Ilocos town unrolls longest mat at 1st Buri Festival

SAN JUAN, Ilocos Sur - Thousands of Ilocano villagers, including balikbayans and tourists, joined the revelry along the main streets of San Juan, home of the famous buri mats, for the First Buri Festival staged here on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Clad in buri-inspired costumes, from hats to slippers and even trinkets, street dancers made a joyous celebration of parading the San Juaños feat — "The World's Longest Buri Mat." Ilocanos held up along the streets the 2.4-kilometer long and one-meter wide buri mat — a symbol of their undying love for the cottage industry that they proudly call their own. The laying down of the buri mat caused a traffic gridlock all over town as the festival's parade and street dancing began even under the scorching heat of the sun in this northern Ilocos Sur town. Though towns folks failed to weave their earlier target of a 4- kilometer long buri mat, they were able to surpass the country’s unpublished world record on the longest mat ever woven. That first mat was more than a kilometer long and was unrolled in Basey town in Samar province on September 20, 2000, as a highlight of Basey town's Banigan-Kawayan Festival. However, that first mat was not submitted as an entry to the Guinness Book of World Records. San Juan town Mayor Benjamin Sarmiento explained that they failed to achieve their target of 4 kilometers because street dancers and parade revelers used up a great deal of the raw materials for their costumes. “We met a problem in the completion of the 4- kilometer-long mat after we agreed that the parade’s participants will wear buri-inspired attire," Sarmiento said. “Although we had a lot of shortcomings in the preparation, we are very proud with the noble support of our constituents for a successful Buri Festival,” he added. The mayor said weaving the mats started early on the second semester this year by all local industry weavers in the town. Each weaver was assigned to make a 5-meter portion with more than a meter width mat. The mats were then connected by sewing them from both sides. RP's Buri Capital Buri is San Juan's official product registered under the “One Town One Product” (OTOP) program of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Buri, also known as century plant, is a palm from which three kinds of fibers, namely buri, raffia, and buntal, are obtained. The buri palm has large fan-shaped leaves with stout petioles ranging from two to three meters in length. The palm reaches a height of 20 to 40 meters and its trunk attains a diameter of one to 1.5 meters. San Juan Councilor Proceso Ochosa said the Buri Festival aims to promote the buri industry in the world market. “The launching of the longest mat is the main highlights of our annual fest this year and would be staged annually with the inspiration to get the distinction of having woved the world’s longest mat and introduce and promoted buri into the world market,” Ochosa said. They also want San Juan to be named as "The Buri Capital of the Philippines” he added. Buri palm trees are abundant in barangays Cacandongan, Darao, Malammin, Caronoan, Camanggaan, Immayos Norte, and Barbar. Half of San Juan's 32 barangays are engaged are engaged in the buri indsutry (locally known as silag. Buri weaving has been a traditional industry in the town. The buri fibers are extracted from the petiole, rolled and are woven into mat, bags, holiday decor and giftware. Buri can be used to make items like shoes, slippers, coin purses, pen holders, window blinds, attaché cases, table accessories, wall papers, desk organizers, screen dividers, decorative pillows, lampshades, placemats, folders, and hula skirts. "Nothing is wasted in the buri weaving industry as it midribs are also used in making chairs,” Mayor Sarmiento said. Bigger and better next year Sarmiento vowed that the second edition of the festival will be different because he asked the weaving of a single mat measuring 4 kilometers long with more than a meter width as early as this month. The mat made last December will be brought to The Heritage Village in Vigan, Baguio, and Manila through trade fairs and exhibitions like the annual “Tawid Ken Partuat” exhibit at the SM Megamall. To improve the quality of buri products as well as to conserve the availability of raw materials, San Juan has allotted an initial fund of P200, 000 for the industry in 2006. Mayor Sarmiento said the amount was used for the acquisition of new technologies in buri production and for financing the continuous trainings and seminars for the weavers. “Actually, we had established a buri plant nursery in connection with our program on massive plantation of buri to anticipate the possible scarcity of raw materials in the future due to the increasing demand of buri products,” Sarmiento said. - GMANews.TV