Pinatubo and Arayat (3 of 3)

Rituals and Practices

The peoples in the regions around Arayat and Pinatubo considered these mountains sacred and they had various ritual and practices concerning the mountains that are known to an extent.

• Animism -- certain trees, stones, caves, streams, etc., were thought to harbor special spirits called Anito. Aduarte in 1640, for example, mentions a sacred speaking stone among the Sambals. Certain black rocks were considered to be remnants of Sinukuan's great bridge before it was demolished.

  Every valley, river, rock, outcrop, or tree in Pinatubo had a significance in Aeta lore. (Elder and Wong 1996:280)
  

• Careri states that fruit and other products of Arayat should only be eaten while on the mountain. It was taboo to carry them to the lowlands. According to Serrano, one should first ask permission before taking any fruit of the mountain:

  Apo dinan mo ku pu, ke pung mangan darening tanaman mo "Lord, please grant this to me which I would like to eat from your fruit trees."

• One should not commit acts of greed on the mountain like excessive logging (Dominador G. David, Pampangan Folklore Stories, 1917) or gold mining (Manuel Carreon, Pampangan Legends, 1917). One should not even have greed in one's heart in case you should come upon Sinukuan or his daughters, who often test people in this regard.
• The bathing pool of Sinukuan on Arayat was considered a place of healing where the sick could come and bathe to free themselves of illness.
• Both Pinatubo and Arayat, or their deities are believed to control the weather, especially when angry. Prayers are made to these mountains/deities for help during inclement weather. Hiromu Shimizu relates an incident in which Pan Bangay, a Pinatubo Ayta, made an offering to appease Apo Pinatubo. The pair had come close to the mountain and it suddenly became dark and started raining. Pan Bangay lit a straw from Shimizu's hat and uttered the following appeal:

  Pakida-ep mo Apo Pinatubo, agmo kay kik oranan
  Apo Pinatubo, kapapa-ingalo ya kik nabaha
  ang! (Grandfather Pinatubo, please smell the
  smoke. Don't expose us to the rain, have pity
  for we will get wet!)

  When Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the Ayta held a manganito seance in which they said that they were informed that Apo Namalyari was angry due to modern commercial encroachment on Pinatubo. They conducted the talbeng ritual to appease Pinatubo and to ask Apo Namalyari to bring back the forest.
• Be kind to animals, insects, plants, etc., on Arayat and do not even point at them unnecessarily for fear of angering Sinukuan. (Eugenio 1993:180)
  

Batung Maputi, the White Rock of Arayat. Legendary location of Sinukuan's palace.

Source: Ronnie Muring, http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3274534


Recurring themes

One way of reconstructing the original motifs and themes of the local legends is to ascertain which ones are found independently from at least a few sources. In practice though, it is often easy to discern when outside myths and legends are mixed into those of local origin.

Here are some of the recurring themes and motifs involving Pinatubo and Arayat:

• Power of mountains/deities to control weather, earthquakes
• Deities of mountains involved in creation of land formations
  
• Excessive logging, mining angers mountain deities
• Deities live inside their respective mountains. Sinukuan has a underground palace of gold or bronze.
• Sinukuan's daughters, usually three in number, like to interact with humans trading gold for pig's feed (darac "rice husks")
• Sinukuan was very rich with gold and generous giving away gold and magical items.
• Malyari is associated with Moon and Sinukuan with Sun. Many of their children are also associated with the heavenly bodies or locations in the sky where the Sun sets, crosses the zenith, etc.
  
• Sinukuan and Malyari are associated with a bridge to each other's mountain or to some other mountain or area.
• Marital and courtship relations existed between the gods of Pinatubo and Arayat. However, they also engage in land-altering battles.
• Both mountains have many taboos and restrictions against desecration. The sacred mountains are meant to remain in a natural and unspoiled state as much as possible.
• Anything that originates on the mountains is sacred.
• The White Rock (Batung Maputi) is the location of the entrace to Sinukuan's palace.
  
• A future eruption from Pinatubo was expected.

