View source for T'nalak

{{Short description|Weaving tradition in South Cotabato, Philippines}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Use Philippine English|date=October 2022}}
[[File:USAID Measuring Impact Conservation Enterprise Retrospective (Philippines; Kalahan Educational Foundation) (40246611432).jpg|thumb|Various types of ''tnalak'' cloth, patterned using single ikat (dyeing patterns into the warp); one also uses multiple solid weft colours]]
'''''Tnalak''''' (also spelled '''''tenalak'''''), is a [[weaving]] tradition using resist-dyed threads of the [[T'boli|Tboli]] people of [[South Cotabato]], [[Philippines]].<ref name="MaraFabella20200601">{{Cite web |last=Fabella |first=Mara |date=June 1, 2020 |title=The T'nalak of the Tboli |url=https://narrastudio.com/blogs/journal/the-tnalak-of-the-tboli |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920085421/https://narrastudio.com/blogs/journal/the-tnalak-of-the-tboli |archive-date=September 20, 2020 |access-date=February 16, 2022 |website=Narra Studio |language=en}}</ref> T'nalak cloth is woven exclusively by women who have received the designs for the weave in their dreams, which they believe are a gift from Fu Dalu, the T'boli Goddess of [[abacá]].<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/>
The rest of the community, including the men, are able to participate in the production of T'nalak by carefully selecting, stripping, and sun-drying the abacá fibers to be used.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/><ref name="DelMundo20210507">{{Cite web |last=del Mundo |first= Ida Anita |title=How the T'boli Women Weave their Dreams |url=https://fameplus.com/touchpoint/how-the-tboli-women-weave-their-dreams |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507010936/https://fameplus.com/touchpoint/how-the-tboli-women-weave-their-dreams |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |access-date=February 17, 2022 |website=FAME+ |language=en-ph}}</ref> Once the fibers have been prepared, they are dyed using the dye-resist technique called [[ikat]], based on the pattern dreamt by the weaver; the woman gifted by Fu Dalu with the design then weaves the cloth using a backstrap loom.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/><ref name="DelMundo20210507"/>
The fact that the designs are derived from the dreams of the weavers means that traditional t'nalak patterns cannot be mass-produced.<ref name="TnalakcannotbemassproducedRappler">{{Cite web |last=Oliveros |first=Daphne |date=February 11, 2012 |title=Dreamweavers |url=https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/1455-dreamweavers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217121647/http://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/1455-dreamweavers |archive-date=February 17, 2012 |access-date=February 16, 2022 |website=RAPPLER |language=en-US}}</ref> Because the patterns are based on dreams, the weavers of t'nalak are popularly referred to as ''dreamweavers.''<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2, 2011 |title=The dreamweaver of Lake Sebu |url=http://www.ilo.org/global/meetings-and-events/regional-meetings/asia/aprm-15/media-centre/WCMS_169408/lang--en/index.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605144451/http://www.ilo.org/global/meetings-and-events/regional-meetings/asia/aprm-15/media-centre/WCMS_169408/lang--en/index.htm |archive-date=June 5, 2013 |access-date=February 16, 2022 |website=International Labour Organization Website |language=en}}</ref>
==Production and history==
[[File:T'nalak weaver at Lake Sebu, North Cotabato.jpg|thumb|[[T'boli people|T'boli]] weavers in [[Lake Sebu]], [[South Cotabato]]]]T'nalak weaving is part of the [[intangible cultural heritage]] of the [[Tboli people]],<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/> an indigenous people group in the Philippines whose [[ancestral domain]] is in the province of [[South Cotabato]], on the island of [[Mindanao]] in the Philippines.<ref name="TboliAncestralDomainInquirer">{{Cite web |date=October 25, 2015 |title=The T'boli: A story of massive land-grabbing through the centuries |url=https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/210932/the-tboli-a-story-of-massive-land-grabbing-through-the-centuries/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151026102152/http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/210932/the-tboli-a-story-of-massive-land-grabbing-through-the-centuries |archive-date=October 26, 2015 |access-date=February 16, 2022 |website=Inquirer Lifestyle |language=en-US}}</ref>
The production of the cloth is particularly associated with the shores of [[Lake Sebu]], which is in the [[Philippine municipality|municipality]] of [[Lake Sebu, South Cotabato|the same name as the lake]].
