Get to know more about Yokal traditional clothes from Papua, how to wear them, what they symbolize, and what kind of accessories people use. Here are the things you should know:
Yokal is Papuan women’s traditional clothes originating from West Papua. Important to remember that Yokal traditional clothes should not be worn carelessly by everyone. Why is that? In Papua, there are several traditional clothes that only women are allowed to wear.
There are two Papua traditional clothes that are specifically created for women, which are Sali and Yokal. You can’t wear these two traditional clothes, Sali and Yokal, carelessly because of the customary rules. Sali is a Papua traditional clothing for single women or, in other words, unmarried women.
On the other hand, Yokal traditional clothes are traditional clothes that are purposely for married women, so single women are not allowed to wear them. Therefore, the status of women in Papua can be easily distinguished by the clothing type they wear.
This traditional Yokal dress has a design that explicitly covers a woman’s upper body. What is uniqueness about Yokal clothes? Yokal is produced from tree bark. It has a reddish-brown color, in contrast to the traditional Papuan Sali clothing, which is light brown. This traditional dress symbolizes the closeness between Papuans and mother nature in Papuan culture.
Yokal Traditional Clothes are Worn with a Tassel Skirt
Women in the inland of West Papua wear this Yokal traditional dress with a tassel skirt. A Tassel skirt is a skirt that people make from dry straw or dried sago leaves. This skirt helps to cover the wearer’s lower body.
This skirt can be worn by both men and women. There are several ethnic groups who wear this tassel skirt, such as Enjros, Biak Numfor, Yapen, Nafri, Sentani, and Tobati.
The Papuan people make these clothes quite meticulously. The process of making Yokal traditional clothing requires patience and precision. Yokal traditional clothes are made by weaving tree bark material. When it is finished weaving, the next step is to wrap it according to the body’s shape.
Papua Traditional Clothing Accessories
In its use, this traditional clothes of Papuan also use additional accessories to enhance the wearer’s appearance. Some of the accessories that Papuans often use are tassel decorations on their heads and Noken.
The head accessory on the head is a crown that the local community makes using cassowary feathers. This headdress usually has a white or yellow hue. The choice of cassowary feathers is because of their unique and attractive shape.
Not only using cassowary feathers but this head accessory is sometimes mixed and matched with rabbit fur. There is also a headdress that does not use cassowary feathers but weeds instead.
Another accessory is Noken. Noken is the name for a traditional Papuan woven bag. In the past, Papuans often wore this bag by attaching it to the head, but recently it has begun to be worn by slinging it.
Noken utilizes bark and rattan as the essential ingredients of its production. The community usually uses the large Noken or Yatoo bags to carry wood, vegetables, tubers, and other grocery items. If Yatoo is empty, the bag can be used to carry children. As for the small Noken or Gapagoo bags, people usually use them to take betel nuts or cigarettes.
Until now, Noken is still widely used by the Asmat tribe and other tribes in Papua. The Noken bag is a source of pride for Papuans who migrate to other islands or Indonesians who migrate abroad. In the market, this Noken has a high price. So that’s a little information about the Yokal traditional clothes and how it is used by Papuan women. What is the meaning of these Papua traditional costumes, as well as the accessory that people used to complete the dress.