  There is the myth recorded by Beyer, and also a warning before the last eruption that Ayta elders gave their children that Apo Pinatubo Namalyari would awake and throw stones if they did not behave. (Rodolfo 1995:88)
  

  
  

Rainforest in southern Zambales

Source: http://keishastech.blogspot.com/2008/01/exploring-rainforest-in-subic.html


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Elder, John, and Hertha Dawn Wong. Family of Earth and Sky: Indigenous Tales of Nature from Around the World. The Concord library. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.

Rodolfo, K. Pinatubo and politics of lahar. Eruption and Aftermath, 1991, University of the Philippines Press, 1995.

Shimizu, Hiromu. Pinatubo Aytas: Continuity and Change. Quezon City, Metro Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1989, 50.

Conf. Paper: The Great Scorching (3 of 3)

Another set of myths related to the raising of the sky and the end of the great heat is found among the highland peoples of Mindanao and Luzon in the Philippines. In many mythologies of the Philippines and surrounding regions, the pre-diluvian and/or pre-scorching period was either a golden age or at least a period of normalcy[i]. This supports the idea that the low height of the sky is a post-creation event. There was still a memory of times when the seas were not rising and temperatures were not so warm.

In one Ifugao version in northern Luzon, the golden age is followed by drought that spurs people to dig for springs of water. They finally reach a great underwater fountain, apparently a form of the great navel of the Earth found in other regional myths. Waters gushing from the spring cause the Great Deluge[ii].

Manobo and Bagobo myths tell also of the Great Scorching that endangers all life. People cannot plant, or do not know planting yet, and cannot even reproduce properly to populate the land. After Tuglibong or Mona raises the sky by striking it with her pestle, a golden age ensues, people begin to multiply and crops are planted. Either Tuglibong or her daughter Mebuyan creates a great hole into the Underworld when her spinning rice mortar drills into the Earth. The mortar is placed at the center of the Earth when the rice is pounded, and one version places it on a mound. This imagery could suggest the cosmic mountain, in this case a volcano whose crater is seen reaching into the bowels of the Earth[iii].

The Earth opening created by the mortar, the world spring created by the Ifugao and the widespread motif of the “navel of the sea” found in the Philippines and throughout much of Insular Southeast Asia all appear related[iv]. They are generally linked in some way either with the flood or with control of the flood, or with the ebbing and flowing of the tide.

The navel of the sea drains the waters of the ocean keeping the seas from rising too high. It is also widely seen as responsible for the changing tides. The opening created by Tuglibong or Mebuyan leads to the Black River of the Underworld, which can be seen as related to the underground oceanic waters originating from the cosmic drain. In Pampanga, myths of the battle between the gods of Arayat, on the one hand, and Pinatubo or Sambal gods on the other, are often seen in the light of a great deluge or storm[v]. The battle between the two mountain gods could allegorically represent a volcanic eruption as the two deities hurl rocks at each other.

We also find in this region the common theme of the battle between the Sun and the Moon[vi], something that I submit can be seen as a reference to the cataclysm of fire, and water or steam, that occurs during an eruption. This set of motifs not only occurs widely in the Philippines but also can be found in many parts of Southeast Asia and reaches all the way to India. In many cases, the quarrel starts because of the intense heat caused by the Sun and his progeny. After the battle, we again see the start of a new age when things are more or less stable, and in which the Moon, once the superior or equal to the Sun, takes a subordinate position.

In Eden in the East, Dr. Oppenheimer mentions a legend of the deluge combined with a fiery cataclysm in classical Hindu texts. The theme appears to link with mythologies of various Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burmese, Daic and other peoples in India and Southeast Asia often together with the motif of the Sun-Moon battle. In these myths, we often find a catastrophe of fire-rain or fire-water upon the Earth[vii], along with the motif of excessive heat from the Sun and his children.

We have then three different causes for the Great Scorching: 1) The low height of the sky and thus the Sun, 2) the multiplicity of Suns, or 3) the excess heat of the Sun usually combined together with that of his progeny. In each case, the intense heat threatens the world and is usually solved by violent action such as striking the sky to raise it higher, shooting down the superfluous Suns, or a battle between the Moon and the Sun.

