Abstract
This paper is a historical narrative study documenting two of the most ancient living Meranaw cultural heritage: kapanga-awl (weaving) and kapamalod (tie-dyeing). These century-old surviving crafts serve as a testament to a very long-standing contacts and trade relations between the Philippines and her neighboring countries such as India, China and the Asian countries, more particularly Indonesia whose Ikat (from an ancient Indonesian word mengikat which means to tie or bind) weaving style closely resembles the Meranaw balod technique in weaving. What links the Philippines with these countries and what finds the Meranaw more similar to the weaving tribes in Northern Luzon and Southern Mindanao are their weaving culture. Highlights of this paper include the origin of the balod technique in weaving, their ingenuity with regards to the use of natural and indigenous raw materials for weaving and some mythical performances, ceremonies, and ritual offerings associated with the balod craftsmanship. Significantly, the research aimed to enable the readers to appreciate and understand the said weaving cultural heritage. It addresses the issues of saving this cultural heritage; otherwise, weaving may suffer the fate of other Meranaw indigenous arts that have diminished and faded into oblivion. This paper recommends preserving such weaving cultural heritage through continuous recording or documenting, archiving, preserving them in their living form, and ensuring its transmission to the next generation.
Highlights
1 This paper attempts to trace, describe and analyze two of the most ancient handicrafts that the Meranaw tried to integrate and use to make one of their traditional hand-woven fabrics, the so-called balod–inspired textiles: tie-dyeing and weaving.As defined, balod is an ancient method of tie-dyeing or resist-dyeing that involves covering areas of thread to shield them from penetration of dyes; it is a skill-intensive process of marking, tying and dyeing the designs into the thread before it is woven
Balod is an ancient method of tie-dyeing or resist-dyeing that involves covering areas of thread to shield them from penetration of dyes; it is a skill-intensive process of marking, tying and dyeing the designs into the thread before it is woven
Though this cultural art of balod technique in weaving had long been existing, the researcher believes that quite a few educated Meranaws are interested in writing about this age-old weaving cultural heritage
Summary
Balod is an ancient method of tie-dyeing or resist-dyeing that involves covering areas of thread to shield them from penetration of dyes; it is a skill-intensive process of marking, tying and dyeing the designs into the thread before it is woven. That wrapped thread that resisted the dyes emerge as the designs or patterns of the woven fabric Though this cultural art of balod technique in weaving had long been existing, the researcher believes that quite a few educated Meranaws are interested in writing about this age-old weaving cultural heritage. The Meranaw weaving artisans continued to adapt to the changing demands of their buying environment for their handicrafts to be more viable They made some innovations or changes in their designs, colors, and functions of their handwoven fabrics in order to be more relevant to the demands of their market. The data collection covered some communities in the Municipality of Bacolod Grande, Province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines, namely Barangay Ampao, Orong, Dilabayan, Pindolonan, Buadi-Awani,Tuca, and some barangays of Kalawi Ethnographic techniques such as interviews, participant observation, focused group discussion, and frequent community visitation, fortified with library works, were employed in the data gathering. Three groups of participants who were identified to represent the groups involved in the production of finished hand-woven fabrics consisted of five (5) pamamalod or balod designers, who by virtue of their age and experience, are presumably experts in balod processing and designing; five (5) pangungusod with older ages, ranging from 60 – 75 years that perform the most delicate and strenuous part in the production of an woven material, and five (5) pangangaol/pangangawl or the weavers
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