Ilocano Weavers Parade World’s Longest Buri Mat

A town in Ilocos Sur tries to promote its products with the holding of the First Buri Festival and the parading of the world’s longest buri mat measuring 2.4 kilometers.

BY ACE ALEGRE
Northern Dispatch
Reposted by Bulatlat

SAN JUAN, Ilocos Sur (Dec. 29) — Thousands of Ilocano villagers, balikbayans (returning migrant Filipinos) and tourists joined in the celebration along the main streets of here with the holding of the First Buri Festival last January 3. The town of San Juan is known for manufacturing buri products.

Also known as century plant, buri (Corypha elata Roxb.), is a palm from which three kinds of fibers (i.e., buri, raffia, and buntal) are obtained. It is locally known as silag. The buri palm has large fan-shaped leaves with stout petioles ranging from two to three meters in length. The palm reaches a height of 20 to 40 meters and its trunk has a diameter of one to 1.5 meters.

Buri is San Juan’s official product registered under the One Town One Product (OTOP) program of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Clad in buri-inspired costumes, from hats to slippers and even trinkets, street dancers added up a joyous celebration of parading the world’s longest buri mat.

Thousands of Ilocanos queued along the streets with the 2.4-kilometer long and one-meter wide buri mat. Residents consider it “a symbol of their undying love for the cottage industry that they proudly call their own.”

The laying down of the buri mat caused traffic all over town as the festival’s parade and street dancing began even under the scorching heat of the sun in this northern Ilocos Sur town.

Though short of the earlier target of weaving a four-kilometer buri mat, they were still able to surpass the country’s unpublished world record on longest mat woven in Basey town in Samar Province six years ago.

On September 20, 2000, hundreds of people paraded a more than one-kilometer long mat as a highlight of Basey town’s Banigan-Kawayan Festival. The one-meter wide mat was woven for several weeks. However, the feat was not submitted as an entry to the Guinness Book of World Records.

San Juan Mayor Benjamin Sarmiento said that they failed to achieve their target of a four-kilometer long mat because street dancers and parade revelers used up a great deal of the raw materials for their costumes. “We had a problem after we agreed that the parade’s participants will wear buri-inspired attires.”

Sarmiento said that weaving the mats started early on the second semester this year by all local industry weavers in the town. Each weaver was assigned to weave a five-meter long with more than a meter width mat. The mats were then connected by sewing them from both sides.

RP’s Buri Capital

San Juan Councilor Proceso Ochosa said that the First Buri Festival was meant to promote the buri industry in the local and world markets. “The launching of the longest mat is the highlight of our buri festival this year and would be staged annually with the inspiration to get the distinction of having woven the world’s longest mat and promote buri to the world market.”

They also want San Juan to be named “The Buri Capital of the Philippines” Ochosa added.

Buri palm trees are abundant in Baranggays (villages) Cacandongan, Darao, Malammin, Caronoan, Camanggaan, Immayos Norte and Barbar. Of the 32 baranggays in San Juan, half of them are engaged in the buri industry.

“Buri weaving has been a traditional industry in the town. The buri fibers are extracted from the petiole, rolled and are weaved into mat, bags, holiday decors and giftware and other novelty items like shoes, slippers, coin purses, pen holders, window blinds, attaché cases, table accessories, wall papers, desk organizers, screen dividers, decorative pillows, lampshades, placemats, folders, “hula’ skirts, other handicraft items as tying, decor and wrapping materials,” Sarmiento said.

There’s nothing to be wasted in the buri weaving industry as its midribs are also used in making chairs,” he added.

Bigger and Better Next Year

Sarmiento said that the second edition of the festival will be different because he asked the weaving of a single mat measuring four kilometers long and more than one meter wide as early as January next year.

The mat this year will be brought to The Heritage Village in Vigan City, Baguio and Manila through trade fairs and exhibits like the annual “Tawid ken Partuat” exhibit in SM Megamall.

To improve the quality of buri products as well as to conserve the availability of raw materials, San Juan allotted an initial fund for the industry amounting to P200,000 ($4,095, based on an exchange rate of P48.84 per US dollar) this year. Sarmiento said that the amount was used for the acquisition of new technologies in buri production and for financing the continuous training and seminars for the weavers. “Actually, we established a Buri plant nursery in connection with our program on massive plantation of buri to anticipate the possible scarcity of raw materials in the future due to the increasing demand for buri products.” (Bulatlat.com)

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