When the problems related to the Sun’s heat are resolved, the other plagues of rising seas, floods, drought and fire-rain finally subside as well although the resolution is in itself usually cataclysmic. Moreover, the final event is often easily interpreted as indicating a volcanic eruption with falling ashes, embers and rocks; even the descriptions of the falling Suns can be seen as large spewed fireballs or fiery ash clouds descending to the Earth. If we study the distribution of these motifs, we find a strong circum-Pacific association.

Therefore, the ancient peoples around Sundaland, I would suggest, sought to explain global climate changes, as they experienced them regionally, through myth. Memories of a previous stable climate were preserved in ideas of an ancient golden age that preceded the great flood or great heat.

These latter events, due to rising temperatures and rising sea levels, were explained in various ways, most commonly through the idea of a low sky and Sun. It may be that Asian brown clouds, the result of more frequent and intense forest fires linked to global warming, helped in the development of the belief of the low height of the sky.

A volcanic eruption centralized along the Nusantao trade routes was, in turn, connected through both coincidental and causative events with positive changes in climate and sea levels. The fireballs of the eruption were visualized as superfluous Suns, and back-linked with the Great Scorching. These Suns, shot down and submerged in the sea, consumed the excess water flows thus controlling sea levels. In other myths, the eruption opened up or cleared the ocean’s great cosmic drain.

These explanations were created by the ancients to both explain and record events of a truly cataclysmic nature that had changed their societies.

Now, having offered my hypothesis on the nature and origin of these myths, I would like to turn to something that Prof. Odal-Devora requested of me when she invited me to this prestigious event. That is to explore the ancient flood myths in relation to the modern situation of global warming and rising sea levels.

Myth often contains moral lessons and warnings in the form of prophecy. The recording of natural calamities may have been meant as a warning for future generations. What happened before could, and probably will, happen again. You might be surprised to find out that even some modern geologists have even created a new field of research known as geomythology[viii].

Geomythologists study ancient legends for clues that might indicate potential for natural disaster that has not yet been revealed by scientific research.

Patrick Nunn from Fiji, for example, was contracted by the French government to study Pacific myths for warning clues of natural disasters. Nunn became a believer in the power of geomythology in 2002 when road construction revealed signs of a recent volcanic eruption on the island of Kadavu supporting local legend. Previously he had dismissed such traditional lore because scientific studies showed the last volcanic activity was tens of thousands of years old[ix].

Probably the best recent example of how ancient legends can instruct future generations came during the recent devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The Moken, nomadic sea gypsies living in Thailand, preserve myths that warn of sudden and dramatic receding tides creating ‘man-eating waves, that people should escape by heading for high ground[x].

During the 2004 tsunami, which killed 300,000 people, the Moken heeded this ancient knowledge and survived the terrible disaster.

Moken traditions may serve as one example of how ancient myths can serve a very practical purpose for future generations. We know that in the present many indigenous peoples have a deep reverence for nature.

The Agta people of Cagayan in northern Luzon know that fire could be put to great advantage when used wisely[xi]. Fire could clear land for agriculture, but if the fire were allowed to get out of control, the land would produce no food. Agta use fire to attract animals during hunting, and the smoke from fire aids them on their expeditions for honey and red ant larvae and eggs. They also use smoke to repel insects and snakes, and the ashes from fire to repel parasites. Like the Hanunoo of Mindoro, the Agta realize that fire must not endanger the regeneration of fallow land. The Hanunoo watched over the trees on fallow land to make sure they were not cut down prematurely and they placed firebreaks around all swidden land to protect the fallow[xii].

When used wisely fire could help reduce the forest load actually helping to prevent forest fires. However, the slash-and-burn methods of modern commercial farmers have rejected the old ideas of natural balance.

Lowland slash-and-burn farmers quickly exhaust the land and promote topsoil loss, landslides and flooding[xiii]. The excessive fire and smoke soon disturbs the ecological balance in the region resulting often in loss of both forest and agricultural land.

