MALONG LANDAP Tubular Skirt /Maranao Population
WOVEN HERITAGE
The malong landap is a tubular skirt traditionally made by Maranao people. The term landap means “pure”. Only the most privileged members of society could afford to wear it in the past. The garment is securely held by its tapestry panels known as the langkit. It has two joineries which run together across the garment. The wide vertical langkit band is called Lakban. On the other hand, the narrow bands sewn horizontally are the Tobiran. They are woven separately from the plain weave ground cloth. This langkit is created using a narrow, specialized kind of tapestry loom. The pattern resembles the Okir style which is known for Maranao carving design. The discontinuous weft technique in this langkit portion is used to bring out the colorful designs into the cloth. Moreover, the color employed in the landap resembled the wearer’s title. The colors such as green (“Gadong”) is for judges and priests, red (“Mariga”) is for fighters, magenta / violet (“Rambayong/Birmoda”) is for princesses, young women, and queens; and yellow is for sultans. The landap binaning (yellow), for instance, is highly valued that suggests “royalty”. Although it has the quality, it is second only to the malong Andon in value. This garment can be worn by both men and women in different styles. It can be used on formal occasions or everyday. The common ways of wearing it is what they call “tinapis” style used as a skirt and “kasinambir” style worn as a dress. Depending on one’s preference, it can be secured at the waist, above the breast, or at the shoulders. For daily use, a cotton malong, for instance, is commonly used to wrap a newborn as a carrier.