Ep. 191: The Charming Filipino Banig

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This is episode 191, the Charming Filipino banig. So a couple weeks ago I talked.

About the Filipino barong, which is like this dress shirt that they wear today. We're going to talk about a mat.

So Julia writes this whole big thing.

To me talking about this, this banig. And so she says, we all have things in our house that make it more comfortable or make it more homey, whether it be like a decoration on a wall or a rug or something.

In the Philippines, one of those things is the banig. It's a traditional hand woven mat. So usually made from dried palm leaves or reeds dyed in a variety of colors. The reeds are then woven into plain or intricate patterns. Hopefully you can get a picture here if you're watching this video.

If you're listening just to the podcast, then just gonna have to get the description.

But it's just basically a mat that.

Is made out of reeds. I mean, sometimes they're decorative, sometimes they're not.

So in the past, before kind of more modern times, the benig was mainly used as a sitting and a sleeping.

Mat, like in other Asian countries.

They Philippines, Filipino homes didn't have mattresses.

They didn't have chairs in the past.

So when they were eating or doing chores or whatever, they would sit on the banig or on the floor, or sit on the banig on the floor.

And then before they go to bed.

They roll out their, their banig mat.

That they use for sleeping.

But even so, even after people stopped.

Using it for its intended purpose because the world got modern and they got.

Chairs and mattresses and everything modern, Filipinos still keep finding a way to use.

The baneing, the banig.

And whether that is like hanging on the wall as a decoration or putting.

It on the floor as like a.

Throw rug or, or using it as like a headboard, people still use it as a focal point in their bedrooms.

It's still very much a part of the Filipino culture.

And then still sometimes people will roll.

It out and sleep on it because it's cool and it's really hot in.

The Philippines, they will still use it.

As a sleeping mat, hard and on the floor.

So Julia actually gave me a couple other uses. And this is cool. Like when they go camping on the.

Beach, they'll take a bunny egg and lay it out and that's what they'll sleep on.

Or sometimes people put a banig on, on their mattress on the top of.

The mattress as a liner.

Or you can even buy a mattress with a banig as part of it. So it doesn't like shift when you put a bed sheet on. All kinds of uses for this. For this mat still being used today in the Philippines.