In the present-day, we have seen how the loss of knowledge of the natural balance may cost humanity and the rest of the world dearly through unnatural processes of global warming. Not that global warming is itself unnatural. The flooding of Sundaland was not the fault of our ancestors.

However, modern humans are causing climate change to occur before its natural cycle. We are bringing on misery at a global scale before its natural time. Like slash-and-burn farmers, modern industry is unwisely dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an ever-increasing rate, changing global weather patterns.

Moreover, we are beginning to feel nature’s wrath. Although we may not be able to avoid all the consequences of our past actions, we can still come to an accord again with nature, with our parents, the Earth and Sky, and in the process realize the wisdom of our ancestors.

---

[i] Damiana L. Eugenio. Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths, University of the Philippines Press, 1993, 103-113.

[ii] Otley Beyer. “Origin myths among the mountain peoples of the Philippines,” The Philippine journal of science April 1913. [Vol. 8, no. D], 112.

[iii] Raats, 6, 14, 20-25, 33, 34.

[iv] Manansala, Sailing the Black Current, 5-33; Beyer, 89;

[v] Luther Parker. “Daughters of Sinukuan,” Philippine Magazine 1929, Vol. 26, no. 1, 535, 694, 750.

[vi] Rudolf Rahmann. “Quarrels and Enmity between the Sun and the Moon. A Contribution to the Mythologies of the Philippines, India, and the Malay Peninsula,” Folklore Studies, Vol. 14, 1955 (1955), pp. 202-214.

[vii] Oppenheimer, 268-9.

[viii] Robin McKie. “Ancient legends give an early warning of modern disasters,” The Observer Dec. 4 2005, <>.

[ix] Ibid.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] R. F. Ellen, PeterParkes and Alan Bicker. Indigenous Environmental Knowledge and Its Transformations, Routledge, 2000, 183ff.

[xii] Harold C. Conklin. Hanunoo agriculture, University Microfilms, 1972.

[xiii] Cheryl Ann Palm. Slash-and-burn Agriculture: The Search For Alternatives, Columbia University Press, 2005, 3-8.

Deluge, Gourd, Dog Husband

Around the Circumpacific region, we find a set of motifs, or a theme, that includes the Great Flood, a gourd-like boat that saves the primeval couple, the Dog Husband motif and the idea of the dog or the child of the union of dog and woman giving rise to different tribes, peoples, geographic features, natural phenomenon and the like.

I've created a chart listing many of these occurrences. The list is not meant to be comprehensive as I regularly encounter mythical themes hidden in some lost study buried in the available literature.

Some of the motifs occur much more frequently minus the dog theme, but I only include those with canine connections as they correspond to the direction of this blog. For example, the gourd boat and gourd birth motifs are found many more times throughout this region particularly in Southeast Asia without the dog motif.

Also, we do not find the dog motif linked as such with the theme listed below in the regions of the Far Pacific. There are examples in Papua New Guinea and among the Maori of New Zealand and also in the islands of the Bering Sea.

There are dog-man examples from Hawai`i where we find Kuilioloa, Kaupe and Poki. At least one example has Kuilioloa saving a woman and her children from a flood, but he does not marry the woman. I have not been able to find examples where Kuilioloa, Kaupe and Poki are said to have descendants although Poki is sometimes linked with the legendary chief Boki. In the Pomotu Islands of Eastern Polynesia, there is a myth of the first race of people having been turned into dogs. The dog husband motif is missing to my knowledge, but maybe it can be inferred.

My view is that all this indicates the dog husband motif was added on to a preexisting flood myth. Although I think this happened before the expansion into the Far Pacific the motif never penetrated into the Pacific voyage cultures as it did further West. At some point though it did venture northward along Nusantao trade routes and spread even into Far North cultures. In the Americas, the theme is concentrated along the Pacific Coast particularly in Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and the Pacific Northwest. However, it is found elsewhere especially among the Chippewa and related peoples and the Plains Indians.

