Réunion (France) · Textile / Basketry
Tresse vacoa (the weaving technique itself); bertel/bertelle (the traditional woven backpack, the technique's signature product); ballot (a related tube-form woven container); pinpin (the vacoa fruit, distinct from the leaves used in weaving); alène (the awl-type needle used for base-seaming)
The hand-weaving of dried vacoa (Pandanus/screw-pine) leaves into baskets, backpacks, hats, mats, and household objects along Réunion's eastern and southern coastlines, formally documented in the French Ministry of Culture's own national Patrimoine Culturel Immatériel inventory as 'La vannerie du vacoa à la Réunion.' Vacoa leaves are selected, their thorns removed, split into thin strips, and sun-dried for two to three days; craftswomen then moisten and soften the dried strips with a knife before weaving can begin. The most common weave is a simple two-strand pattern ('2 brins levés, 2 brins laissés' -- two strands raised, two strands left), with baskets assembled following a specific sequence that allows the weaver to 'break the corners' at the desired points to form the basket's angles; the signature bertel (or bertelle) backpack and the related ballot container are constructed using a bias weave, joined into a tube form and seamed at the base with an alène-type awl needle threaded with a finer vacoa strand. Saint-Philippe, on Réunion's wild southern coast, is specifically documented as one of the island's favored territories for vacoa cultivation and weaving, home to the Maison de la Tresse et du Terroir (also known as the Maison du vacoa), which offers demonstrations and paid initiation workshops (20€ for adults, 10€ for children). The French heritage inventory itself directly and honestly documents the technique's mixed cultural heritage -- shaped by Métropole (mainland France), African, Malagasy, Comorian, and Asian influences -- reflecting Réunion's own multicultural population history within the diversity of weaving techniques employed. Named practitioners documented through decades of field-recorded interviews for the national heritage inventory include Aïdé Orange (interviewed preparing vacoa strands and weaving at Saint-Philippe), Joseph Ignace, Gérard Rivière (a chair-caning specialist), and Vonette Zettor; contemporary practitioners include Madame Payet, who leads discovery workshops at Bras-Panon, Lauriane, a farmer's daughter and granddaughter who leads workshops from her garden in Saint-Philippe, and So Van'ri, a dedicated contemporary vacoa-weaving atelier offering both in-person and online instruction. While traditional forms (bertels, hats, mats) persist, contemporary weavers have extended the craft into a wide range of new products, incorporating external materials -- fabric, faux leather, genuine leather, and repurposed materials -- and creating pattern contrast through darker or mottled leaf selection, continuously adapting to evolving client needs and preferences.
Risk level: Endangered · Not independently UNESCO-inscribed; formally documented and inventoried on the French Ministry of Culture's own national Patrimoine Culturel Immatériel (Intangible Cultural Heritage) inventory as 'La vannerie du vacoa à la Réunion — La tresse vacoa'
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