totora
1
9.9
- noun
- Because mat fabrication was limited by increasingly scarce supplies of totora reeds, many families complemented their totora business with trade in garments.
- totora reed
Examples
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As Don Paolino expertly crafts a totora, Doña Juana weaves a nubby textile nearby.
Academic text (2004) -
In the Lake Titicaca region, totora is harvested to create various crafts and shelter.
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I approach an area of fully grown reeds that are being gathered from the lake, braided into heavy ropes and woven into totora reed boats.
Academic text (2004) -
In 1993, a Huaycopungo family of six, owning only half a hectare of totora plantations, could produce up to 250 mats a month.
Academic text (1997) -
Each has its fishing skiff, easy to paddle and woven from bundles of a hollow reed, totora.
Fiction book (1991) -
Because mat fabrication was limited by increasingly scarce supplies of totora reeds, many families complemented their totora business with trade in garments.
Academic text (1997) -
To my surprise and delight, I have chanced upon Don Paolino Esteban, the master boat builder of the totora for Thor Heydahl's Ra II expedition.
Academic text (2004) -
Despite an acute shortage of land, Huaycopungo had managed to avoid the fate of the two other near-landless communities, Pijal and Tocagon, largely because of its production of totora reeds and crafts.
Academic text (1997) -
Along the shoreline, pliant green totora reeds huddle together under the surface of the lake and form a tangled thicket, a safe harbor for young trout still learning to navigate.
Academic text (2004) -
The local fishermen use totora reeds to build their traditional boats on Lake Titicaca.
How Tall
Surface Forms
Etymology
Totora comes from the native languages of the Andes, where a similar word tutora meant 'reed'. Think of long, strong reeds woven into boats and floating islands on Lake Titicaca—so totora still names the reed people use for building and crafts.