Masi
Masi is the Fijian bark cloth tradition — beaten from paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) and decorated with geometric patterns using a kupesi — a tablet rubbing plate made from woven pandanus over a raised pattern — that is pressed against the masi surface with natural pigment to transfer the design. The Vatulele Island tradition is considered the finest Fijian masi, distinguished by the muaivaso design and the masimasi (patchwork masi) technique in which multiple beaten sheets are joined with plant starch paste into large ceremonial pieces. The defining technical knowledge is the paste-join timing: two masi sheets joined with cassava starch paste must be pressed together at exactly the moment when the paste is 'neither wet nor dry — when it breathes but does not flow.'
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Fiji national ICH list; Pacific cultural heritage; UNESCO Pacific programs
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