After my visit to the Talaandig mountain tribe in central Bukidnon, I made this. It represents all of my learning from people I met there. Talking to Jessica about the tribal school and the children's education there, asking Waway about the recurring motifs in the soil paintings, hearing Solomon's analysis of his painting, spending a mesmerizing morning with Nanay Ada, the village ritualist and hearing her stories, the spirits' wisdom, her incantations at the river ritual and the farewell ritual...
The language of the Talaandig is beautiful poetry. The local word for earth is DUNYA. The Talaandig word for 'earth' is a lyrical sentence that sounds like the rhythms of the wind in the forest, an incantation which captures the essence of their philosophy with such purity... Loosely translated, their word for earth is, "a vast expanse of land where we we are fortunate enough to reside for a short time before going back to the other world'
I learnt many things. The importance of interconnectedness, living in tune with our environment, the need to stories to be passed down through the generations, the significance of being living history...
One of the recurring motifs that struck me, whilst looking at the paintings, was the sacred jar. This jar contains the oil of life. It is a symbol of peace. The oil is used to comb the knots in our hair (which represent conflict). This is an example of how the Talaandig view the world; we are the earth and the earth is us. All elements in nature can be explained through parts of our body and vice versa. Hence, our knotted hair needs sacred oil to ensure peace.
This is the indigenous knowledge that I am seeking to pass on through this artifact:
Everything is connected- our hand, seeds, umbilical cord, flower, trees, roots, sacred jar, oil of life...
Here we can see the hand to plant the seeds and the umbilical cord that ensures we are rooted to the earth and the sky. And all elements together promote growth and keep the body, mind, soul and environment healthy (and the spirits happy!)
Imagine if every human on this earth lived according to this philosophy...
I'd like to flip Alchemy's question around and challenge you- who would not benefit from this knowledge?
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