Contemporary

Philippines
Arts from
the Region

Dominique Leigh A. Babis

12 ABM – Gates
 February 10, 2020
Activity 1
The Importance of Searching for those who Preserve and Promote
Genuine Filipino Tradition

Every country has its own culture and national identity that
distinguishes it from other societies. Culture is usually defined
as the language, beliefs, values, and norms that combine to make
up the way of life in any society. Culture also identifies who a
person is or where he comes from. Thus, it is important to uphold
it in high esteem. As we are citizens of Philippines, we need a
national plan to preserve our heritage and rich culture. This is
because it can propel us to attain our national development goals.
Now and then, the world continues to spin further as digital
technology advances where tribes people have been continually
lured to modern ways of living. Although, some of them have
remained steadfast in preserving their culture like Lang Dulay.
The preservation of her people’s identity and history weaved into
each of her Tnalak cloth is her contribution to Philippine culture
and art. She was named a national living treasure in 1998 during
the administration of President Fidel Ramos. Lang Dulay started
weaving when she was 12 years old. Now, she is passing on all her
techniques to her granddaughters and students.
Lang Dulay wishes younger girls would be interested in weaving
because it is only the women in their 30s who have remained
interested in weaving. In her workshop, visitors often drop by her
place which has become a tourist attraction. For some, being in
the presence of Lang Dulay alone could evoke an emotional tempest;
a feeling of awe to be in the presence of a national treasure. To
take with you a piece of Tnalak weaved by Lang Dulay is like taking
a piece of history of the Tboli people, and also a piece of art
worthy of being displayed in one’s home.
But most of the Filipinos nowadays have forgotten our culture
and tradition, due to the development of new technologies; people
of today are too much dependent on it, that’s why they weren’t
able to take a look back on their cultures and traditions. Like
Larong Pinoy which is popular during “Baby boomers and Generation
X’’. Unlike now at the year of Millennial, they are embracing the
high-tech gadgets, computer, etc. One thing we must notice is that,
we cannot copy blindly by behaving or living like the westerners
while our cherished and rich culture is being abandoned. And we
should realize the mistake as the ways we enjoy by abandoning our
culture and tasting what is alien to us. We, especially youths, do
not value our own, and become to impress on the western culture.
It is an indisputable fact that no society can exist without
a culture, and a must to know that culture is the way of life in
society. Therefore, in every society, no matter of its size or
population must exist with certain cultural values and norms.
Because of the importance of culture, a society without culture
may look like a ship without compass. The role of culture in our
society today has been gradually decreased because of the lack of
interest in history and the neglect of our cultural heritage. We
still need to maintain our cultural values, and should respect the
ways of life that were left by our forefathers.
Almost all provinces celebrate festivals because they can
also form a core aspect of every culture. The celebration of
festivals attracts people from far and near, and provides as a
focal point of unity. During such occasions, each town celebrates
a festival to portray the culture of their people and can teach
the youths to preserve their cultural heritage. In Philippines,
there were many festivals since long ago. Some are still maintained
to celebrate in respective periods. However, some are almost hidden
for many reasons. This is also our responsibility to celebrate
traditional festivals not to be hidden.
We need to realize that maintaining the culture and traditions
is crucial so that the true Filipino characteristics and culture
will last as the years of technology pass. The Filipino culture is
one of the reasons we are honored to be Filipino, we have something
many nations do not have and that is our religion, that we could
not know from learning alone, that we have to practice it on
ourselves every hour of the day, that the Filipino culture is also
one of the reasons why the Filipino people love our country, the
Filipino hospitality and the essence of being polite to others
that’s why foreigners keep coming in our country.
We need not only to conserve our history and culture, but
also our natural resources to maintain the beauty of our islands
and beaches, because the beauty of these places is like a lure
that draws people from abroad to come to our beloved country.
The Filipino culture needs to be preserved hence the
characteristics of a Filipino remain since nowadays there are too
many factors that lead most teenagers to forget their traits as a
Filipino like Korean Pop, the majority of teenagers today are
affected by this race, the Koreans, which is not optimal because
by adapting the culture of others they forget the culture of a
true Filipino.
We as a student, a Filipino and a child of this nation wanted
to inform you that we should bring back those cultures that
disappear during modern development. Let us focus on the enrichment
of our dying cultures, for the sake of the next generation who
would inherit the cultures that we value and also let them
experience what we had experience, as a part of molding them to be
good members of our growing community.
Stop adopting and mimicking the cultures and traditions of
others, instead find ways to help with the rebirth of our own
cultures in the mind, heart, and souls of every Filipinos all over
the world. It is important to keep traditions and ingenuity alive
for future generations to see the culture and identity of any
nation.

