Kandaure

The kandaure is an ornament fashioned of beads. It is shaped like a casting net or half-open parasol. When it is used as an ornament for vivifying a ritual, the kandaure is stretched upon a frame of bamboo rods that is reminiscent of the rib-work of an umbrella. The bamboo frame is then set on a pole. When during the ma'gellu', which is performed as part of the maro ritual, the female dancers wear the kandaure, the ornament hangs over the back with its fringe of beads knotted on the breast. The human figures on the upper edge of the kandaure, eight in number, then stand on their heads. Only girls or young women wear the kandaure at a maro feast, whereas during mortuary rituals (e.g. the ma'parando in Sangalla) male great-grandchildren also may dress in the ornament. At a mortuary feast the fringe of beads is not knotted on the breast, but braided. A bride in adat costume also has a kandaure on the person. The bead plaitings of the kandaure are attached to a woven band. People no longer are able to weave such bands although in the past they did indeed make them by a kind of card weaving.

The bead ornaments often have a proper name: Daranding, for example, is the name of the kandaure which was in the possession of Allo Rante (Ne' Sangga'), the former sokkong bayu of Ba'tan. This kandaure was believed capable of preventing rainfall.

Kandaure are precious and can have a value of one or more buffaloes. The prices depend in part of the beads: should many expensive masak (a kind of ancient bead) be part of the ornament, then its value is high. Some kandaure, similar to maa' cloths, are considered sacral.

Certain kandaure, indeed, are more than merely decorative but contain power to do something: to bring rain, for example. Kandaure belong to a particular tongkonan; they can be given out on loan, but then some favor is demanded in return.

The kandaure can also be worn as part of a dancer's attire, as shown above during a ma'gellu' dance performance on Tana Lapang in Rantepao. Originally the kandaure was used by the nobility as a room decoration and metaphor to denote a prospering ramage, and as an ornament in various ceremonies. Beads (manik-manik) of modern kandaure, as worn by the dancers shown above, are made of plastic which reduces both price and weight.

Source: HETTY NOOY-PALM, THE SA'DAN TORAJA