Visual Arts and Crafts The ordinary everyday costume for the Kankanay male is the wanes (G-string). This is usually white with colored borders, or sometimes dark blue with red stripes and decorated ends. For the female it is the bak-ut or getap (wraparound skirt). Upper bodies are sometimes covered with the galey (a kind of blanket) as a protection against the cold. The blanket incorporates red and blue panels of varying widths, with figures of mortars, snakes, or some anthropomorphic figures. Children are given only the galey for covering until they are six or seven years old, when they start wearing their own wanes or getap. The women also wear a white blouse with short sleeves which are open in front but are buttoned up at the upper end. The getap is usually kept in place with a bakget (girdle), a piece of cloth about 7.5-10 cm wide, and tightly wound twice around the waist. The women weave all the clothing material used for the wanes, getap, galey, and bakget. The material usually comes in long, narrow pieces which are sewn together, the number of seams depending on the purpose for which it would be used. The color of this material is usually blue and white, red, dark blue designs, and red and yellow stripes. A badbad (headcboth) made of either abel (cloth) or kuba (bark) is worn by the men to cover their short hair. Occasionally, the Kankanay male decorates his headcloth with feathers, leaves, and even carabao horns. Women like wearing necklaces adorned with various kinds of stones and beads. They take to wearing collars made of brass or matted rattan, as well as stone and seed bracelets, earrings of copper wire, and head decorations made of beads, beans, and grass. C-shaped earrings are still worn by both male and female Kankanay.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:14:28 +0000
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