ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how wrapping the body in lace and other textiles developed in response to a local, folk aetiology that pitched community members against supernatural beings in a struggle over reproductive powers. It explains association of lace with the spiritual became displaced into the domestic setting rather than destroyed. The chapter suggests current debates surrounding the production of stringi should be understood partly in the light of this complex history of shifting perceptions of intimate boundaries between flesh and fertility. Koniakw's lace and lace makers ignores not only a long-standing association of lace with notions of female sexuality and fecundity but also the role of lace in the magico-ritual beliefs and practices involving wrapping, covering, and rubbing the body with textiles that persisted well into the twentieth century. The chapter suggest that these associations persisted in the home and influenced the eventual adoption of lace doilies by villagers themselves, long after the use of vernacular dress in everyday life.
