Indonesia · Basketry / Manuscript / Structural Craft
Kerajinan Lontar
The Lontar palm (Borassus flabellifer) is the foundation of material culture across Nusa Tenggara, Bali, and parts of Java — its leaves, fruit, sap, trunk, and root each serving distinct craft purposes. Lontar leaf craft encompasses: manuscript production (lontar books — hand-incised text and illustration on dried and prepared palm strips, still used for sacred texts in Bali and Lombok); basketry and weaving (plaited fans, baskets, hats, ceremonial containers from fresh leaf); architectural materials (thatch, walling); and offering vessels (fresh leaf folded into temporary ritual containers). The manuscript tradition is the most endangered — lontar book production (incising text with a stylus on prepared strips, then rubbing with lamp black to reveal the incised letters) requires literacy in archaic Balinese, Javanese, or Kawi script alongside the manual skills. Estimated fewer than 200 active lontar manuscript makers in Bali.
Risk level: Endangered · Not inscribed; Balinese lontar manuscript tradition recognized in Indonesian national ICH list
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