RESEARCH DATA:

Kinamayan is a wrap-around skirt, typically featuring a background in shades of indigo and embroidery designs of human figures, frogs, and various botanical motifs. Kinamayan translates to "hand-made" or "handwoven," alluding to the hand-embroidered designs that are prominent in the skirt. It is used as 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).


This wrap-around skirt from the collection has four panels joined together by white, brown, and orange embroideries featuring frog (sinan-tokak), rice-stalks (palay) or fingernails (sinan-kuko), and human-like (sinan-tao) figures. In-between the panels and along the side hems are continuous zigzag embroideries, which are often interpreted as representing the mountains; reflecting the mountain landscapes in their community.