the bulol, the mythical bird, and the second burial jars

there were a lot of other things that we saw in the museum but there were three that caught my attention so i wanted to put it down in words before i forget.

one, the bulol. this pre-historic icon comes in pair mostly - male and female. their gender are specifically demonstrated by their body parts and they have different "seating" positions that depict were they came from. a bulol can be seating with his arms around its knees, standing up with his arms wide open (allan said it's like the original Oblation), or standing up with his hands on his knees. but for its different styles, they all are used for rituals for good harvest/granery or for granery protection.

second, the mythical bird. there's a winged horse whose face and wings were made of ivory. it has a design reminiscent of mindanaoan design. the story is that the bird is mythical and was  flown by the prophet mohammed. it served as his protector against lightnings.

third, the second burial jars. there are plenty of burial jars found in the philippines. the second burial jars were used for the other possessions that person had, or they were used to store in the bones after they decomposed.

now that i think of it, i remember the story of ambulawan who became a god when he crossed the world between the living and the dead through the horizon (circling an area nine times) which was represented by a snake. his brother wanted to become a god too and proceeded to the heavens, but when asked to have his entrails removed he declined. he later realized that he wanted to be in the world so he had to go down the earth using a rope of leaves. when he was on his way, he became hungry and ate the food the gods told him not to eat until he had reached the ground. the rope broke and he fell down the earth broken. ambulawan's father had to do something, i forgot what, but he was then covered in cloth and it slowly sliced him open until he became a child. his sister wanted to live in the underworld and she did. they were all all connected to the mother earth with a copper cord tied to their navels. just an outline, the unnamed spirit lies between the world of the living and the dead.

Photo Credits: Allan Mandy