When used as a shroud, bark cloth provides an "extra skin", keeping the bones together as the body of the deceased disintegrates in the graveyard. In Tonga, numerous chronic afflictions are believed to be caused by the condition of the bones of deceased relatives. Thus the protection that this extra skin provides is perceived as important for peoples’ health.
Tu’i Tonga’s Treasury
The pattern printed on this bark cloth is called Fata a Tu’i Tonga which means “the loft of the king of Tonga”. According to tradition, this was the pattern used to lash together the posts and rafters that made up the loft of the house of the king. The loft was the treasury of the house, where the king kept his most valued possessions well protected and out of sight.
Bark cloth printing
Bark cloth patterns are traditionally made by using a prefabricated printing stencil. As in lashing patterns, the shape of an X within a square recurs in classical printing patterns in Tonga.
Modern bark cloth designs
Traditionally, bark cloth from Tonga was usually decorated with abstract geometric patterns. Any representations were highly stylized and printed onto the bark cloth using prefabricated stencils. Nowadays, bark cloth is increasingly decorated with figurative patterns, where the drawings are more naturalistic. The two modes of representation do however exist side by side. Thus a single bark cloth may often be decorated with geometric and abstract as well as naturalistic and figurative representations.
