RESEARCH DATA:

A rattan double basket is commonly called kimata (Bontoc) and gimata (Ifugao and Kankana-ey). The wooden pole, called patang by the Bontok, is detachable. It allows each of the baskets to be used individually. The detached baskets are called luwa.

It is a carrying basket commonly used by men in the field as a load transporter for newly harvested rice, vegetables, and root crops (Lane, 1998; Bacdayan, 1998; Hamilton, 1998). On certain occasions, like the wedding seasons (December to February and June to August), this burden basket is used to transport the meat of large animals, such as cows and water buffalos, butchered from the outskirts of the villages (Bacdayan, 1998). Moreover, it is also used to transfer collected pig manure fertilizers from stone-lined pits to crop fields (Hamilton, 1998). This was also a primary transport basket used by the locals from the villages of Fidelisan and Tanulong in Sagada and in Bontoc, Mountain Province (Bacdayan, 1998; Museo Kordilyera, 2023). It was very common for every household to have at least one gimata/kimata (Bacdayan, 1998).

REFERENCES:

Bacdayan, A. S. (1998). Baskets among the Tanulong and Fidelisan Peoples of Northern Sagada. In Basketry of the Luzon Cordillera. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.

Hamilton, R. W. (1998). Catalogue of the Exhibition. In Basketry of the Luzon Cordillera. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.

Lane, R. F. (1986). Philippine Basketry: An Appreciation. Manila: Bookmark Inc.

Museo Kordilyera (2023). Pasiking: Native Backpacks of the Luzon Cordillera (2023), Museo Kordilyera 2023 calendar and exhibition. Baguio City: University of the Philippines Baguio.