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

[migueldiaz]

Ok, before I post those pics from that Dutch museum (it's the Tropenmuseum, in Amsterdam, and then later I'll also post pics from other European museums), let me just quickly summarize the cosmology and religion then in archipelagic Southeast Asia.

In essence, the key beliefs or religions were two -- [1] animism, including the belief in a tripartite cosmos that's ruled by certain key deities, and [2] ancestral worship.

As discussed above, spirits and deities were believed to inhabit and rule the Upperworld and the Underworld. And inanimate natural & man-made objects were also believed to be 'alive' -- rock formations, rivers, boats, swords, etc. All these were part of the animistic religion.

Now aside from the above spirits, departed ancestors were also believed to inhabit the tripartite cosmos. And so these ancestors were also venerated and called upon in times of need. This would be then the other half of the core beliefs -- ancestral worship.

In the illustration below thus, I've added an Igorot bulul as symbol for the ancestral worship component of the olden beliefs.

[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.

[migueldiaz]

Here's the first set of the Bird section ...

[migueldiaz]

Some more bird pics ...

[migueldiaz]

Some more ... and the whole set can be seen from my Facebook Page on Phil. weapons, here, which I can think can be accessed by anyone even if he doesn't have a Facebook account.

[migueldiaz]

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

[migueldiaz]

more pics ...