National

Living
Treasures

Lang Dulay is a GAMABA

Pis syabit Awardees for the year
1998
Weaving
Unmarried, Sawabi does weaving as
Darhata Sawabi is a
a means of livelihood since farming,
a common source of income for GAMABA Awardees for
Parang families, is not sustainable the year 2004
for herself. Pis syabit weaving is a
tedious work. It takes three days
for the warp alone to be made. By
age 48, she employs the help of
apprentice weavers and children in
her work. In the 1970s, she has to
moved residence at least twice due
to the Moro conflict. Sawabi died
on March 12, 2005, about a year
Submitted By:
after she was given the National
Living Treasures Award. Joanne M. Vera Cruz
TVL 12 - Daza
Lang Dulay
Lang Dulay was a T'boli princess
from the Lake Sebu region in South
Cotabato. She was born on August
3, 1928. She has conferred the
National Living Treasures Award in
1998. That same year, her works
were featured in an exhibit at the
Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C. in the United
States as part of the Philippine
Independence Centennial
celebrations. She first learned
weaving at the age of 12 from her
mother, Luan Senig. She is known for
maintaining the use of traditional
motifs in T'nalak weaving amidst the
commercialization of the craft
which saw the introduction of more
modern designs by non-T'bolis.
T'nalak
Weaving
She notably had a mental
repertoire of around 100 patterns
and designs, some of these were
based on her dreams, hence her
description as a "Dreamweaver".
She set up the Manlilikha ng Bayan
Center workshop in her hometown
to promote the traditional art of
T'nalak weaving and by 2014, five of
her grandchildren had become
weavers. She fell into a coma in Darhata
early 2015 and died on April 30 of
the same year. Sawabi
Darhata Sawabi is a Filipino weaver
from Parang, Sulu known for pis
syabit, a traditional Tausūg cloth
tapestry worn as a head covering
by the people of Jolo. She is a
recipient of the National Living
Treasures Award, having given the
distinction in 2004. Pis refers to the
geometric pattern that is said to
be derived from the Indic mandala,
and siyabit stands for the hook and
technique.