The Inaul: Fabric of peace that bonds cultures, builds better lives
BULUAN, Maguindanao — A day before the official opening of the Second Inaul Festival here on Wednesday, women weavers were already busy preparing for Kapaginaul Competition 2018, a contest among weavers of malong, shawl and tubao out of this region’s traditional fabric.
Among the women at the weaving center here was 52-year-old Normina Collie, the only master weaver of inaul in town. She is the sixth among generations of weavers in her family.
In an interview with The Manila Bulletin, Collie, a native of Sultan Kudarat town, said she started weaving at 12 years old. She would sneak in and climb up to her grandmother’s irwan (table loom) to practice.
“If something goes wrong, I would run and hide,” she said. Her passion for weaving also led her to ask older weavers to allow her to join them.
After a year of practicing, Collie said she could already finish 12 tubao in one day.
A tubao is similar to a shawl or a handkerchief, measuring not less than two feet by two meters. Back then in 1975, Collie said a tubao could sell at only 11 each, and malong at 14 apiece.
Decades later, Collie was tapped by the provincial government of Maguindanao to train other weavers in a bid to keep the tradition alive. Since then, Collie said she has trained at least a hundred other weavers.
Inaul, pronounced as inol, is a Maguindanaon term for woven. It is a fabric with intricate designs.
As a master weaver, Collie said she gets her design inspirations from her dreams.
“In the morning when I wake up, you know what to design because you have seen it in your dreams. It’s already inside my mind like a programmed computer,” she said.
Some of the young weavers would follow a pattern as their guide for their design, but with her skills – coupled with decades of practice – Collie can make the design all by herself.
Young weavers Sittie Sali and Noraima Balansian, both 20 years old, are joining the weaving competition this year, which was slated to end Saturday.They were also trained by Collie.
The two are senior high school students of Sapakan National High School in Rajah Buayan town, which is 52 kilometers from Buluan. They learned about weaving when it was introduced in their school, and it was during their free time, both students said that they would practice weaving.
“I want to win the competition and get better with my craft,” said Balansian, a first time competitor. Sali will weave a tu- bao, while Balansian will make a shawl.
Based on the guidelines of the competition, Sali must finish the tubao within four hours on February 12, while Balansian will only have eight hours to make the shawl starting at 1p.m. on February 11 until 12 p.m. on February 12.
But not only women are making inaul in Maguindanao.
Twenty-six years old Nasser Adteg was also inside the center helping his mother weave a malong which they should finish in three days.
Adteg said inaul is a craft for those who want to learn about loom-weaving. He got interested in weaving when he was 10 years old. Learning it, he said has become a way for him to help his family.
Weaving inaul fabrics was usually done by the women in the community who belonged to the royal families, said Collie. “Only those who have no other things to do at home, like the women of royalty who are waiting for their husbands, do weaving. But now, even ordinary people can do it,” she said.
Costly fabrics
Weaving a four meters by two meters malong, a tube fabric commonly used as a skirt, would need at least 10 rolls of thread that measures around 1,200 yards each roll. The number of threads used would depend on the design of the fabric.
The weaver would thread 1,840 threads to the loom before starting. The process is very complicated that two persons, a weaver and an assistant, would sometimes work on a malong fabric for three days. When the design is more intricate, a lone weaver would have to work on the fabric for four days.
“That is why inaul fabric costs a lot, because making it requires time and effort,” said Collie.
“If possible we have to control our breathing, we have to focus,” she added. If a weaver loses focus and makes one mistake, she would have to start all over because the project would be ruined.
A malong would sell from 11,800 14,000 each depending on the design.
Source of livelihood On the second year of the Inaul Festival, weaving has become more popular among the residents, even the young. Collie said they already received orders from clients even before the start of the festival.
Rabia Usman, 46, said the salary of her husband, who teaches in an elementary school, was not enough for their family.
“It usually pays only the debt, nothing is left for us,” she lamented. But weaving earns them extra income as Usman said she could finish at least 10 malong in a month with her earnings turning out to be larger than her husband’s salary at times.
Collie said weaving gave them hope to that there are still many options for the Moro people to stay home and not be lured by jobs overseas.
“If you are patient enough and you have the skill to weave, you can earn from weaving without going out of the country,” she said.
The government is also marketing the fabric abroad and training more weavers to meet the demand.
Collie said she was thankful that their traditional inaul will take center stage in the festival anew this year, which will not only promote Maguindanao’s culture, but also other means of livelihood to impoverished communities.
The First Inaul Festival last year attracted 10,000 tourists to the province. Dilangalen said they were targeting to increase the tourist arrivals by 10 to 15 percent this year.
On Thursday, February 8, participants from 36 municipalities of Maguindanao donned their most colorful attire using inaul fabric.
The festival’s theme this year dubbed, “A Fabric of Peace: Weaving Diversity, Connecting Boundaries,” resound what the province of Maguindanao envisions with its popularization of the inaul fabric. It weaves that bond that connects young and old weavers and the people of Maguindanao to the people of other culture who are mesmerized by the intricate beauty of inaul textile.