This finely woven silk blanket comprises a half loom width. It would have been sewn along its length with another loom width to form a whole blanket. The striking design of intersecting black, green, red and yellow stripes is typical of these ceremonial garments.The finely woven yellow diamond twill pattern and supplementary weft lozenges give added texture to the piece. Blankets with a wide range of designs woven in cotton and silk, were worn by Northern Chin men and women for ceremonial and formal occasions. Men wear the blanket with a corner draped forward over one shoulder, passing across the back, under the other arm and across the chest up to the first shoulder where the two ends may be tied, especially if worn for dancing. Women wear the blanket lengthwise across the back with one end forward over each shoulder. She may also wear it with the ends wrapped across the front of the body with the ends over each shoulder. The variety of blankets made and worn by the Falam people are wider than those of the Chin communities living in the highland region of known as the Chin Hills in western Burma. This type of blanket however, is associated with the Zanniat sub group for feasts, although it is thought that by the 1950s, such blankets were used in daily life.
