Newari Dress and Ornaments

Newari Dress and Ornaments

The dress of Jyapu men and women is an exception to general Newar costumes. They wear their own home-made garments from homespun cotton materials.

The women have black saris with red bordering, their blouses are of finely woven cotton material, and huge waist bands of plain cotton complete the costume. The style of wearing the sari varies from the standard of other Newar communities. Furthermore, Jyapu women have tattoos on their calves and ankles, which are exposed while wearing the sari, and they ornament themselves with gold earrings and silver necklaces.

Among the various ornaments worn by Newars, the one that distinctly stand out are, "Loonswan" which is a gold plate worn at the center of the head with superb designs all over with a coral containing an image of Lord Ganesh in the middle.

A huge golden necklace known as "Tayo" which hold significant meanings is also important.

A "Ghau", which is golden pendant with stones joined to the necklace is also impressive.

"Kilip" as the name suggest is worn at the back of the head. The word probably came from the english word 'clip'.

Te "Teek Ma" is another elaborate pieceworn on the head. It has many small strings attached to a point and is worn on the side.

Beside these, some of the commonly worn ornaments are "Patachin shikha" or a simple gold necklace, "Company shika" which is a necklace made of coins, and "Bhimpuma", another necklace made of coral.

The earrings are u-shaped and are called "Makansi". The hand are adorned with gold rings and bangles.

"kalli" which is usually made of silver is also worn around the ankles.

The Jyapu woman is kept busy throughout the year because of her obligation to weave all the cotton material for family clothing requirements, in addition to her responsibilities in the family fields.

Jyapu men wear the Nepali suit without the western suit jacket which is seen so often on other Nepali men. Instead, they wear a waist-band of plain white cotton material and a waistcoat of their own style, which is slightly different form the western one.