As someone who grew up in the nineteen eighties, I had my experiences of sleeping on a banig (a traditional handwoven mat in the Philippines) especially during naptime after school or when we would visit and spend a night at my grandmother’s old house in Bulacan. Dozing off on one wasn't the most comfortable, but with a soft pillow and a burst of fresh air coming from the open windows, you’d be eventually lulled into a relaxed sleep.
The Kumala Banig Weavers of Kumalarang | Zamboanga del Sur
I could still vividly remember the design of our banig my mom used to keep rolled up behind the door of my parents’ room. It was white, lined with several patterns of red forming a crown in the middle. I thought its design was intricate enough until I discovered more banig creations from other parts of the Philippines, like in Basey, Samar.
The artistry involved in weaving banig mats was no different from the art of woven cloth when it came to the complicated process and ingenuity involved in coming up with designs and patterns of each creation. Depending on the region where the banig was created, the main material varied. For example, in Basey, Samar, their woven banig were made from buri, a palm genus. In Kumalarang, their handwoven mats were made from pandan leaves.
During our trip to the Zamboanga Peninsula, we visited a community of banig weavers in the town of Kumalarang, Zamboanga del Sur, called the Kumala Weavers.
As part of the Tourism Promotions Board of the Philippines' ‘Habi’ (weaving), ‘Hilom’ (wellness), and ‘Halal’ (cuisine) exploration of the ZamPen region, our pit stop at Kumalarang was meant for us to discover the community’s living tradition. The Kumala weavers carried a century-old practice of mat weaving even after the death of their Master Weaver Hadja Sittie Mariam in two thousand twenty.
Then headed by Mariam’s daughter Sarifa Dakula and with the help of a School of Living Tradition established in the late two thousands by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Kumala Weavers’ unique style of banig weaving lived on.
History and Culture on a Banig
What made their 'banig' creations exceptional was the incorporation of their culture and history in the designs and patterns. For example, one of the mother weavers showed us a banig with a design called “Magiranon sa Sulu”.
She explained its significance to us. "Look at these five columns. Each one represents a part of our heritage. The upper column symbolizes the river, while the next ones are the three tribes of Maguindanaoans, Maranaos, and the Tausugs. The last column depicts the mountain", she told us in Tagalog.
She then pointed out other sets of banig with various designs such as the “biniton”, the “andun”, which was a favorite design of members of the royal families before, “bagwa masa”, symbolizing the new generation, and the “mantapunay”, or a bird.
In a sense, the traditional banig designs were illustrations of their way of life, from past and present rulers to their surrounding environment and everyday objects.
A Conversation over a Feast of Dulang
After giving us a tour of their banig weaving center and the School of Living Tradition, the mother weavers invited us for a lunch of Dulang. The Dulang was a set of meals consisting of traditional dishes served during special occasions. “Since we treat your visit as a special occasion, we prepared some dulang food for all of you” one of them told us in Tagalog.
While enjoying the food they prepared for us, Nanay Sarifa shared with us that she often got invited to trade exhibitions in Manila to demonstrate banig weaving. The last time she did was in two thousand nineteen just before the pandemic. “I miss it so much” she told us.
Apart from having the opportunity to share their creative banig weaving tradition, Nanay Sarifa told us that her heart beamed with pride whenever foreign participants of trade fairs would rave about their banig creations and purchase them in bulk as presents to their families and friends in their respective countries.
While it was unfortunate that we never got to meet the late Master Weaver Hadja Sittie, it was wonderful to rest on the knowledge that her legacy lived on through her children and the other mat weavers of Kumalarang.
Sarifa told us that she made her first banig at age five under the guidance of her late mother. From those early memories of learning to weave and to harnessing her skills to be able to create complicated designs, the journey as she described it was "long and difficult". Despite it all, the reward for continuing on her mother's legacy was a fulfilling one. "Now, our Kumala mats are internationally recognized", she told us proudly.
I was sure somewhere up there in the heavens, Master Weaver Hadja Sittie was feeling proud as well.
