Salinta Monon (December 12, 1920 – June 4, 2009) was a Filipino textile weaver who was the one of two recipients of the
National Living Treasures Award in 1998. She was known for her
Bagobo-Tagabawa textiles and was known as the "last Bagobo weaver".
Background
Monon was born on December 12, 1920,
and grew up in Bituag,
Bansalan
Bansalan, officially the Municipality of Bansalan ( ceb, Lungsod sa Bansalan; tl, Bayan ng Bansalan), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Davao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 62,737 people.
...
in
Davao del Sur
Davao del Sur ( ceb, Habagatang Dabaw; ), officially the Province of Davao del Sur, is a province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is Digos City. Davao City is the largest city in terms of area and populat ...
and watched her mother weave ''ikat'' a traditional
abaca fabric when she was a child, She asked her mother how to use the loom at age 12 and learned how to weave within a few months.
She weaves a design for three to four months. In a month she can weave fabric which can be used for a single abaca tube skirt which measures 3.5 x 0.42 meters. Her favorite design is the ''binuwaya'' or crocodile which is said to be among the most difficult to weave.
According to Cherry Quizon, an anthropologist based in New York, the origin of Monon's design can be dated back as early as the 1910s.
[
Monon was awarded the National Living Treasures Award in 1998.]
Personal life
Due to her reputation as a weaver, Agton Monon, a farmer and her husband, had to pay a high bride price
Bride price, bride-dowry ( Mahr in Islam), bride-wealth, or bride token, is money, property, or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will be married to or is just about to marry. Bride dow ...
to her father Datu Bansalan Barra for him to be allowed to marry her. The two got married on July 4, 1946, and had six children. Salinta Monon had to manage the farm after her husband died in the 1970s.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monon, Salinta
National Living Treasures of the Philippines
Filipino weavers
People from Davao del Sur
1920 births
2009 deaths
20th-century Filipino artists
21st-century Filipino artists