Sixth Anniversary Raffia: Real Raffia, Not Raffia nor Grass

In the recent hotly debated 6th anniversary raffia incident, the man gave the woman a box of snacks and small items on their 6th anniversary, and filled the box with "raffia". For a while, netizens felt sorry for the girl, sparking a heated discussion.

Sixth anniversary raffia incident boxing pictures | Tik Tok: @阿前

Although the subsequent story seems to be full of twists and turns, true and false, but other people's love has nothing to do with me! Calendar Girl just wants to know, what is raffia? The raffia in the unboxing video looks like a bunch of paper silk!

Real raffia is not grass at all

Real raffia actually looks like this - isn't it a kind of grass? Why does it look like a tree?!

Real raffia comes from this plant | David J. Stang / Wikimedia Commons

To be honest, raffia is not really grass. It comes from a palm tree called Raphia taedigera. The name "raffia" is a transliteration of the genus name of this plant, Raphia. The genus Raphia contains about 20 different species, most of which are distributed in Africa, especially Madagascar. These palm trees can grow to about 16 meters tall and have the longest pinnate leaves of any plant. The leaves of the species Raphia regalis can reach 25 meters long and 3 meters wide. Raphia taedigera, which is used to make raffia, is its relative.

Real raffia is made from the fiber of the leaf veins of these palm trees. Why is the word "grass" added to the name when translated into Chinese? It is probably because it looks very similar to hay after drying, which caused misunderstanding.

This is real raffia. It really does look like hay. | Ragesoss / Wikimedia Commons

Raffia is so famous, and it has its own unique advantages. It feels smooth, as if it has wax, and is very tough. Local people often use it to make ropes, and even use it as roof coverings when building houses.

The first step in making rope from raffia is to peel the inner fibers of the leaf, as seen on the right. | Nick Hobgood / Wikimedia Commons

The second step in making rope is to roll the stripped fibers together to increase its strength | Nick Hobgood / Wikimedia Commons

In the field of textiles, raffia also has a place and has a history of hundreds of years. They can be dyed into various colors and made into baskets, hats, shoes, placemats, etc., and can also be used to make various decorative crafts.

Woven articles made of real raffia are on display at the Brooklyn Museum, all of which were made in the 19th century | Wikimedia Commons

In addition to making raffia, the palm tree's sap can also be used to make wine (not the "Lafite" you might think of, that's the wine produced by Château Lafite). This liquid gradually becomes sweeter as it ferments and is a local specialty drink.

The "raffia" in the box is not raffia at all

Is the "raffia" in the video real? No, it's just pure paper shreds!

In fact, the colorful fillings in most gift boxes are actually dyed raffia made of paper shreds. These fluffy paper shreds can prevent shock during transportation, increase the beauty, and make the gift box look full, which can be said to be the atmosphere of the gift box (a good way to avoid embarrassment!).

Searching on the shopping app, there are so many color options for paper raffia that they can't fit on one screen.

Why not use real raffia? Real raffia needs to be imported and is relatively expensive. On shopping apps, real raffia marked as "imported from Madagascar" generally costs 30 yuan per pound. If paper is used, the cost is greatly reduced. If you check online, you can easily find paper raffia for 9.9 yuan per pound with free shipping. Not only that, paper raffia has more diverse colors and can even sparkle, adding a touch of noble luxury to the gift box (this is really not an advertisement!).

Look at this golden thing, how luxurious! | Promotional image of a shopping software merchant

There is a rumor that raffia means "love grass" because it is tough and strong, symbolizing unwavering love. If love itself is unreliable, let alone paper raffia, real raffia is useless (dog head).

References

[1] http://www.iplant.cn/info/Raphia?t=z

[2] Fact Sheet: Raphia taedigera (idtools.org)

[3] Raffia palm - Wikipedia

Author: White Stork on the Shore

Editor: Mai Mai

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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