RESEARCH DATA:

This textile from the collection is a wrap-around skirt called kinamayan, woven with a deep indigo background and embellished with intricate white embroidery. Historically, kinamayan skirts in a darker shade of indigo were considered more valuable, as achieving this rich color required more dye resources, particularly tayum (indigo) (Respicio, 2000). The skirt displays a single design of embroidery: fingernails (sinan-kuko) combined with mountains, which are located on the joineries and borders of the cloth. It should be noted that, although it appears there are three embroidered joineries in the cloth, only two of them function as joineries. Therefore, this skirt has two uneven panels, with the third added only to preserve balance in the design.


These embroideries capture the essence of kinamayan skirts, whose name was derived from the root word kamay (meaning "hand") and translates to "hand-made" or "handwoven," alluding to the hand-embroidered designs that are prominent on the skirt. Traditionally, the kinamayan is used as a ritual paraphernalia by a diviner or priestess (called a manganito) in various Itneg or Tinguian rites, which involve appeasing their gods and, in some cases, performing their traditional dance called the tadek (Respicio, 1994). According to Aquino (2005), these rituals or occasions where the kinamayan is traditionally used include the dawak, diyaman, and allap (p. 119).