It shows that cloth has more than strands of thread woven together. In Bali textiles are everywhere. Religious paraphernalia, shrines, dancers, priests, masks, and animals to be sacrificed will be wrapped, bound, draped or ornamented with specifically prescribed textiles, redolent with symbolic meaning. Bali has no means unique in this regard. Throughout Indonesia, traditional textiles are more that mere objects.
Textiles are perhaps the most significant single art form in the archipelago.
As well as Bali, they are also ritual objects, stored wealth, trade goods, and tokens of power. The Batak People has the ulos ragidup which literally means cloth of life. It is a composition of sombretoned cotton, worn by rajas, and used in major life transition rituals. In many regions, heirloom textiles are required gifts during wedding ceremonies, symbolically connecting the clans of the bridge and groom. If these women did not marry, their culture would soon be extinct.