One of the well-known tribes in Mindanao is the T'boli Tribe of South Cotabato. They are alleged to be strongly attached to nature which their culture proves. They also believe that they are the only steward of the Lake Sebuwhere they currently live and which they discovered during a drought. Legends also say that it was a “god” who endowed them the said lake.
Apart from loving music and dances, T’boli people are also fond of making T’nalak out of abaca. This T’boli craft is treated as sacred and the highlight of their culture and their fame all through-out the country. But, despite their creativity, the T’boli tribe, for a long time, chooses to live in simplicity and in tradition beside the lake where they gently and perfectly make their finest T’nalak.
According to their tradition, the weavers are supposed to be the women of their community. They are believed to be the only skilled weavers in their land and so, they are given high regards. They live close to nature, specifically near a water-body where seclusion is found. They learn this special skill by watching their mothers weave because everything that T’boli mothers know are taught to their child (female). This is then passed from generation to generation.
Furthermore, the beautiful designs of the T’nalak are wonderfully derived from their dreams because, as a legend says, a goddess taught the early T’boli women this ritual through their dreams. Also according to the said to be “dreamweavers”, when they dream, their spirits travel and then, they would see the T’nalak in a distant. When they wake up, the pattern that they dreamt of is still fresh; hence, they begin to weave it. This imaginative way of creating designs makes their T’nalak unique and incomparable to others. Indeed, dreaming has an emphasis in their culture inasmuch as, for them, you will know nothing when you don’t dream.
Meanwhile, the process of weaving takes a long time to produce a ravishing effect to the T’nalak. It is a very tiresome labor and requires patience, good memory, perseverance, and creativity. First, the weavers get abaca and then dye it for few weeks. They do not cut every stride of it because doing so would just wipe out its sacredness. After that, they can now start to weave it with the patterns they dreamt of. During the entire procedure, women weavers are not supposed to sleep with their husbands as this would destroy the designs they have in mind. When the T’nalak is completely produced, it is not sold but given to the couples for their wedding. This exclusiveness of the T’nalak designs only attests that they treat these as sacred and priceless.
However, the T’boli’s traditions are not anymore being complied by some of them. This change happened when the outsiders started to “invade” their land. Their ever-cared lake is not anymore for everyone. T’boli people cannot anymore fully get their food in the lake since some outsiders also fish there. They no longer depend on barter because everything now has price that even their skills are sold forcibly.
Moreover, the materials used in making crafts are now influenced by the city and the holy T’nalak is now sold to the market. Before, weaving is done slowly but now, many weavers rush it to respond to the high demand and so the T’nalak is no longer that beautiful and pure. Today, men can now weave. The colors of T’nalak start to fade deviating from the original colors of red, black, and the natural tint of abaca to several colors and more than a hundred designs. Consequently, the value of the T’nalak decreases, effacing its reputation as the communion of the weavers to their spirit and as the tapestry of their dreams.
Nevertheless, few men are still trying to conserve the T’boli styles. Some of them believe that by teaching, their culture would be preserved. Even the dances mimicking animal movements, expressing emotions or implying meaning about their culture, are taught to the young generations so that it would not be forgotten. Some preserve the traditional ways of creating a T’nalak because for them, it will always be sacred and would remain to be their ethnic signature. And, for some T’boli people, anything learned by the T’boli members, themselves, must be reconcile to their culture.
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