How a craft dissolved differences in Goan craft clusters
During my recent visit to Goa, I happened to visit a few handicraft clusters that were working on crochet. The designs and products were varied. From table mats to bags, from coasters to thorans, the women produced them all.
Many of the women reported having learnt crochet from their mothers and grandmothers. This was hardly surprising: Handicrafts, especially fine needle and thread crafts are often passed on from mother to daughter.
What was surprising is that what started off in one community has now spread to nearly all of Goa. Crochet first came to Goa through Portuguese missionaries and nuns as far back as in 1606, according to some reports. Women used crochet to create liturgical garments for the priests, a practice which continues even today.
Slowly, though, the craft made its way to other households in Goa, trickling down as a form of livelihood for women. Now, the women create not just new products, but also new stitches and patterns, based on their experiences. They had participated in a 15-day camp in Gujarat on the side-lines of a BRICS summit encouraging traditional crafts.
Of the seven women in the crafts cluster, there were women from different religions, age, and language. They were united by one thing: the craft of crochet.
As the women discussed creating a “crochet leaf” for a traditional Hindu baby shower, where the entire menu of the ceremony, replete with banana leaf, would be crocheted, I realized that crafts best developed unfettered, dissolving boundaries of class, religion, and gender.