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

[migueldiaz]

Here's the first batch of pics for the Serpent/Dragon segment, still from Amsterdam's Tropenmuseum ...

[migueldiaz]

more pics ...

[migueldiaz]

some more ... and there's a lot more pics here ...

[migueldiaz]

regarding that priest's staff above (batak/sumatra) where a serpent appears to be moving towards the ancestor, the igorots of northern luzon have the exact same staff by the way.

and this is just one example of the very many similarities among the original designs and motifs and themes in malaysia-indonesia-phils.

and if one casts a wider net so that taiwan and oceania are included (i.e., the austronesian migration), one will discover that aside from genetics and linguistics, the ethnography of austronesian world is very much coherent and consistent.

next up are the icons of the middle earth, the land of the living ...

[migueldiaz]

So here now is the third segment, the symbols of the 3rd section (i.e., earth) of the tripartite cosmos of the Austronesians.

The use of the flower as motif is not as widely discussed as the use of the Bird-Sun and Serpent-Snake themes.

So I'll post more pics for this topic ...

[migueldiaz]

it's not just actually the flower ... the tree as well, with its spreading branches that reach to the skies (and deep roots that go downward to the Underworld), is considered a symbol for the middle world ... and later when islam came to southeast asia with its prohibition of representation of images man and animals, then all the more that the flower and trees theme became prominent ...

[migueldiaz]

more pics ...