A MAT(top left) showing jagged triangular patterns, resulting from a pukkoh, a folding technique. A TABAWAN(top right) mat, noted for its fine, plain weave. A SEKO kalis(right) in red, patterns taken from the zigzag blade of the kris. MAJANNAY MUSTAL(inset), Sibutu master weaver

IT was a most usual day in Bongao, when we set sail in a small wooden lantsa to the island of Tabawan.  Puffy cumulus clouds dotted the bluest of skies reflected on a lapis lazuli sea that faded into a translucent turquoise. Indeed, it was the most usual of usually beautiful days in the shallows of Tawi-Tawi. Alas, gray bands in the horizon betrayed the fickleness of October weather, and in no time we found ourselves huddled toward the center of the small boat, wet to the bone.

“Is it after that island?”  I asked Hamka, my Sama research assistant-translator who must have found my constant inquiries about reaching the destination rather pregnant with impatience and just a tad unreasonable.  This was, after all, the slow boat to Tabawan, the island of music, dance and ritual.  We were headed, perhaps, to the farthest point in Philippine travel imagination, eight hours from the provincial capital of Bongao. 

I came to probe the dance of igal, the Sama traditional genre, but discovered more.

Tabawan is a kampung ayer, a water village of the Sama Dilaut people who are also referred to as Bajau. Life revolves around the sea. Most of the islanders engage in fishing, more as a matter of subsistence than for profit. As the men fish, the women spend their time weaving their rainbow-colored mats of amazing brilliance in color and composition.  These tepo, woven from the leaves of the pandan plant that grows wild in the islands, display artistic sensibilities that vary from island to island. 

The motifs and use of color in the tepo mark distinction among the Sama communities and are displayed with much pride during weddings and other social events. Yes, they sleep on these mats, but they also dance and celebrate rituals on them.  The mats do more than define social space. With their bursts of color like silent fireworks on a two-dimensional plane, they seem to invite people to revel in the richness of nature on land or in the coral gardens of the sea.

Though not as famous as the fabled mats of the island of Laminusa, the mats of Tabawan display as much technical virtuosity and aesthetic impact. Like all other mats found in the region of the Sulu Sea, they come in a double-mat form, that is, referring to a colorful sheet framed and backed with a plain one.  The tepo of Tabawan interestingly take on a very “modernist” or “contemporary” look in design with motifs of bold zig-zag patterns known as seka kalis, literally the wave patterns of a kris blade, interlocking lozenges and graduated cubes reminiscent of op-art. Tepo from the island of Sibutu show smaller ornamentation, or bunga (literally, flower), similar to brocade songket textiles that are woven with supplementary warp techniques.  Those from the Island of Tandobas exhibit “naïve” elements of cloud-like figures and stylized flowers in bloom. 

Naïve, modernist or otherwise, the tepo of the island communities of Tawi-Tawi are known for the fine strip-work in sabalang or plain weave that is occasionally punctuated by triangular patterns achieved through pukkoh or folding techniques. As this pattern is difficult to produce, mats produced through this technique are often prized over others. Pukkoh also assure a tighter and therefore sturdier weave. 

The amount of time it takes to weave a tepo depends on the minuteness of design patterns and the size of the mat. It takes master-weavers like Majannay Mustal anywhere from one to three months to weave a relatively ornate tepo the size of a single mattress. Smaller prayer mats of about three feet by three-and-a-half feet would take about a whole day.  Much larger mats of the size of five feet by 10 would take about a year to finish. 

Before the actual weaving (aganom) can take place, pandan leaves go through a 10-step process:  gathering (animuk), cutting (angottub), boiling (angalaga), drying (angallaw), stripping (anganjangat), soaking (pinakambang), angallaw, scraping (angambuhut), dyeing (anganjibi) and angallaw.

In Tandobas, the dyeing process may be repeated up to three times in order to achieve a high-quality color finish. Contemporary weavers use powdered dye-stuff from China. It is said that the use of dyes is a relatively new phenomenon. In the past, tepo were not dyed.  Undyed white-on-white mats are still produced for igal djin or shamans. These beautifully austere mats are sparsely decorated with texturing techniques that alternate, for instance, herring-bone patterns with plain weave. 

As in many other craft traditions in the Philippines, color and pattern designs in tepo-making are rarely repeated. Each mat is therefore a unique work of art all to itself.  This quality of nonrepetition affirms individuality, gives value to diversity among communities and emphasizes the importance of the ability to innovate via continuous improvisation as benchmarks of mastery.  The rainbow-colored tepo of Tawi-Tawi celebrate the blooming of folk expression in abundant variation.

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