- published: 15 Aug 2013
- views: 61
Gaddhoo, Gadhdhoo or Gaddu (Dhivehi: ގައްދޫ) is one of the inhabited islands of Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll.
The local women of Gadhdhoo Island weave beautiful mats with patterns in three colors, off-white, yellow and black. These mats are woven using the strands of the bark of Hibiscus tiliaceus (the same tree which is used for making tapa cloth in Polynesia and a kind of local grass called 'hau', which may be dyed in yellow or black. There are two qualities, thinner mats woven with simple knot, or thicker, good-quality mats woven bu means of more complex knots.
Traditionally the best Gadhdhoo mats were used by the Maldive Royal House in Malé. Part of the annual tribute from the Huvadu Atoll Chief to the royal court, used to be in the form of Gadhdhoo mats.
Nils-Finn Munch Petersen and Annegrethe Ottovar, two Danish anthropologists visited this island in the 1970s and made extensive research about its mat production and the patterns used on them.
The production of these mats has suffered much from the reckless activity of intermediaries. While a great price is fetched from the tourists, the women who wove them in Gadhdhoo Island received just a small fraction of the amount. Consequently, production and quality declined during the 1980s and have not recovered since. Young girls refused to go through the difficult and long period of apprenticeship because of the low revenue that could be expected in the future.
I can taste the wreckage
Of dismembered dreams
Ghostly disciple, nothing as it seems
I will follow you until this dark cloud recedes
Pain of another, heal this I plead
My heart still bleeds for you
Take the long way home
My heart still bleeds for you
Solemn times stain us like
The blood of all that's unknown
This cursed you the worst
Give me your love
Solemn times stain us like