Barangal (a)
LOCAL NAME:
Barangal (a)
ENGLISH NAME:
Ga’dang headcloth
DESCRIPTION:
Ga'dang, Mountain Province: Barangal
A richly beaded red square fabric designed to be used as a head cloth. It is heavily embellished with blue, red, white, and yellow beads arranged in an intricate pattern.
COMMONLY USED BY/IN:
Ga’dang, Mountain Province
MATERIAL COMPOSITION:
Thread, Dye, Beads
ITEM CONSTRUCTION:
Beadwork, Stitching
DIMENSIONS:
Length
61 cm
Width
68.6 cm
Tassel Beads
5 cm
ACQUISITION YEAR:
2021
RESEARCH DATA:
The beadwork tradition is deeply associated with the Ga’dang people of Northern Luzon. It is renowned for its intricacy and sophistication, with colorful beads—typically red, white, and yellow, and occasionally with black and blue—meticulously sewn onto the chosen fabric to create mesmerizing items. Eric Anderson (2010, as cited in Araneta & Lim, 2014) describes this beadwork tradition of the Ga’dang people as embodying the "radiant" quality of traditional crafts from Northern Luzon. Among the many examples of Ga’dang beaded fabrics is their traditional head cloth known as the barangal. The barangal is a square beaded fabric worn by Ga’dang men as a head cloth. Araneta and Lim (2014) explain that the barangal is worn by folding it into a triangle, draping its apex at the back of the wearer’s head, knotting the two beaded ends at the forehead, and letting it hang or dangle on each side of the wearer’s temples. Furthermore, barangal headcloths are known to be among the few Ga’dang textiles that are not handwoven (Araneta & Lim, 2014). The fabric used to make the head cloth is commercially produced, with only the beadwork elements representing Ga'dang's way of personalizing the item.
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