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VIGAN CITY: This year’s Binatbatan Festival focuses
on promoting the Ilocano cotton weave known as inabel.
A festival highlight was the
binatbatan dance with hundreds of dancers wearing inabel, so much so
that stores here ran out of the clothing material to sell. The dance
recreates the traditional way of removing the seeds from cotton.
There were an estimated 50,000
tourist arrivals including Koreans, Americans and Europeans to
witness the festival participants at Heritage Plaza on Saturday.
Vigan City Mayor Eva Marie
Singson-Medina said “This time, we ran out of inabel in the stores
and the demand was so high that we can’t keep up.” She noted
that there was a need for more tailors.
Many government offices already
use the high-end inabel as uniform while soldiers are ordering the
plain inabel because these are cooler, she continued, adding that
inabel is already being sought after by Ilocanos in the US and other
places.
It is already being incorporated
in many apparels like bags, shoes and many things to add more color
and design. As the industry has grown, inabel weaving is now being
incorporated in the Vigan school curriculum.
“We are doing this so that the
culture and tradition of the city would not fade,” the mayor said,
stressing that it should be a continuing industry. “This is also
our livelihood.”
Inabel weaving as well as pottery
making using the pottery wheel has been incorporated in the
curriculum of the Vigan National High School East and West as well
as the Ilocos Sur National High School also based in Vigan.
“This is part of their cultural
heritage subject which they now learn through hands-on training.
It’s no longer just making crafts out of Popsicle sticks. They
have to learn something from their history and heritage,”
explained Medina.
Medina noted that there are
teachers from the inabel villages in Camanggaan and Mindoro teaching
the students, not only the girls but also the boys, as there is a
need for tailors who will make the woven inabel cloth into wearable
products,” she said.
 --Thom
F. Picaña
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