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Gerdes, Paulus. Fivefold symmetry and (basket) weaving in various cultures. Fivefold symmetry, 245--261, World Sci. Publishing, River Edge, NJ, 1992. SC: 52B99 (01A07), MR: 1 178 750.
Gerdes suggests that five-fold symmetries arose from efforts to solve problems in basketweaving rather than in observations of five-fold symmetry in natural phenomena (such as starfish). One way five-fold symmetries can arise is by modifying the more obvious six-fold symmetries (such as those used by peasants in Mozambique) to fit a curved surface. The author reports that "these pentagonal-hexagonal baskets are, for instance, also woven by the Ticuna and Omagua Indians (northeastern Brazil), by the Huarani Indians, by the Kha-ko in Laos, and by the Menda in India. One sees them also in China, Japan, and Indonesia." The Malaysian sepak tackraw ball is similar to the soccer ball and is woven in the same way. The author reports that the peasants of the island Roti (Indonesia) may have discovered a way to fold a regular pentagon as a kind of a thimble. The author shows how a similar pentagonal weaving pattern is used in weaving brooms in Mozambique. (A near pentagram then appears inside the knot.) The author notes that a similar method is used in Angola to hold together the bars of a cage. The author in addition discusses how hat weaving techniques can lead naturally to three- and five-fold symmetries. The author's main example is with the hats of the Belu of central Timor, but he notes that related techniques are used in northern Mozambique, southern Tanzania, and by the Kuva of Congo. The author also shows a Chinese hat with five-fold symmetry. Two other particularly interesting examples are "a burden basket ... from the Papago Indians (Arizona) which combines beautifully a global sevenfold symmetry with local fivefold symmetry", and the "center of a Japanese basket, which combines global ninefold symmetry with local fivefold symmetry." Closely related topics: Five Fold Symmetry, Basket Making, Mozambique, and The Belu of Central Timor.