The Original of Natural Dyeing in Abra

    Abra is the largest province in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) located in the western side of the Cordillera mountain range. It is 75 percent lush forests and 25 percent croplands and pasturelands.  Abra’s forests have various varieties of wood such as narra, lauan (red and white), almaciga, and acacia. Natural dye-yielding plants abound, among them kapok, sampalok, sapang, kariskis, duhat, atsuete, dekap, manzanitas, teak, kakawate, and malatayum. Secondary products are also found. Examples are bamboo, rattan, and wood vines, which make good raw materials for handcrafted woods and bamboo trays, bags, knife scabbards, and slippers.

    The Tingguians are inhabitants of the Cordillera Mountains who have long remained isolated from western and Philippine influences. They were referred to as Itnegs by the archeologists and historians. They were appropriately called “people of the mountains” because during the old days they lived as farmers and expert tillers of the mountainous province of Abra. It was from tilling the hills and fields for their livelihood and cultivation of their own medicinal and herbal plants, where they learned that the stains left on their hands could probably be used as natural dyes to color their woven materials. Hence, the beginning of the practice of natural dyeing in Abra.

    Aside from dyeing, the Tingguian communities in the lowland and upland areas are engaged in weaving. They have their own ethnic and distinguished indigenous weaving patterns and ways that are different from the neighboring Iloco weaving. Tingguian costumes are worn in turban-like fashion. They consist of long pieces of cloth, the ends of which are allowed to fall on the shoulder and the back. They also make plain-weave blankets accentuated with supplementary weft-woven end bands. Inherent in the Tingguian weaving are the colorful indigenous designs richly embroidered on the woven fabrics reflective of the Tingguians’ love of nature, flowers, frogs, stars, and people.

An integral part of their weaving is the application of colors.  The vibrant colors which definitely add life and aesthetic appeal to the fabric are generally based on their traditions, festivities, and ritual celebrations. Most of the colors found in their vests, tapis, leather sheaths/scabbards, and bamboo baskets are blue, yellow, brown, red, black, and gray.

    As was their tradition, blue dye color is extracted from indigo plant (Indigofera tinctoria) whose usage predates history. Black hues are obtained by burying and kneading the yarns in rice terrace mud called puyyok, which imparts the dark spectrum appearance to the materials. Surprisingly, a very visual white dye from a vat of boiling rice milk is also obtained. The small amounts of highlighting red yarn are produced by boiling thread in the extract of the bark of a tree called tapa’ng or sapang.