fuyais

Fuyais are ceremonial banners of the fictional Fuyai people in the Arcian Highlands. A fuya is an individual banner, while fuyais denotes the set produced for a lineage during major rites. They function as portable tapestries that narrate kinship, harvest cycles, and cosmology through motifs and color.

Etymology: The word fuya derives from the Fuyai language, meaning memory or story. The plural fuyais entered scholarly usage during early ethnographies of the region.

Design and production: Fuyais are handwoven on tall wooden looms from hemp or ramie. The weave is typically supplementary weft or twill, yielding a dense fabric. Dyes come from local plants—indigo blues, madder reds, and tannin browns. Banners usually measure 1.2–2.0 meters by 0.5–0.8 meters and feature river, mountain, star, and spiral motifs.

Cultural role: They are prepared before rites, carried in processions, hung in communal houses, or used to cover altars. They encode genealogies, land rights, and seasonal lore; ownership is often matrilineal, and banners are passed between generations with rites of appraisal.

Conservation and study: Modern programs preserve exemplary pieces in museums, while living communities continue weaving to sustain knowledge and identity.

See also: ceremonial banners, textile arts, ethnography.