Handicraft products are very often made at home in remote villages. They are sold directly on the street or through stalls and stores at the markets. These include forged items such as pot holders for open fires, axes and machetes.

 

TITLE IMAGE: Here you can see grass brooms. These are generally used in huts and houses to remove dust. I have been to villages where almost the entire population does nothing but make these brooms. It is a long labor process. The grass for these brooms should grow in the surrounding area. It is cut and laid out on the streets to dry, then beaten on large stones or rocks to remove loose and unwanted fibers. Then the brooms are made from it, large and small. Later, someone from the village is tasked with taking the goods to market.

 

 

One of the stores on the market. There are many handcrafted products, recognizable by the rather rough wooden handles. There are dustpans that are cut from 16 kg cooking oil cans, to which a handle made from a 1″x2″ unplaned wooden slat is simply nailed. The many woven items are striking.

More and more plastic items are finding their way into these stores. An important utensil is the chamber pot. However, the chamber pot is also very important for market stallholders, itinerant traders and other small businesses. They use these chamber pots as money boxes. According to superstition, this is supposed to bring about good business and an increase in money.

 

 

The names of the owner of the ‘Native Store’ were unexpected for me here. What a colorful mix.

 

 

Paypay in the small version, also available in larger sizes. Paypay is the hand fan for cooling. In addition to these simple, braided ones, there are also more elaborate ones made of lace, entirely made of plastic as an advertising medium and so on.

 

 

Another look in one of these stores on the market. Such stores are a treasure trove of things where you often have to ask what they are used for. Most of the items are not too expensive and can often be bought as souvenirs and keepsakes and are much cheaper in the markets than in the souvenir stores in the malls.

 

See the video of the public market in Dumaguete:

PUBLIC MARKET in DUMAGUETE