National Living Treasures: Haja Amina Appi

Haja Amina Appi from Ungos Matata, Tandubas, Tawi-Tawi, is celebrated as a master mat weaver within the Sama indigenous community. Her vibrant mats, adorned with intricate geometric patterns, showcase her exceptional design skills, keen sense of proportion, symmetry, and a refined sensitivity to color. Her unique multi-colored mats are often backed with a plain white outer mat for protection. These functional yet artistic creations can take up to three months to complete.

Mat weaving in the Sama culture is a tradition passed down through the female line, as men do not engage in this craft. The entire process, from harvesting and preparing pandan leaves to weaving the designs, is exclusively carried out by women. It is a labor-intensive and meticulous process that demands patience, stamina, attention to detail, a natural instinct for color, and a talent for applied mathematics.

The process begins with the collection of wild pandan leaves from the forest. Sama weavers prefer the thorny variety of pandan leaves because they yield stronger and more durable strips. Despite the large and sharp thorns, Haja Amina fearlessly gathers the leaves. She first removes the thorns with a small knife and then strips the leaves into long, even strips using a tool called a jangat deyum. These strips are sun-dried and pressed under a heavy log to flatten them. Next, she dyes the strips by boiling them in water mixed with anjibi or commercial dye. As an innovative artist, Haja Amina has moved beyond the traditional plain white mats of her ancestors, experimenting with dyes to create her unique designs. Dissatisfied with the limited boldness of commercial dyes, she has developed her own color blends to achieve the vibrant hues she desires. Her favorite colors include red, purple, and yellow, though her mats sometimes feature up to eight colors, with the interplay of shades enhancing the complexity of her designs.

Once the strips are dyed, they are sun-dried for three to four days and pressed again to make them pliable. Haja Amina then weaves them into intricate geometric patterns. Unlike traditional methods that start from the edges, she begins by weaving a central strip that serves as the backbone of the mat, expanding outward from there. While the techniques she uses are traditional, she has introduced modern design elements. According to Haja Amina, the most challenging aspect is not mixing colors but visualizing and executing the design with precision. This requires a deep understanding of the medium, an instinctive sense of symmetry, and meticulous attention to detail. Despite the complex calculations needed to ensure the geometric patterns align or complement each other, she relies on her memory, intuition, and decades of experience rather than mathematical formulas.

Haja Amina is highly respected in her community for her unique designs, the precision of her edges (tabig), and the fine quality of her sasa and kima-kima (weaving techniques). Her hands, calloused and stained from years of work, remain steady, and her eye for color remains sharp. She takes pride in the fact that others often borrow her mats to study and replicate her designs.

Fortunately, mat weaving is not a dying art, as all of Haja Amina’s female descendants, including her daughters and granddaughters, have taken up the craft. While she is known as a patient and gentle teacher, her dedication to perfection is evident when she points out uneven stitching or patchwork in her apprentices’ work. Eager to pass on her knowledge, Haja Amina looks forward to sharing her craft with future generations of weavers.