Rediscovering Indigenous Beliefs and Practices – Key to Good Life (Part 1)

          Rediscovering Indigenous Beliefs and Practices   – Key to Good Life        

 What is “The Good Life” really?

Let us look back and compare ourselves with our ancestors from the viewpoint of how life is well lived. Were our ancestors a happier lot? Did they have more time for themselves and their family, and more things to share with their community? Did they live healthier lives? Were they endowed - more than we are - with the good life brought about by the bounty and beauty of nature?

Dr Abe V, Rotor

Life on the Countryside - The Good Life, mural painting by AV Rotor

These questions bring us to analyze ten major concerns about living. In the midst of socio-cultural and economic transformation from traditional to modern to globalization - an experience that is sweeping all over the world today - these concerns serve as parameters to know how well we are living with life. It is likely that as the reader goes over these items he can’t help but relate them with his own knowledge and experiences, and in fact the way he lives. This is essentially the purpose of this article. The major concerns are:

· Simple lifestyle
· Environment-friendly
· Peace of mind
· Functional literacy
· Good health and longer active life
· Family and community commitment
· Self-managed time
· Self-employment
· Cooperation (bayanihan) and unity
· Sustainable development

The following are some traditional beliefs and practices I have been able to gather and put into writing since the idea was conceived late in the sixties. Actually this is the third of a series under the general topic of Folk Wisdom published in Ad Veritatem. Primarily these are ethnic or indigenous, and certainly there are commonalities with those in other countries, particularly in Asia, albeit of their local versions and adaptations. It leads us to appreciate with wonder the vast richness of cultures shared between and among peoples and countries even in very early times. Ironically modern times have overshadowed tradition, and many of these beliefs and practices have been either lost or forgotten, and even those that have survived are facing endangerment and the possibility of extinction. It is a rare opportunity and privilege to gather and analyze traditional beliefs and practices.

It is to the old folks that we owe much gratitude and respect because they are our living link with the past. They are the Homer of Iliad and Odyssey of our times, so to speak. They are the Disciples of Christ’s parables, the Fabulists of Aesop. They are the likes of a certain Ilocano farmer by the name of Juan Magana who recited Biag ni Lam-ang from memory, Mang Inting Buena, an herbolario of Bolinao Pangasinan, whom I interviewed about the effectiveness of herbal medicine. It is to people who, in spite of genetic engineering, would still prefer the taste of native chicken and upland rice varieties. It is to these people that this piece of work is sincerely dedicated.

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“These narratives offer an exploration into the world of ethno science covering a wide range of practical interest from climate to agriculture; medicine to food and nutrition. In lucid prose, the author paints the landscape of the beliefs and practices of our indigenous peoples and local communities revealing the science behind traditional wisdom.

Many authors variously describe this system of indigenous technical knowledge as “people science, ethno science, folk ecology, village science, or simply local knowledge.” This traditional knowledge includes concepts, beliefs, perceptions and worldviews originating and naturally produced within a local community emphasizing the practical or applicability of such knowledge. Our forefathers have accumulated this knowledge through long association with nature and the environment in which they were brought up. They relied heavily on the innate abilities to observe and discriminate to sustain themselves and to preserve their cultural identity. They acquired and transmitted this knowledge through informal teaching, apprenticeship and story telling.

Because traditional knowledge often incorporates ecological wisdom in a very strong holistic way, the Scientific Community, in recent years, has recognized indigenous technical knowledge as a valuable source of ecological information. Today, a growing body of literature attests to the existence of effective indigenous strategies for ensuring the sustainable use of local resources.”

Lilian J. Sison, Ph.D.

Dean, Graduate School

University of Santo Tomas

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 A. Indigenous Beliefs

1. The balete (Ficus benjamina) is the home of bad spirits which cause those who go near the tree to become sick.

Balete has indeed a bad reputation. In fact its real name is strangler’s fig because it slowly strangles its host tree to death, using its trunk as if it were its own until it decomposes underneath its interlacing roots and branches. Years after nothing can be traced of its once benevolent host.

