Little progress is still progress. Even though life has been pretty tough lately (not what you see in the feed) but I still hope that every little progress will make sense someday.
Maybe that's why I'm so inspired by my grandma's art, weaving banig, because it's a very long process. Seriously long. But somehow every process is essential.
1. You have to plant the Pandan (the thorny plant that looks like palm but isn't) for months before it is fully ripe for "harvest". PANGGUTAB.
2. PAGLILAS. Then you shred the thorny corners INDIVIDUALLY from every leaf. You cut the leaf into equal strands so that you can SUN DRY them for a couple of days.
3. BULAD. You dry them in the morning till sundown and this process takes days until the leaves completely dry. And btw you have to take them in when it rains and/or dusk.
4.Some of them gets dyed (cooking it in a huge cauldron and the added with color). So you have to repeat every time you want another color.
5. Then the spiraled leaves are then straightened individually to prevent it from becoming crisp. If you think about it, it's like ironing the leaves so that it's not stiff.
6. Then that's when Weaving the Banig starts. The time to finish depends on the desired length.
7. The final part is cutting off excess and unwanted strands. And repairing parts that needs retouching. Very important for export quality products and also very applicable on life. Cutting off what's unpleasant.
So that's how a native mat is made.
My life has been a roller coaster, no, more of a turning teacup ride where you just keep spinning from problem to problem. It's like Im not even done coping with the first one and another one comes along. It seems that my progress is so minimal it's irrelevant, but it's not. I hope.
Little progress is still progress.
And I think me going back writing when I'm free is a good thing too.
by LUNA DE LA CERNA
2018