RESEARCH DATA:

Traditionally, kinamayan skirts feature an indigo or indigo-black base color; however, in this textile, a striped design in bright red and black was used—a design that might have taken influence from the Ibaloy-speaking communities. Thick cream embroideries were embedded in the stripes, featuring dancing frogs (sinan-tokak), mountains and fingernails (sinan-kuko), and human figures (sinan-tao). A distinct design is the finger-like (sinan-ramay) embroidery along the joineries and borders, which secure the panels and edges of the cloth. These embroideries capture the essence of kinamayan skirts, whose name translates to "hand-made" or "handwoven," alluding to the hand-embroidered designs that are prominent on the skirt. As observed, 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).