The juvenile balete is popularly made into bonsai, and the young tree is domesticated into shrub and grace our homes, roadside and parks. But in the forest, it is a monster, taking over towering trees. Some wrest with the emergents, trees that rise above the canopy layer of the forest, virtually piercing through the cloud. The tree house in the novel Swiss Family Robinson written by Johan Wyss in the 17th century, was built atop a huge balete. A proof of this contention is that the core of the trunk is hollow, which could only mean, the tree strangled its host tree to death. I had the chance to climb the Swiss Family Robinson tree at the Disneyland in Los Angeles, USA, through the tree’s interior spiraling stairs. From the tree house everything below is Lilliputian. Here the Robinsons were safe from the beasts of the forest; it served as their watchtower, too. Of course the tree in Disneyland is made of steel and concrete, but it appeared real the way it is described in the novel.

Anyone who gets near an old balete will develop goose bumps. Imagine walking along Balete Drive (Quezon City) at night and meet a white lady. Old folk will tell you it was a balete Judas Iscariot hanged himself. Others will relate how a kapre (black hairy monster) sits high up in the tree, his long thin legs dangling with its cavernous prop roots. But in India and other parts of Asia, the banyan tree, a relative of the balete (Family Moraceae) is the home of kind spirits. Banyan is the longest living tree species after the Redwood and the Bristle Pine. Unlike the latter, the banyan actually “walks around,” its prop roots colonizing the immediate surroundings so that a centuries-old tree may reach a diameter of twenty meters or more. Imagine how massive and extensive the banyan is – it can house a temple under its prop roots, making it Ripley’s living house of worship.

2. Strange sea creatures feed our imagination with awe and fear.

Now and then we are fascinated by pictures or stories of odd-looking creatures. It takes some time to realize that they exist, but thanks to science and technology, what couldn’t be presented before are now seen on TV, in colored photographs, and the most authentic of all – actual specimens found in exhibits, museums and laboratories.

What make creatures extraordinary? First, they are rarely seen. Second they differ greatly from their counterparts that we commonly know. Third, they possess outstanding characteristics that lie at the boundary of reality and fantasy. Lastly, they are encountered in fiction, legends and folklores.

Here are some examples of strange creatures old folks used to relate. Let’s find out if they really exist.

· Angler fish – It has a built-in lure that leads to a trap – a gaping mouth that snaps automatically at the deceived prey. Angler fish that live on the ocean floor in total darkness are equipped with phosphorescent lure that can be waved like a flag to signal at would-be preys.

· Turtle with a wormlike tongue. Worms are a favorite food of fish, so that we can only imagine how this creature earns its meal by luring its prey right inside its mouth.

· Stonefish – As the name implies, this creature is perfectly camouflaged among corals and stones, and sheltered in sand and seaweeds. It lives on unwary passersby ending up in a cavernous mouth walled with spike teeth. To compensate for the docile nature of this creature, nature provided it with sharp poisonous fins, and a weird appearance few predators would seem interested of. Beware, don’t wade barefooted when angler fish abound. One who steps on a stonefish needs immediate medical attention. It is an extremely painful experience.

During low tide while promenading on the coral reef, you may find one or two of these creatures.

· Flounder or dapa (half-fish)
· Cowfish – It has a face of a cow, complete with a pair of horns
· Octopus – a master of camouflage, a contortionist
· Puffer fish (butete) – poisonous, one species is covered with spines
· Sapsap – flat laterally, thus difficult to recognize it frontally
· Seahorse – It has the features of a horse, including the way it moves

Old folks tell us the octopus is the master of camouflage at sea. Hands and eyes and sound effects recreate the octopus in the mind of children listening to old fisher folks. Like the chameleon it can change colors and body designs. It is even a contortionist, assuming the shapes of many creatures and inanimate objects, either for defense or aggression. It squirts a cloud of ink in times of danger, which can also stun its enemies and preys. Octopus can grow into a monster’s size portrayed by Jules Verne in his novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Actual specimens but on a lesser scale have been presented to prove that Verne’s creature actually exists. One specimen was discovered by Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of an all time favorite novel, Treasure Island, when he was living among the fishermen of Cannery Row, California, once the sardine capital of the world.