=== Dreamt designs from Fu Dalu ===
The weaving of traditional T'nalak cloth begins when a T'boli woman has a kena (dream)<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/> in which they encounter Fu Dalu, the T'boli Goddess of [[abacá]]<ref name="DelMundo20210507"/> and guardian of the T'nalak.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/> During these dreams, Fu Dalu shows the woman the designs that would eventually be woven into the cloth.
The dyeing and weaving processes are approached with extra care because the T'boli believe that Fu Dalo comes to inhabit each individual yarn.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/>
=== Selection, stripping ===
The broader community, including the T'boli men, participate in the production of cloth during the abaca fiber selection and stripping process.<ref name="DelMundo20210507"/> The fibers are taken from the stalk of the abacá (Musa textilis),<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/> a banana plant species native to the Philippines.
To do so, they fix a cowrie shell to one end of an abacá stem pole and link the other end to the roof as a hinge, pushing on the pole to apply pressure on the fibre with the shell.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Zhang |first=Kan |title=The Filipino islanders who weave their dreams |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230328-the-filipino-islanders-who-weave-their-dreams |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en}}</ref> The fibers, which are very thin, are carefully stripped from the stalk with the use of a mounted blade, and then sun-dried.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601" /><ref name="DelMundo20210507" />
=== Ikat dyeing ===
[[File:T'nalak cloth of the T'boli people from Lake Sebu.jpg|thumb|Finished item]]
The fibers are then sun-dried, and then dyed using the indigenous dye-resist technique called "ikat." Sections of the abaca thread are coated by the weaver with a wax-resistant substance so that they will resist the dye. The process is repeated several times in order to suit the requirements of the design.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/>
T'nalak contains three colours: white symbolises purity, red represents blood and black signifies the soil. In addition to white abacá, the red dye comes from the brownish-red roots of the ''loko'' tree, while the black is obtained by boiling the green leaves of the ''knalum'' tree for seven days, which turn them dark as ink.<ref name=":0" />
===Weaving process===
The weaver then implements the design on a backstrap loom, a process that can take up to two months, depending on the design revealed in the dream.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/><ref name="DelMundo20210507"/>
Offerings, such as woven blouses and jewelry, are traditionally left in the weaving area as tribute to Fu Dalo.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/> During the extensive weaving process, female weavers and their husbands are banned from having sex as a show of respect to Fu Dalu.<ref name=":0" />
==Description==
This traditional cloth is hand-woven from carefully selected, stripped, and sun-dried ''[[abaca]]'' fibers.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/> The colorant of the materials are natural dyes produced by boiling the bark, roots and leaves of plants.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}
Unlike many of the colorful cloth patterns in Mindanao, T'nalak is distinctive in using only three different colors - black, white, and red.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/> Black serves as the background color, and is the dominant color of the cloth, while white is used to create different motifs. Red is typically used to accentuate the patterns.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/>  Common motifs include the human, the crab, the shield, the lizard, and the traditional frog.<ref name="MaraFabella20200601"/>
== Dreamweaving ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2019}}
It is a heritage and believed that the intricate and creative patterns of the Tinalak was seen on their dreams and made it on to work. They can't create a design of the Tinalak if they haven't dreamed of it. They are sometimes called the "''Dream Weavers''".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Students |first=Rick Bonus and UW AAS 360 2019 |date=2020-04-27 |title=T’Nalak: The Land of the Dreamweavers |url=https://uw.pressbooks.pub/criticalfilipinxamericanhistories/chapter/tnalak-the-land-of-the-dreamweavers/ |language=en}}</ref>
==Role in T'boli life==
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2019}}
The T'nalak fabric holds a special and prominent place in T'boli culture.  It is ever present in significant turning points in a Tboli life, such as birth, marriage, and death. It is the medium which sanctifies these rites, enveloping them in the length of its fabric like a benediction.
