Ulat (a)
LOCAL NAME:
Ulat (a)
ENGLISH NAME:
Blanket
DESCRIPTION:
Ga’dang, Mountain Province: Ulat
A four-paneled striped blanket in off-white, red, orange, and yellow colors. It features zigzag, diamond-like patterns, and horizontal lines. Stitches that were used to join the panels are visible. The selvages are embroidered using red and yellow threads.
COMMONLY USED BY/IN:
Ga’dang, Mountain Province
MATERIAL COMPOSITION:
Cotton threads, Natural dye
ITEM CONSTRUCTION:
Weaving, Stitching, Dyeing
DIMENSIONS:
Length
178 cm
Width
117.5 cm
ACQUISITION YEAR:
2021
RESEARCH DATA:
The ulat is the term for the traditional blanket among the Ga’dang, an ethnolinguistic group in Paracelis, Mt. Province. This blanket is replete with minat-mata (eyelike) patterns. The mata-mata (eyes) are believed to represent the ancestors. The diamond twill pattern is a shared design with textiles from Bontoc, Itneg, and Kalinga. These communities greatly valued textiles adorned with small lozenges, considering that the tinier the lozenges, the more prestigious the fabric. They referred to these intricate patterns as 'eyes': minat-mata in Itneg, inata-ata in Kalinga, and mata-mata in Ga’dang. Inata-ata can be seen in colors such as red, yellow, or even blue. At times, it blends into the color of the cloth, appearing as “invisible” and giving the impression of a “texture” rather than a “figure.”
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