The sea is the home of enigmatic creatures. Imagine its vastness (three-fourths of the earth surface), and its enormous depth (nearly 4 km on the average, 12 km at its deepest). Except for some 100 m from the surface, the sea below is totally dark. Here 80 percent of the earth’s organisms live; many of them have not been discovered and identified.

It would take hours listening to old folks relating strange creatures. Unfortunately, a long list of strange creatures has emerged with cartoon and virtual reality characters, making it difficult to separate reality and fantasy. Besides, certain creatures are being projected with bad reputation. Take the movies of sharks (Jaws), bats, spiders and birds attacking people, creatures which in reality are friendly and beneficial. Even how strange looking an organism may be, it has a revered place in the biosphere and a crucial role to play in the web of life.

3. Tree surrounded by fireflies brings good luck.

Fireflies are biological indicators of a pristine environment and good weather. Letizia Constantino wrote in Issues without Tears, a moving article –You don’t see fireflies anymore. It is reminiscent of Rachel Carson’s winning novel, Silent Spring, a moving story when the birds failed to return one spring. It is all about man’s growing indifference in protecting the environment from pesticides, pollution and many other forms of destruction.

4. People with large ears live long.

Study the ears of centenarians and you will conclude it is not true. Well, in the animal kingdom, elephants, which have very large ears live as long as 70 years - so with giraffes, lions and hippopotamuses which have relatively smaller ears. Large ears (pinnae) can pick up sounds better. Having large ears helps us in coping with certain situations, especially in times of danger. The long ears of the rabbits also help regulate body temperature; they conserve or radiate heat, as it may be the case.

5. Hair pool (puyo) on the forehead or having more than one is a sign of stubbornness.

Normally there is only one puyo or alipuspos (Ilk) located on top of the head - the tonsure area – around it the hair spreads out uniformly over the head like a whirlpool. When it is located at the front or anywhere else, the hair tends to become disorderly, and often untidy, more so if there are two or more hair pools. With this condition the hair becomes difficult to tame, so to speak, especially the type that is coarse and firm, thus affecting good grooming if it is not properly given attention. It is this unique condition that gives us the impression of stubbornness on the one wearing it, what with the puyo' building the hair around it to resemble a horn stub.

It reminds me of the owl which has ears which sometimes appear as horns made of feather tufts, and chickens and birds having inverted feathers. Breeders take advantage of hair pools in developing unique breeds of dogs, cats and fowls. Hair pools also serve as official marker in identifying and registering cattle.

Thanks to today’s cosmetic science, the puyo can be tucked in conveniently and do away with the false impression that goes with it.

6. Kugtong or giant lapu-lapu (PHOTO) – does it really exists?

I am witness of a pair of giant lapu-lapu (kugtong) in Sablayan Occidental Mindoro caught by local fishermen sometime in 1982. I had been hearing kugtong since childhood, a threat to fishermen and picnickers because it could swallow a whole human being, and here with my own eyes the kugtong in Lola Basiang’s story is true after all. So huge are these overgrown lapulapu that two men could hardly carry one of them with a bamboo pole on their shoulders. A third man had to lift its tail from the ground as they inched their way to a waiting vehicle. I examined the fish; its body is coarse and shaggy, covered with seaweeds and tiny mollusks, and had lost all semblance of the favorite lapulapu on our dining table. But this makes a perfect camouflage that suits the predatory habit of this benthic fish.

