Source: Hemp cloth, Filipino, American colonial period, ca. 1900, Mindanao, Lake Lanao region, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, May 2019.
Among the Islamic kingdoms in Mindanao, the Marano are famous for their sophisticated weaving with beautiful designs and colors. The name Maranao means “people of the lake,” referring to their ancestral territory around Lake Lanao in the province of Lanao del Sur, part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. They are the largest cultural minority, numbering more than a million.