The Mantón de Manila (Manila’s Shawl), just as we know it nowadays, is a female adornment garment, closely bound to the Andalusian craftsmanship. It is especially typical from Seville, because this is the place where is mainly made and sold, in spite of it remote origin.

The name of this garment is a reference from it place of birth, or better, the place where the shawls were brought to Spain from: Manila, the main city of Philippines, and an old Spanish colony. Lots of Spanish galleons departed from Manila’s port in the direction to Seville, containing exotic oriental products.

History
According to a legend, in the colony’s times, tobacco arrived to Seville from Philippines packed in heavy bales wrapped in huge pieces of silk, because the tobacco needed this kind of weave in order to retain the humidity. There were pieces of weave that, because of it worse quality or having some imperfections, were scrapped for the market. In Seville, the women who worked in the tobacco factory (called cigarreras) cut these pieces of silk into four parts and, adding them a frayed edge, they invented the mantón. From this modest and popular origin, the mantón evolved until be adopted by the high society, who begun to enrich the designs with European and Chinese embroideries.

Even though this history could make perfectly suitable for the use of the mantón in Andalusia, it is not true. In fact, the mantón’s origins go back to a more remote time and place. Some people goes back to the 600 BC in order to place the appearance of the mantón, asserting that the high society women in China used this kind of shawls during the T’ang dynasty.
Is not hazardous to situate the mantón’s origin in the old China, because is a fact that the Chinese were the inventors of the silk weave. There are been found cut silkworms’ cocoons in the Yang-shao culture excavations, from the 3000 BC. In the same way, is known that the embroideries in silk were a Chinese invention; the oldest example or Chinese embroideries was found in a Chou dynasty tomb from the VI century BC.
The fact of give this garment the name of mantón de Manila, despite being originate from China, is because it was in Philippines where the Spanish traders first saw some wonderful pieces of embroidered silk, in the XVI century. The Chinese merchandises caused admiration and surprise to the Spanish traders: there were unusual for them, with an extraordinary colourfulness and showiness. Documents from that period describe these pieces in this way: "fine and not twisted silk, white and in the most brilliant colours, some of them unadorned and some others embroidered with odd figures, colours and models..."

 From the end of the XVI century, the mercantile traffic with the Orient began an increasing flow, through the Philippines, to Europe. Manila soon becomes the receiver point of the merchandising that the Chinese traders transported in their own boats to the port. From Manila’s port, the Spanish ships began a long trip to Mexico, in order to weigh anchor definitively to Seville, the last destination.
Despite of their showiness, these pieces of Chinese silk richly embroidered weren’t, in a first moment, more popular in Spain, in part because this colourfulness wasn’t very appropriate for the sober style suggested by the Austria’s dynasty. It was in Mexico where the mantón found a better welcome: the Mexican rebozo (an autochthonous sort of embroidered shawl) was then an indispensable piece of the traditional clothes worn by the Nueva España Viceroyalty women. Before seeing the Chinese shawls, the rebozo began to be made in silk with new designs and motifs.

The mantón arrived to Spain from the colony in the XIX century. Then, the Chinese shawls were added an embellishment, a frayed edge made from the same cloth. Later, the fashion imposed the liking for the long tassels, so the frayed edges were made apart and carefully sewed up. The designs were also changed: small oriental flowers were changed into bigger and more coloured motifs, incorporating samples of the autochthonous flora.
After the incorporation of the mantón in the Court, it became more popular, and it began to be an indispensable accessory for worker women. It can be said that, in Seville, were the cigarreras who popularize the use of the mantón.

Designs evolution
Since it origin in China, the design of the mantón has changed with the time. It can be considerate as a white canvas, which each creative can fill with representative elements from his culture.


When it arrived to Spain, the mantón began to mix it traditional Oriental motifs (dragons, birds, toads and another Chinese symbols) with others more characteristic of the European taste. In that moment (1860, approximately) there were very usual the mantones with Chinese figures, which faces were sculpted in a thin ivory sheet, that was fixed to the cloth.
In Andalusia, floral motifs were the most esteemed. The mantones were full of coloured roses in different sizes; the rose symbolises the secret, and in the Christian system of symbols refers to the Christ Passion. In this way, became usual the designs with daisies, which mean impatience, irises, which symbolises purity, or sunflowers, symbol of fidelity. Some other usual floral motifs were pansies, rosemary and lotus.




This great variety of motifs and combinations have been grouped in designs more o less similar, which have been named according to the dominant motif: so, we can find mantones of roses, peacocks, chinitos (little Chinamen), carnations, big flowers, grapes, rosettes... Some of them, because of it originality or special outstanding, has kept through fashions: is the case of the mantón de macetón and mantón de cigarrera. First of them is a design that mixes the traditional Chinese bamboo stems with baskets full of flowers. The second one takes it name from the women who worked in the Sevillian tobacco factory; they added to their diary attire a mantón embroidered with big roses and carnations intensely coloured.

This adaptive process have made of the mantón a peculiar garment of the Andalusian craftsmanship, which has adapted it use and design until becoming an important part of the tradition.


Uses of the manton
In spite of being originally a daily use garment for worker women, who used it in order to protect themselves against the low temperatures, the mantón de Manila is today a garment for great celebrations. Nowadays, the Sevillian woman enriches her clothes with the mantón, which gives her a festive, elegant and feminine touch. Is a tradition to wear the mantón in Feria and in the bullfights, but is also used in any other moment that requires special attire.
Another use that is given to the mantón in Andalusia, and what usually amazes to the visitors, is the decking of balconies during some feast days. Is a tradition that the houses of the streets where the Corpus Christi procession roam along, hang the mantones on the balconies, like a part of the decoration.