For the Mandayas, the dagmay is not just an ordinary cloth. Each design is considered sacred, a keepsake from the Tagamaling. It should not be desecrated by tearing it apart or cutting it. Some designs, like the tinagamaling is considered too sacred, its not allowed for sale, said Diano. Other designs like binuaya augur well for the one wearing it because buaya (crocodile) represents a guardian, a protector.
But they believe that cutting the man in the design featuring the otaw (man) is ominous. It will make people sick. If you use the scissors to cut the dagmay, just make sure that you keep the (man) design intact, he said. The man represents the Tagamaling, the spirit who had bequeathed to the tribe the design of the dagmay. But sometimes, too, the man may represent the people of the tribe, said Diano.
But as the dagmay caught the fancy of enterprising people, tourist shops in the province start displaying it and the tourism office are advertising it on their tourism brochures.
Masandag Diano-Pagsac, one of the last Mandaya women who still knows how to weave the dagmay.(davaotoday.com photo)
Sometimes, the original dagmay designs, have been embellished with new elements that were not in those dreams. They have already discovered the softer version of cloth, unlike the original ones made of abaca, which was harder and take longer to make.
The modern day dagmay already incorporates new designs, Diano said. The new designs should enrich, not desecrate the old, said Diano.
Diano recalls the days when the act of weaving the dagmay was accorded high respect; when the weaver stayed in the upper part of the house where no one could disturb her, when everyone had to observe silence and children were forbidden to shout. When people in the house would scamper to give the weaver whatever she asked.
Even before the first Spaniards arrived in Mindanao in the 17th century, the Mandayas were already living in the town of Caraga and most of Davao Oriental. They did not really call themselves Mandaya, which means people in the west of the waters, (daya means west) but waves of settlers from Visayas and Luzon in the last century have pushed them far into the hinterlands, and gave them that name. For them, theyre simply people who live here.
Now, the Mandayas of Caraga are still clamoring for their ancestral domain claim that has not been recognized until now. Since the culture of the tribe is closely linked to their land and their right to self determination the survival of such piece of tradition as the dagmay depends so much on their survival as a people.
THE ART of making the dagmay takes time, Diano said. Its not something that you do in a hurry, he said. Each design carries with it its own story, which the young weaver learning how to make the dagmay for the first time, hears as she learns to weave. This was how Masandag first learned of the story of the maiden.
Now, in an age obsessed with speed and fast-pace consumption, the art of dagmay-making is quickly being left out. It will take time for the young people to learn this art again, he said, But slowly and with great persistence, they will learn how to do it. (Germelina Lacorte/davaotoday.com)
dagmay, Indigenous Peoples, mandaya
