Marvelous Kalinga Kain

Filipinos are abundant in terms of culture, tradition, cuisine, and tourist spots. We should always proud to be a Filipino because we Filipinos are unique and talented. No one could ever imagine that we are capable of creating something innovative and that is our privilege as citizen of our country. In every part of the Philippines there were artists born to create and build uniqueness.

In the Northern part of Luzon, mostly the women there especially in the town of Lubuagan in Kalinga, they were fabricating wraparound skirt and as generally known in tagalog vernacular as "tapis" and "kain" in kalinga lingo. The women there in Kalinga has a quirky way of designing the tapis. They have also the idiosyncratic talent in combining the colors. In my recent research, the women in Lubuagan, Kalinga use shells as a bauble for their tapis, which were an imported commodity for alpine coterie like Kalinga, they affixed it to make the skirt look more facinating. This will totally append flamboyant element to the overall configuration of the skirt.

Kalinga incorporate one component city and seven municipalities and all encompassed by a single legislative district. The source of means in Lubuagan, Kalinga are agriculture and weaving. Weaving for them is a hallowed tradition elapse on from mother to daughter. According to Josephine Feyer, every house of the community has women adept enough to weave traditional garments, from which they earn a tidy profit. Every amalgamation of colors, patterns, and details they put has a specific explanation for them. Every design established contains a story behind.

The tapis is used as a skirt for ceremonies, celebrations and different kind of occasions. It is worn by swathe the cloth around one's waist and clasp the ends together with the use of a fixedly bind sash. The length of these skirt should extend down to the knee. This skirt is not only popular here in the Philippines but there are also a lot of versions found in different countries. These kind of cloth is much comfortable compare to other kind because it has a texture that fit to the weather here in our country or in tropical countries.

This tapis of the Kalinga tribe has a divergent colors that has also divergent meanings. The colors of the cloth are red that symbolise bravery, black that symbolise soil or land, yellow for the sand, white for the flowers and green that symbolise mountains. Their combination of colors can encourage someone to buy, it directly catches the attention of the people.

So, remember we Filipinos have a quality of being creative. We create our own masterpiece that represents of who we are and what country we belong. Leaving the saying of Mahatma Gandhi, "a nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people".

By: Jiosa Ingrid Gurrea
Grade XII- Del Pilar