The living legacy of an inabel master weaver
Born on August 13, 1924, Magdalena Gamayo came from a poor farmer’s family and grew up in Pinili, Ilocos Norte. Coming from an impoverished farmer’s family, she helped by working in the fields and would spend the rest of the day watching older women weave inabel. At the age of 16, Gamayo’s mother and aunts taught her how to transform natural fibers into a wonderful work of art. She loved the process of weaving the traditional Ilocano inabel so much that she realized her purpose and dedicated her life to mastering the threads, loom, weave, and cloth her community is known for.
Her first loom was a gift from her father where she learned to produce simple inabel weaves and started expressing herself by exploring different color combinations, designs, and patterns. The young Gamayo also had to learn to make handspun cotton yarn called “natibbi” from scratch: gathering cotton, pounding and separating the seeds, dyeing them with natural colors, and spinning them by hand. Inabel is native to the Ilocano’s way of living from its practical uses such as clothing, tablecloths, and purses to its presence in local customs related to childbirth, marriage, and even death. As part of their custom, it is common to request Magdalena’s inabel blankets to be buried with a lost loved one, the most important “pabaon” or parting gift. The ravages of World War II did not spare the town of Pinili and left houses, looms and fields of rice, tobacco, and cotton decimated and burned to ashes. As a result, weavers were discouraged and those who chose to revive the weaving tradition had no choice but to use imported polyester threads. The arrival of American-made, commercial blankets saw the further dwindling demand for inabel cloth.
Despite the challenges, Magdalena continued weaving inabel as her life’s work. Like clockwork, she would be seen weaving at her loom from sunrise to sunset. At 99 years of age, she feels the insatiable urge to sit on her loom and finish between one to two yards of textiles a day. “Over the years, it has become a part of me to weave and I just cannot see myself stopping just yet,” she proudly confesses.
Magdalena is adventurous in experimenting with patterns and colors and has produced countless permutations of the kinuros (plaids), inunsoy (stripes), and binakol (kusikos, sinan-ikamen, kuros-kuros).
Her vast design repertoire has been shared with other weavers in her community and has gained a reputation of being distinctly theirs.
Magdalena is also known for her color sensitivity, experimentation with color combinations, and ability to understand patterns. Her daily practice led her to perfect her skill in producing permutations of patterns such as the kinuros (plaids), inunsoy (stripes), and binakol (whirlwinds). She could also produce patterns using the impalagto (jumping) technique, a rare category of inabel that emanates from her hometown. The most difficult and most refined expression of the impalagto is the pattern called “inubon a sabong” (string of flowers), an adaptation made famous by Lola Magdalena and her community.
Her sample work of the “inubon a sabong” is preserved and exhibited at the National Museum of the Philippines. The public may also find the same pattern displayed on the walls of the Art Deco-style Manila Metropolitan Theater.
In 2012, this nonagenarian life’s work was feted by conferring her the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) by the Philippine government, an honor bestowed on individuals who have made tremendous efforts in keeping Philippine traditional arts alive.
As a National Living Treasure,
Magdalena has contributed immensely to the country’s intangible cultural heritage. As a cultural bearer, she teaches her craft to young weavers and shares her passion for a tradition close to her heart.
As she approaches her 100th birthday, the nation’s spotlight is glued on Nana Dalen, as she is fondly called, and her fellow GAMABA awardees. (CMB with reports from Bernard Joseph Esposo Guerrero)