The forming of cloth whatever fiber material can only happen by interlacing two strands of fiber at right angles.  In weaving parlance, these are warp (vertical) and the weft (horizontal) thread.  In weaving cultures they represent social and physical properties, typically, the male and the female, or heaven and earth. Their intersection constructs the wholeness of the world from which unity emerges – the axis mundi. In her analysis of designs from Mindanao weavers, Dr. Patricia Araneta, explains this concept of axis mundi as the point that where the intersection meets establishes the location of harmony, and of course, unity. In the performance of Kalinga music, the musicians aim for a good, beautiful performance. They call a unified and “harmonious” sound as talimbat, or the interlocking of sounds made by each player, one after the other (five players at least). Only then does the music become mamburo—beautiful. Indeed, the antiphonal and polychordal outcome can be expressed as woven sound.

The act interleaving, the performance of interlocking sound, the in-and-out, labas/loob  metaphors of popular Tagalog consciousness reflect the quintessential dynamics of Philippine social interaction and psychology. The much vaunted, yet elusive concept of loob (inner self) is performed and actualized in the practice of weaving or in the interlocking of sounds. Tagalog indigenous psychology locates the loob as the center of the human body. Interleaving and interlocking practices create a protective shield for the loob. In weaving culture, the human figure bridges the points between heaven and earth. The loob is located deep inside the body past the external organs (labas) to a space where conscience (budhi)  and soul (kaluluwa) resides. Where this is resident, the notion of harmony exists. That is why with lumad weavers they must not weave while angered. Weaving should be done in a state of happiness. The act of deep weaving, a practice that requires concentration and endurance, is akin to being in a meditative state. This state is aided by invoking the spirit of the weaving gods. The coastal Filipinos, Tagalogs, Bisaya, Ilokos have long lost the ritualization of weaving and its organic music because of hispanization. The practice of weaving and its indigenous philosophy gave way to a more abstract verbal culture that emerged from an oral tradition and woven into a complex system of metaphors, more than likely, as a strategy to navigate colonialism and protection from western ideas.

Palanan, Isabela mat (Nocheseda)
How the Philippines got to this stage is the narrative of Philippine cloth through the ages.