Sherpa Pangden
The sherpa pangden is the striped front apron woven and worn by Sherpa married women over their chuba, the strip of red, white and black stripes marking the wearer's married status and adulthood. The aprons are woven on backstrap looms from sheep's and yak's wool, and the narrow stripes and their colours follow family and regional convention, so that the pangden is a badge of household and of womanhood as much as a piece of dress. The custom is hundreds of years old and is also found among related Himalayan peoples and in Tibetan regions, where similar striped aprons are made. A girl receives