Ga'dang

The Ga'dang tribe lives in the Cagayan Valley in the Cordillera region. Their name "Ga'dang" is thought to come from the words "ga" meaning "heat" and "dang" meaning "burned" due to their people being darker skinned than other tribes in the area. The everyday traditional clothing for men was a simple G-string. For women, it was a tapis, or skirt, tied around the waist which would go down to the knees. They would be topless except for more formal occasions when they would wear long sleeved, round collared blouses. The women wove their textiles from homegrown cloth dyed in bright colors and usually included some type of beadwork. Beads were also worn to decorate their head, necks, and arms. In addition, tattoos were used to decorate arms, legs, fingers, and, for men, their chests. In the Ga'dang skirt in the collection, we see the extensive addition of beads added to the textile.