It has also often been referred to as "woven dreams". It is exactly that, and more. In a culture which didn't have a form of writing, the T'nalak served as both Literature and Art. The T'bolis expressed everything they are in the T'nalak: their dreams, beliefs, myths and even their religion. Making use of the various geometrical patterns and the trademark red, black and white colors, the T'bolis weave the natural and the supernatural in the abaca strands of the T'nalak.
Furthermore, the weaving process integrates the personal, the social and the cultural. After a weaver reaches a certain degree of expertise, she becomes a "master weaver" – someone who can interpret and take inspiration from dreams, hence the term "dreamweavers". By all accounts, this seems to be an intense personal experience for the weaver, and the moment she succeeds in doing this is the moment she becomes an artist. And then it is also social because the T'nalak binds together all that the T'boli people believe in. The skill of the weaver gathers in the T'nalak all the elements that make the T'boli social life. Finally, it is cultural in that it is the means through which other tribes identify the T'bolis since the T'nalak is uniquely and distinctly T'boli.
T'nalak are also their prized possession at marriage, even the covering for childbirth for ensuring safe delivery and for trading. Whenever they sell their work, they put a brass ring around it as for the spirits to allow them or to please. It is believed that cutting the cloth would deliver sickness.
== Recognition ==
The t'nalak weaving tradition is acknowledged as part of the intangible cultural heritage of the T'boli and of the Philippines.<ref name="BritishCouncilPDF">{{Cite web |author=Karina Abola |author2=Reichelle Castro |author3=Lilibeth L. Leh-Arcena |author4=Angelica Misa |author5=Denise Subido |year=2020 |title=Crafting Futures: Sustainable Handloom Weaving in the Philippines |url=https://www.britishcouncil.ph/sites/default/files/british_council_-_crafting_futures_-_full_report.pdf |website=The British Council in the Philippines Website |publisher=The British Council in the Philippines |format=PDF}}</ref>
In recognition of the significance of t'nalak to Philippine culture and heritage, a t'nalak design pattern is shown on the reverse side of the [[Philippine one thousand-peso note|one thousand-peso note]] of the  [[New Generation Currency Series]] of [[Philippine peso]] [[Banknotes of the Philippine peso|banknotes]].<ref name="2020CurrencyUpdate">{{Cite news |last=Lucas |first=Daxim L. |date=July 29, 2020 |title=BSP upgrades decade-old banknotes with easier to identify, harder to counterfeit designs |language=en |work=The [[Philippine Daily Inquirer]] |url=https://business.inquirer.net/303858/bsp-upgrades-decade-old-banknotes-with-easier-to-identify-harder-to-counterfeit-designs |url-status=live |access-date=February 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729082711/https://business.inquirer.net/303858/bsp-upgrades-decade-old-banknotes-with-easier-to-identify-harder-to-counterfeit-designs |archive-date=July 29, 2020}}</ref>
The Philippine province of South Cotabato, in which the Tboli have their ancestral domains, celebrates the T'nalak festival annually.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sarmiento |first=Bong S. |date=August 19, 2018 |title=T'boli cloth wraps the world |url=https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1022704/tboli-cloth-wraps-the-world |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819113507/http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1022704/tboli-cloth-wraps-the-world |archive-date=August 19, 2018 |access-date=February 16, 2022 |website=INQUIRER.net |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 20, 2018 |title=T'nalak Festival: A Colorful Celebration |url=https://www.caremin.com/2018/09/tnalak-festival-a-colorful-celebration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815101935/https://www.caremin.com/2018/09/tnalak-festival-a-colorful-celebration |archive-date=August 15, 2020 |access-date=February 16, 2022 |website=International Care Ministries |language=en-US}}</ref>
==See also==
{{commons category|T'nalak}}
*[[Abacá]]
*[[Batik]]
*[[Inabel]]
*[[Lang Dulay]]
*[[Malong]]
*[[Piña]]
*[[Tapis (Philippine clothing)|Tapis]]
*[[Yakan people]]
==External links==
* [http://www.tboli.globalmatters.com T'nalak Dream Weaving]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Philippine clothing]]
[[Category:History of Asian clothing]]
[[Category:Culture of South Cotabato]]
[[Category:Philippine handicrafts]]
[[Category:Ikat]]