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This small plaited basketry hat is made by the Bontoc people living in Northern Luzon in the Philippines. It is made of rattan and decorated with red bamboo, yellow reeds, and curved boar’s tusks at opposite ends. It was donated to the Maxwell Museum in 1989 by the late Dr. Harold D. Drummond, professor emeritus of elementary education at the University of New Mexico.
These “suklang” (sometimes referred to as a “bachelors hat”) were used only by men. They are worn on the back of the head and held in place by a cord over the forehead. As part of everyday attire, the design, materials, and style indicated the man’s status in Bontoc society. The hats also served to carry their wearers’ personal possessions, such as betel nut, tobacco, matches, and other smoking or chewing equipment.
Check out this decorated suklang in the collection of the Museo Kordilyera at the University of the Philippines- Baguio: https://www.facebook.com/upbmuseokordilyera/photos/a.632778746874397/1570474633104799/?type=3&theater
Catalog #: 89.40.11
Culture: Bontoc Igorot
Origin: Northern Luzon, Philippines
Collection: Ethnology
Post by Lauren Fuka and Lea McChesney
A Bontoc man in 1903 wearing a suklang. (Courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, Dean C. Worcester Collection, Image 08A045)