Activity 2
GAMABA Awardee

LANG DULAY (+2015)

Textile Weaver
T’boli
Lake Sebu, South Cotabato
1998

Using abaca fibers as fine as hair,

Lang Dulay speaks more eloquently than
words can. Images from the distant
past of her people, the Tbolis, are
recreated by her nimble hands – the
crocodiles, butterflies and flowers,
along with mountains and streams, of
Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, where she
and her ancestors were born – fill the
fabric with their longing to be
remembered. Through her weaving, Lang
Dulay does what she can to keep her people’s tradition alive.
There are a few of them left, the traditional weavers of the tnalak
or Tboli cloth. It is not hard to see why: weaving tnalak is a
tedious process that begins with stripping the stem of the abaca
plant to get the fibers, to coaxing even finer fibers for the
textile, then drying the threads and tying each strand by hand.
Afterwards, there is the delicate task of setting the strands on
the “bed-tying” frame made of bamboo, with an eye towards deciding
which strands should be tied to resist the dye. It is the bud or
tying of the abaca fibers that defines the design.
A roll of tnalak must be individually set on a back strap loom, so
called because of the broad band the weaver sets against her back
to provide tension to the work. There is great strain on the
weaver’s back and eyes, particularly since Tboli women are required
to help out in the fields to augment the family income. It is only
after the farm work is done that the weaver can sit down to her
designs. Also, due to the peculiarity of the fiber, of its getting
brittle under the noon day sun, working on it is preferred during
the cool evenings or early morn.
Lang Dulay knows a hundred designs, including the bulinglangit
(clouds), the bankiring (hair bangs), and the kabangi (butterfly),
each one special for the stories it tells. Using red and black
dyes, she spins her stories with grace. Her textiles reflect the
wisdom and the visions of her people.
Before the 1960s, the Tboli bartered tnalak for horses, which
played an important role in their work. Upon the establishment of
the St. Cruz Mission, which encouraged the community to weave and
provided them with a means to market their produce, the tnalak
designs gained widespread popularity and enable weavers like Lang
to earn a steady income from their art. However, the demand also
resulted in the commercialization of the tnalak industry, with
outsiders coming in to impose their own designs on the tboli
weavers.
Ironically modern designs get a better price than the traditional
ones. Despite this, and the fact that those modern designs are
easier to weave, Lang persists in doing things the old, if harder,
way, to give voice, in effect, to the songs that were her elders’
before her. Her textiles are judged excellent because of the “fine
even quality of the yarn, the close interweaving of the warp and
weft, the precision in the forms and patterns, the chromatic
integrity of the dye, and the consistency of the finish.”
She was only 12 when she first learned how to weave. Through the
years, she has dreamed that, someday she could pass on her talent
and skills to the young in her community. Four of her grandchildren
have themselves picked up the shuttle and are learning to weave.
With the art comes certain taboos that Tboli weavers are careful
to observe, such as passing a single abaca thread all over the
body before weaving so as not to get sick. Lang Dulay never washes
the tnalak with soap, and avoids using soap when she is dyeing the
threads in order to maintain the pureness of the abaca.
Upon learning that she was being considered to be one of the Gawad
sa Manlilikha ng Bayan awardees, tears of joy fell from her eyes.
She thought of the school that she wanted to build, a school where
the women of her community could go to perfect their art. (Maricris
Jan Tobias)