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Originally Posted by Battara
And the brass/bronze dot? - some say it would mean how many that blade has killed, but I question this - not much evidence one way or the other.
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Earlier, Nonoy Tan introduced me to a Filipino anthropology professor, who is from the Visayas, but is now teaching at a Mindanao state university (Univ. of the Phils.). According to the professor, bronze (being one of the earliest metals concocted by man) is regarded in the local folklore (amongst the Lumad people, e.g., Manobo, Bagobo, Mandaya, T'boli, etc.) as a deterrent against bad spirits.
Thus local swords (and other objects) can be found to have some bronze item in them (e.g., bronze inlays in the blade). He said that that may also explain why some Moro kampilans would have bronze inlays on the blade. He added that before they became Moros (Muslims), these people used to be mostly Manobos (i.e., one branch of the Lumad peoples).
I guess the professor is talking about certain Moros in mainland Mindanao.
In any case, his main point is that it is not a surprise at all to find bronze inlays in swords and other objects, owing to the said local religious belief.