Traditional dress

The Tharu traditional dress is dying out in Ghumna and the surrounding area due to a combination of low status and high cost. The skirt in itself uses 6 metres of fabric! Sadly, there are also no longer jewellers with the skills to make the traditional jewellery – what these girls are wearing have been passed down through several generations.

Basket-making, a traditional craft of Tharu women, is also becoming less common. Baskets are made from local grass, often coloured in bright shades and decorated with shells from shellfish which are found in the irrigation channels in the rice fields. The grass is so tightly woven that it is very durable. Women carry produce from their fields to market on their heads, walking gracefully even though they are carrying 10-15kg. In the past, new brides took their possessions to their new house in a huge woven basket which would be hung from the rafters to protect it from rats and snakes.