Vacul – Ivatan’s native headgear

Originally uploaded by estan.

An Ivatan native dressed in the traditional vacul, a woman’s headgear to shelter from the elements. This minority of Batanes, the northernmost province and islands of the Philippines have a unique culture of their own including a dialect that can’t be found elsewhere in the country. However, they do have a sister community in a tiny island the south of Taiwan where they have cultural affinity.

If there was one thing that I promised myself to bring back from Batanes, it is vacul, the unique headgear of the Ivatans. Made of shredded leaves of a unique palm in Sabtang island, it is truly waterproof. We got stares at the airport in Manila and Cebu when we hand-carried this one.