The relationship of these Circumpacific myths to the widespread dog-man beliefs of Central Asia is unclear. However it does seem like the Circumpacific themes are related and result from a regional diffusion of which other evidence also exists. The complimentary evidence suggests the spread of this myth could have taken place starting in the Neolithic.


Key to Motifs

A -- Dog or Dog-Man Husband
B -- Dog and Woman as survivors of Deluge
C -- Dog and Woman survive deluge in gourd, bamboo, mortar, drum, hollow tree, etc.
D -- Woman who marries Dog is goddess, princess, chief's daughter
E -- Brother and Sister who survive flood (usually in gourd, bamboo, etc.) give birth to dog
F -- Primeval couple give birth to gourd, shapeless lump or dog-shaped lump
G -- Gourd, lump, dog, etc. becomes people, geographical locations, clans, etc. usually after being divided.
I -- Dog husband/child/messenger brings agriculture, rice after/during flood
J -- Dog husband/child/messenger brings fire after/during flood
K -- Dog and Woman as ancestors
L -- Weredog families, Weredog ancestor

List of Motifs by Location and Ethnic Group

Group	Motifs
Sedang, Gie, Trieng, Kayong (Mon-Khmer speakers, Laos)	A, B, K (14 variants, Dang N. V.)
Mien (Yao) (Hmong-Mien speakers, scattered through Southeast Asia)	A, B, D, F, G, I, K(43 variants, Dang N. V.) Lump of flesh becomes Mien and other peoples
Mon-Khmer in southern Laos	A, B, K(30 variants, Dang N. V.)
Lolo (Tibeto-Burmese speakers in Yunnan and Burma)	A, B, I, K
Cor, Hre (Mon-Khmer groups in Vietnam)	A, B, K(5 variants, Dang N. V.)
Moro, Bukidnon (Malayo-Polynesian speakers in southern Philippines)	A, B, C, D, K Woman and dog survive flood in bamboo and become ancestors of Moros.
Igorot, Tinguian (Malayo-Polynesian speakers in northern Philippines)	I, J
Sorsogon in Bikol region of northern Philippines	G, K Humanity originates from dog's tail.
Maori (Malayo-Polynesian speakers in New Zealand)	A, D, K Maui changes his brother-in-law, Owa, into a dog. Owa's wife Hina, in despair, jumps in the sea and floats around for many months before saved by her brothers. This may be an allusion to the deluge. Owa and Hina have a son, a dog named Pero who becomes the tutelary deity of dogs. Many Maori considered themselves descendants of Owa and Hina. Multiple variants of this story.
New Guinea	A, J, KDog also said to discover fresh and/or sea water. Dog rescues people from flood. Many variants.
Dusun, Murut, Kadazan, Dayak (Malayo-Polynesian speakers in northern Borneo and Sabah)	A, B, C, D, E, G, I, J, KMany variants among Dusun and Kadazan. Among Rungus, myth of dog bringing rice plants on tail during deluge with similar beliefs among Meo of Vietnam and in Chinese literature. Rituals involving removal of dog's tail found in Borneo, also "tail-less dog" motif is common in Bornean tattoo.
Nias, Aceh in Sumatra (Malayo-Polynesian speakers)	A, B, D, KThe dog in this case is usually a red dog something also found not only in Java and Lombok but also in Siberia, Central Asia and even the Americas.
Taruko (Formosan speakers in Taiwan)	A, D, K
Bisayan, Kapampangan, Tagalog and other lowlanders in Philippines (Malayo-Polynesian speakers)	G, L Belief in weredog families, lineages or whole communites, or of descent from the same is widespread with many variants among lowland Filipinos.
Java, Lombok (Malayo-Polynesian speakers)	A, B, D, K Many variants of the red dog theme can be found in the region both in folklore and traditional written literature.
Ainu in Japan	A, B, D, K Goddess comes on boat from sea to Ainu homeland, possibly allusion to flood. She is saved by a dog who leads her to freshwater and brings her food. She marries the dog and the children are ancestors of the Ainu.
Ancient China	A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, K Most myths are attributed to southern region both within China i.e. the Man peoples, and those beyond China, i.e. Fusang or Dog Fief Country. The brother and sister, Fu Hsi and Nu Gua give birth to formless lump after the flood, at least in one instance called "Hundun" the name of the dog-shaped deity in other versions who is divided to make the world. The name of the dog ancestor Panhu contains the word for "gourd."
Eskimo, Koriak, Nivki, Chuckhi in Siberia	A, G, K
Besisi, Jakun, Semang of Malaysia	A(?), B(?), C(?), K(?) The Jakun call the hole in the bamboo from which their ancestors arose the "Dog Hole in the Ancestral Bamboo." This may be related to a Semang word that means "dog bamboo." The Besisi believe their divine ancestor fell out of Heaven along with his dog.
Alaska and Aleutian Islands	A, B(?), C(?), D, G(?), K Flood may be alluded to when woman is thrown into sea by her father for marrying a dog. In some versions, the woman saves her children by sending them away in two boats. It is the woman's body i.e. her fingers that become whales, seals and whalebones when hacked by her father.
North and South America	A, B, D, G, K In some versions like that of the Huichol, a dog-woman survives the flood. Among the Aztecs, the dog deity Xolotl takes the bones of humans after the Great Flood to create a new man and woman to repopulate the Earth. In the Dogrib Indian version, the dog-man and woman give birth to bear pups. The skins of these children become Indian tribes. Among the Tlingit, Haida and Nootka the children of the dog and woman union become phenomenon like thunder and earthquakes.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Related links

