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Show know your4 sy NEIGHBOR ra.u nanduti, paraguay's lace The making' of fine and precious laces has always been an attribute of the old world. One is apt to forget for-get that Paraguay, in the heart of South America, is also one of the lace-making centers of the world, producing pieces of workmanship that can easily compete with the best known. European ones. The Americas have their Malines, their Alencon in the small republic of Paraguay, locked in the center of the continent between Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. The Nanduti, as Paraguan lace is called, got its name from a word signifying "spider web" in. the native Indian Guarani language. lang-uage. This is indicative of fineness fine-ness and delicacy of texture of the product which is' quite unlike gesting a spider's web. Requiring other laces in that it is always made in a circular design sug-days sug-days and weeks of skilful and patient labor Nandutis are made with needle and thread on a silk, cotton or linen cloth tightly stretched on a square embroidery fram. Circles are outlined on the material and the lace-maker works on the threads until the design becomes as filmy as a cobweb. cob-web. A completely feminine industry, the manufacture of Paraguayan lace is almost entirely restricted to one place, a small town called Itaugua, near Asuncion, the capital capi-tal city. It is said only a given number of families in Itaugua know the secret of lace-making which is transmitted from mothers to daughters as a domestic handicraft. handi-craft. The young women, each . . with aboundant black hair in two long braids, looked attractive in their simple white gowns. Stock ingless, they all wear sandals. The younger ones sing as they weave and the older ones smoke the ba-guassu ba-guassu cigar." Nanduti is believed to be an evolution evo-lution from needle-pont lace which came into Spain from Flanders in the 16th century and on to Spain's colony on the Paraguay. Through the years it has developed into what is today a native art. |