The mat is the result of human handicraft. These handicrafts from pandanus leaves are generally made by women in Natuna Regency. Natuna itself is one of regencoes in the Riau Islands, Indonesia. Natuna Regency settled on the route of international shipping routes from and or to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. Natuna Regency also has beautiful scenery and its tourism is dominated by marine tourism. One of the destinations in Natuna is Jelita Sejuba. Another famous tourist destinations are the three-hectare Alif Stone Park which stores thousands of megalith stones along the coast in Sepempang Village, Bunguran Island. Apart from its incredibly beautiful marine tourism, Natuna is also known as a producer of pandanus leaf mat crafts.
Traditional mat is a craft product passed down from generation to generation from their previous ancestors. The tradition of weaving mats has been maintained for centuries by the people of Natuna Regency. We still encounter many of these traditional crafts in the modern era. Currently, people generally prefer factory-produced mats to traditional mat crafts, by reason that factory-produced mats are more resistant than traditional mats. In the beginning, the community used mats for their daily needs, such as for bedding, seats, for bathing corpses, and so on.
It takes about 2 days for the handmade mat to be woven with a simple motif. Meanwhile, for a rather complicated motif, it will take 7 to 12 days to work at fastest. Making this mat craft requires traditional tools with raw materials that we can easily find in Natuna Regency area. The tools needed are a knife (machete), bamboo tongs, nylon (fishing line), scissors and a cutter. The materials needed are pandanus leaves, and natural coloring.
The prices marketed by traditional mat craftsmen come in vary, depending on the difficulty of the motifs being made which are priced ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of rupiah.
With a pandemic, of course, many businesses end badly. By this situation, the community took advantage of traditional mat crafts to become one of the economic recovery strategies. From the results of the mats themselves, it can encourage the community’s economy to generate income.
–sh
