t'nalak

File:T'nalak weaver at Lake Sebu, North Cotabato.jpg weavers in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato]]T'nalak weaving is part of the intangible cultural heritage of the Tboli people, 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.{{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}}

The production of the cloth is particularly associated with the shores of Lake Sebu, which is in the municipality of the same name as the lake.

The weaving of traditional T'nalak cloth begins when a T'boli woman has a kena (dream) in which they encounter Fu Dalu, the T'boli Goddess of abacá and guardian of the T'nalak. 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.

The broader community, including the T'boli men, participate in the production of cloth during the abaca fiber selection and stripping process. The fibers are taken from the stalk of the abacá (Musa textilis), 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.{{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}} The fibers, which are very thin, are carefully stripped from the stalk with the use of a mounted blade, and then sun-dried.

File:T'nalak cloth of the T'boli people from Lake Sebu.jpg

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.

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.

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.

Offerings, such as woven blouses and jewelry, are traditionally left in the weaving area as tribute to Fu Dalo. During the extensive weaving process, female weavers and their husbands are banned from having sex as a show of respect to Fu Dalu.

This traditional cloth is hand-woven from carefully selected, stripped, and sun-dried abaca fibers. 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. 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. Common motifs include the human, the crab, the shield, the lizard, and the traditional frog.

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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".{{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}}

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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.

The t'nalak weaving tradition is acknowledged as part of the intangible cultural heritage of the T'boli and of the Philippines.{{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}}

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 one thousand-peso note of the New Generation Currency Series of Philippine peso banknotes.{{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}}

The Philippine province of South Cotabato, in which the Tboli have their ancestral domains, celebrates the T'nalak festival annually.{{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}}{{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}}

{{commons category|T'nalak}}

• Abacá
• Batik
• Inabel
• Lang Dulay
• Malong
• Piña
• Tapis
• Yakan people

• [http://www.tboli.globalmatters.com T'nalak Dream Weaving]

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Category:Philippine clothing

Category:History of Asian clothing

Category:Culture of South Cotabato

Category:Philippine handicrafts

Category:Ikat