A sword design theory (Phil., Indonesia, & Malaysia)

[migueldiaz]

Without further ado, here's the first set of pics. As you enter the Southeast Asian section of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, what will greet you is this neat grouping of artifacts into four categories: Bird, Dragon/Serpent, Flower, and Squatting Figure.

The first three represents of course the Upperworld, Underworld, and Middleworld (Earth). And the squatting figure would represent ancestral worship.

It's very refreshing to see this categorization of objects in a museum. Because it hits the nail right in the head, ethnographically speaking.

I'll post next pics of each object, per category, for a deeper appreciation of the subject.