After harvesting the banana bunches, the trunk of the banana tree, called tonton-fig in Creole, is cut to allow the offspring to develop more vigorously. The trunk of the banana plant is put to dry for several days. It is then split lengthwise to recover the ribs of the leaves which have a gutter shape. We keep only the lateral parts, they are the most fibrous.
The recovered fibers are again dried then they are braided in mats. The obtained mats put end to end, can allow to realize ropes of several meters.
Apart from the fiber of the banana plant, there are also several indigenous species of trees or shrubs in Martinique, belonging to the Dombeya or Hibiscus genus, which are called mahots. Originally they are species of Hibiscus or Hibiscus elatus and their name was borrowed from the language of the Tainos, the first inhabitants who used the inner bark. Some species belong or are related to the malvaceae family or resemble them and provide comparable products, such as the chilli mahot, the black mahot, the green mahot, the savannah mahot, also called cousin mahot, the blue mahot. Their bark can be transformed to give solid fibers with which we can make strips. The blue mahot wood, was used in Cuba to hold Havana cigars in bundles. The mahot fiber is known for the production of textile objects. These ropes were used to tie up the cattle in the field and also to moor the fishing boats. The mahot has the property to become even more resistant when in contact with water. The straps from the inner bark were used to tie up the bamboo traps, until the day when modernism invited itself, the wire mesh hurried to replace the bamboo, and everyone hastened to convert to the fashion of consuming synthetic strings and ropes, all coming from elsewhere and having nothing to do with ecology. And the tantan mahots, pink mahots, small mahots, blue, white, red, all became bastard mahots
In spite of its great reliability, its solidity and its resistance to bad weather, the mahot rope had to capitulate in front of the facility: the farmers and the fishermen prefer to go to the shopping mall, to buy the new ropes, it is nearer than the forest, and then those are already all made
Are we aware of losing this technique of mahot basketry which gave us a way to live in self-sufficiency, without being eternally dependent on elsewhere?