Dog as deity, ancestor and royal animal

Article: Dog reverence in Southeast Asia and Pacific

Interpretations of the Dog Husband Theme

Rajasuya , Sunahsepa and the Royal Dog

Single origin for domesticated dog in Southeast Asia and South China

References

Dang, N. V. "The Flood Myth and the Origin of Ethnic Groups in Southeast Asia," The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 106, No. 421. (Summer, 1993), pp. 304-337.

Ho, Ting-jui. A Comparative Study of Myths and Legends of Formosan Aborigines, Orient Cultural Service, 1971.
Leach, Maria. God had a Dog: Folklore of the Dog, Rutgers University Press, 1961.

McHugh, Susan. Dog, Reaktion Books, 2004.

Realubit, Maria Lilia F. Bikols of the Philippines, A.M.S. Press, 1983.

Rutter, Owen. The Pagans of North Borneo, Hutchinson & Co., Ltd, 1929.

Clay, Myths and uses of (Glossary)

Clay -- composed of fine, hydrated minerals that are cohesive in nature -- plays an important role in myths and traditional healing systems around the world.

Often the first humans are said to have been formed with clay. The Sumerians had such myths, as did the Aztecs, the Dyaks of Borneo and many other peoples. The clay most often used is red or reddish-brown, the color of which in many myths is attributed to tempering with divine blood (see Oppenheimer, 366-7).

Interestingly, modern science suggests that life, not just humans, may have formed in early volcanic clay. Researchers found that methanol — naturally produced when volcanic carbon dioxide combines with volcanic hydrogen gas — is protected from volcanic heat between layers of certain common clays.

Shielded by the clay, methanol reacts with a clay mineral called montmorillonite to create far more complex organic molecules with up to 20 carbons. For more info, see:

Secrets of Life Found in Volcanic Clay?
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051031/clay_geo.html

The living powers of clay may link also with its use in traditional forms of medicine.

Geophagy

Geophagy refers to the consumption of clay or soil for healing purposes, which was very widespread, and in some cases to the use of clay as a condiment or emergency food as in the Philippines, New Guinea, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America.

An amazingly widespread practice was for pregnant women to consume clay during various terms or through the entire pregnancy. Clays like kaolin and montmorillonite have properties that can help with morning sickness. Kaolin, for example, is used in the popular preparation Kaopectate.