There is a story about a kugtong that lived under the old pier of San Fernando, La Union. For a long time the strange fish was feared by the residents and many animals around had mysteriously disappeared. Then the local fishermen decided to catch it with a big hook luring the fish with a live piglet as bait. The fish took it and struggled until it was finally subdued. It was hauled by many men and if the story is accurate it took a six-by-six truck to transport it.

There are giants in the deep. After the tsunami in 2004 that hit the Indian Ocean, by coincidence I saw giant squids measuring 3 feet long being sold at the SM Fairview supermarket. I surmise that these were flushed out from their deep dwellings and landed in the fisherman’s net when the calamity struck. I remember the giant squid that almost sank Captain Nemo’s submarine in Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.”

7. Nature medicine - can animals really heal themselves?

Old folks tell us of a number of cases animals can actually heal themselves.

· Dogs, deer, cattle, and the like, clean their wounds by licking them. Their saliva contains natural antibiotics. It is often that they deliberately expose their wounds to sunlight. Others like the muskrat seal its wounds with resin or gum.

· Harvest time, painting by AVRotor

. Domestic fowls and birds have the habit of preening to arrange their feathers in place, and to get rid of parasites and foreign matters.
· Birds and animals bathe regularly, and these baths are of many varieties – water, sun (sun bath), mud (carabao and pigs), and dust (ground fouls).
· A wounded orangutan or gorilla will attempt to staunch the flow of blood with its hands, and will then close the hole with packing of astringent aromatic leaves.
· Old grizzly bears use the hot sulfur baths, which may alleviate the aches incident to age.
· A wolf bitten by rattlesnake chews snakeroot; a wild turkey during a rainy spell, compels her babies to eat spicebush leaves.
· An animal with fever hunts up an airy, shady place near water and remains quiet, eating very little and drinking often.
· Female birds need lime to form eggshells, and it is a common thing to see pet birds eating cuttlebone.

When sick or wounded, wild creatures resort to the ancient remedies of nature: medicines, pure air and complete relaxation. This observation has inspired humans in the art of natural healing. To this day, barefoot doctors and spiritual healers (herbolarios) use many of the ways animals heal themselves.

8. Black ants in lansones means the fruit is sweet.

Lansones (Lansium domesticum) from Paete has a singular reputation that it is the sweetest lansones. But if you can’t find the Paete variety, you can settle for other sweet varieties. If there are black ants crawling on the fruit, it must be sweet.

Not really. The black ants feed on the sugary secretion of mealy bugs and scale insects clinging on the bunch of fruits. Actually they are parasitic, feeding on plant sap. Some unscrupulous fruits vendors sprinkle sugar solution which attracts red ants instead.

9. One can read how nature intended plants to be used by examining their resemblances and other physical features.

This is a belief called Doctrine of Signatures, which was popular during the Middle Ages. Liverworts (Riccia and Marchantia) which resemble the shape of liver are effective for liver diseases. The shapes of eggplant and avocado suggest fertility and aphrodisiac value. Apple and mango resemble the heart and are therefore good when it comes to matters of love. Kidney beans are good for the kidney, but the truth is that it has high uric acid content. The garlic plant has a hollow stem so that it would be of benefit in afflictions of the windpipe, hence used in all types of respiratory disorders such as cough, colds, catarrh, asthma and bronchial problems.

Physical appearance has nothing to do with the curative powers of plants, or animals for that matter. It is true that garlic is an effective respiratory cure, but it is its active ingredients that are responsible for it.

10. Eating shark influences human character with the animal’s behavior.

For a long time people would just let the sharks live alone. In fact they were feared and revered creatures until someone discovered that shark fins taste good and its liver has curative power. The shark since then became the prey, and no longer the predator.

What is mysterious about the shark? The shark does not only live very long, it is a living fossil, which means it has not changed for the last 100 million years or so. What could be its secret?

The US National Institute of Health discovered a previously unknown molecule in the liver of the dogfish shark. Called squalamine, the natural steroid fights cancer by cutting off blood flow to tumors. Now we are saying, “Eat shark and be as healthy as the shark.”

(Continued)