At 100, National Living Treasure Nana Dalen continues to weave and teach
At 100 years old, National Living Treasure and Ilocano master weaver Magdalena Gamayo continues to schedule her days around her craft. She wakes up as early as 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. at her home in Pinili, Ilocos Norte. Donning traditional Ilocos-made inabel clothes she herself wove, she goes to the neighboring Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan Cultural Center at 5:00 a.m. to start weaving. She usually eats breakfast, washes up, and naps between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m., then goes back to the loom again. She weaves in between lunch, rest, and merienda, then ends her work day at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m.
During the day, Nana Dalen, as she is fondly called by many, also teaches students when she has an ongoing class series, mostly for local youth. These are in addition to the adult weavers she had mentored before and are now selling their woven cloth; 16 of them are regulars at the GAMABA Cultural Center.
Sometimes, she also entertains visitors to the center. More had begun to come when she was recognized as GAMABA, and even more now when she turned 100 years old, observed Lizel Galinato, Gamayo’s niece-in-law. Galinato is a resident weaver who also looks after Gamayo.
While many may marvel at Gamayo’s tirelessness in her work, she points out that it is weaving in fact that gives her energy. “I feel weak when I am not weaving,” she said in Ilocano. She added that she also draws strength from her students and visitors.
Learning and mastery by doing
Gamayo started learning weaving from her aunt when she was 15. Having received no formal instruction, she learned through observation and practice.
She wove different traditional patterns inspired by nature like the kusikos (spirals like whirlwind) and marurup (Milky Way). However, she became well-known for her weaving of inubon a sabong (string of flowers) using a refined and difficult version of impalagto, a complex technique yielding clean floating patterns on one side, and patterns with a hopping fashion on the other side.
While she has mastered complex techniques, even her simpler designs stand out. Her works are finer and more detailed than the usual inabel, with her blankets having a high thread count and some of her designs combining as many as five colors. Her inabel is also long-lasting—her personal collection, for example, has been in use for generations.
Before the Second World War, she even spun her own cotton for weaving, and took extra steps to make the threads stronger, particularly by brushing them with beeswax.
Weaving is not only her work but also her solace. Those who saw her at work noted that she sought comfort in weaving when her daughter, and later her husband, passed away.
The Philippine government, through the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, recognized Gamayo in 2012 as a National Living Treasure for her work preserving and promoting the traditional Ilocano textile weaving of inabel. GAMABA, a recognition equal to the National Artist Award, is the highest honor conferred to Filipinos at the forefront in practicing, preserving, and promoting indigenous and traditional arts.
On her 100th birthday on Aug. 13 last year, NCCA and the governments of Ilocos Norte and Pinili organized a tribute for Gamayo at the province’s capital. Family and loved ones, students, local officials, and other GAMABAs from as far as southern Mindanao paid homage to Gamayo. Among all GAMABAs, Gamayo is the first to reach 100 years old.
Passing on the craft
To GAMABA Cultural Center’s resident weavers, Gamayo has already shared her weaving techniques, including the complex impalagto that creates the inubon a sabong. Now that Gamayo can no longer reach the back of the loom and can no longer weave inubon a sabong, she is able to preserve the unique flower pattern through teaching. At the moment, nine of the center’s weavers can weave it.
In collaboration with NCCA and the weavers she previously trained, Gamayo has been teaching a total of 100 inabel weaving scholars, distributed over seven batches. Most of them are local youth. The program is named SAGUT, which in Ilocano means a gift or ceremonial offering, alluding to Gamayo’s offering of her weaving to students.
In SAGUT, students learn community weaving as they all use one loom to weave together and finish one cloth. Also, the program does not only include weaving but cultural immersion as well, with studies on other GAMABAs, visits to relevant sites like the Philippine Textile Research Institute, and more.
In her young students, Gamayo saw herself when she was young. She holds much hope for them, according to Edwin Antonio, NCCA GAMABA coordinator and director of SAGUT 100, the inabel weaving training program director.
SAGUT student 17-year-old Jasper Lacuesta said that Gamayo is generous not only with her weaving knowledge but also her stories. Lacuesta recalled how Gamayo shared life’s hardships when she was younger, especially as farming was only done through manual plowing. Lacuesta further appreciated the gift of weaving that Gamayo is giving. To him, learning weaving is also about earning income for his allowance. Noting financial challenges in his family, he said: “I want to help my parents.”
Indeed, for GAMABA Cultural Center’s resident weavers, weaving continues to be a welcome source of livelihood.
Meanwhile, some students who finished the SAGUT program are taking their studies further like 17-year-old student Bea Padulip, who regularly visits the center to learn more complex patterns. She proudly wears clothes she has woven.
An older Ilocano student, Minifred Gavino applied what she learned by initiating activities like a Gamayo-inspired tour in the National Museum of Anthropology. She led participants through the Baybayin and GAMABA sections of the museum while sharing information and guiding them in reflection.
Gamayo expressed joy with her students’ accomplishments and is hopeful that they will continue learning and improving. She is also ready to train more students when the opportunity arises, Antonio said.
