledge that koteka originated from Papua. Men in the Central Mountains, Papua usually wear koteka, while the women wear sali.

Sali is a skirt made of grass or fern fiber. Sali is generally worn by an unmarried girl, while married women wear yokal.

This sali or yokal is used at traditional events or cultural festivals. In daily life, women in the central mountains of Papua wear modern skirts that they buy in the market.

Koteka itself is shaped differently depending on where they come from. For example, the Dani tribe wears a smaller koteka, while the Yali tribe wears a long and slender koteka tied around the waist using a rattan belt, while the Lani tribe wears a larger and shorter koteka.

The traditional clothing of the Yali tribe is a combination of koteka and rattan circles wrapped around the body. The material of the Yali koteka is a long gourd fruit that is dried by drying on the fireplace.

After drying, the gourd is attached to the Yali men’s vital organs and tied using a fine rattan rope wrapped around the waist to the abdomen. The rattan rings on the abdomen and body also show the level of bravery of a man from the tribe.

The more rings he has, the higher his level of courage and status. This is because rattan only grows outside the Yali region. The Yali people used to say that rattan only grows in enemy territory, and to obtain it you have to take risks.

The rattan circle and koteka are also not just clothing and jewelry. There is another use for this traditional clothing, which is to make fire. The average Yali man makes fire by using a rattan rope as a match.

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To make a fire, a Yali would take a piece of rattan from their clothing, approximately 60 cm long. The rattan would then be wrapped around a piece of wood placed on the ground, surrounded by dry grass and branches.

Then, the men would stand, with each foot on the end of the wood. With their hands, they would pull the twisted rattan rope rapidly up and down and rub it against the wood, until smoke came out, a fire started, and the end of the rope broke off in flames. After that, they cover the wood with grass and blow until there is a big fire.