Silaksakaw
LOCAL NAME:
Silaksakaw
ENGLISH NAME:
Yardage
DESCRIPTION:
Kalinga: Silaksakaw
A violate yardage with crisscross-like motifs and white stripe designs composed of green, orange, and yellow lines
COMMONLY USED BY/IN:
Kalinga
MATERIAL COMPOSITION:
Cotton threads, Dye
ITEM CONSTRUCTION:
Brocade weave
DIMENSIONS:
Length
510 cm
Width
59 cm
Fringes
23 cm
ACQUISITION YEAR:
2021
RESEARCH DATA:
This textile from the collection is a yardage with a violet background featuring green, orange, and yellow thin stripes placed on multiple white vertical bands. The stripes alternate with weft-float crisscross-like motifs, with visible white warp threads beneath that look like horizontal stripes connecting to the white bands; appearing like a subtle plaid design. Typically, a yardage is a textile fabric in linear length that can be used to produce textile functional items such as blankets, garments, table runners, and pillowcases by cutting, stitching, and bonding them together later on. This yardage features crisscross-like motifs locally known as the silaksakaw, frequently found in traditional Kalinga blankets which resemble an actual bamboo dish rack used to put and display heirlooms of families among the Kalinga elite (Abbacan-Tuguic, 2022). According to Ngao-i (2022), the rack or shelf is called the “sakaw”, and blankets with this motif are often used as a canopy, blanket stretcher, and baby carrier (p. 17).
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