It may also be that there is some ancient link between the myths of creation of humans from clay and the use of the substance during pregnancy, the formation of humans in the womb. In an old Bisayan myth, Saman and a daughter of Sicalac were forced to eat yellow clay after traveling to the East, which results in their descendents having a yellow color.

The perceived healing powers of clay found in many cultures is not without scientific merit.

Clay is used today widely as an alternative medicine, and also by orthodox medicine in some cases. Clays like montmorillonite (bentonite) and hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate (smectite) are utilized, for example, to detoxify mycotoxins from animal feed.

Naturopathic practictioners also use clay in humans to protect against mycotoxins, heavy metal poisoning and to generally cleanse the body through their absorbent properties. Volcanic clays are particurlarly important because of their wide spectrum of mineral content.

Volcanic clay has a residual negative charge that binds to positive ions, which are toxic to humans.

Mycotoxins are produced by fungi and are heat-stable, thus resistant to practices like cooking. These toxins generally build up in grains and grain-based animal feeds. Mycotoxins from feed will pass into the meat, milk, eggs, etc. of animals that consume the contaminated foodstuffs.

As mycotoxins are very potent carcinogens have have toxic effect particularly on the liver, kidneys and immume system, many researchers now believe they are one of the most important health risks found in the present-day food system.

The European Union has approved clays like Clinoptilolite as binding agents for animal feeds. Although such use of clay binders is not approved by the U.S. FDA, the practice is still becoming increasingly popular in the United States.

Clay jars and the "water of life"

We have explored in this blog, the use of simple, earthenware jars as water, tea or wine pots. In some cases, these rather uncomely jars became exceptionally valuable, sought after by kings and merchants.

The porous earthenware jar allows water to evaporate on its surface. If water is left in such jars for some time container will eventually empty -- the source of "drinking jar" tales.

Evaporation allows the jar to dissipate heat, and thus these vessels are widely known for their "breathing" qualities and their ability to cool drinking water.

Many clays used for such pots contain organic matter and microrganisms, and eventually these water pots become infested with lichens and microrganism colonies, which generally are non-pathogenic, and even beneficial to humans. The jar becomes a living entity to the ancient mind.

If made with certain quantities of volcanic clays (other than kaolinite), the jar becomes badly deformed over time because these clays expand as they absorb moisture.

Such volcanic clays would help purify the water of toxins, and might also mineralize the water through dissolution.

Through these various processes, the water kept in these pots could be easily be recognized as having superior qualities, and indeed that is the case in many cultures.

Living clay from the Magnetic Mountains

Volcanoes tend to abound in natural magnets generated and scattered by an eruption. People living near the mountains could recognize this link and the concept of the magnetic mountain is born.

The magnetic force can be seen as a form of animistic life energy by the pre-modern mind, and thus also anything associated with the volcano including the native clays.

In Borneo, the clays of the Sun and Moon were used to create some of the local sacred jars. The reference here is, I believe, to the original ancient mountains of the Sun and Moon, respectively Arayat and Pinatubo.



Water jar monument from Calamba, Philippines

In legend, these two mountains battle with each other hurling stones through the sky. Science shows that there may be something to these myths. The great Holocene eruptions of Pinatubo show signs of a "mixing" of basaltic stones from the Arayat formation and dacites from Pinatubo. This mixing actually takes place in underground chambers between the two mountains and results in a hybrid ash and pumice. Thus, the eruption of Pinatubo also involves, in a way, Arayat.

This hybrid ash eventually weathers into the volcanic clays around the mountain, a mixture of the elements from the solar and lunar mountains.

Water kept in jars made with this clay, which can be seen as related to the clay used to form the first humans according to mythology, is infused with the same essence as the primordial clay becoming the "water of life."

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Callahan GN. Eating dirt. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 2003 Aug [date cited]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no8/03-0033.htm


Galvano F, Piva A, Ritieni A and Galvano G. "Dietary strategies to counteract the effects of mycotoxins: a review," Food Prot. 2001 Jan;64(1):120-31.

Phillips TD. "Dietary clay in the chemoprevention of aflatoxin-induced disease," Toxicol Sci. 1999 Dec;52(2 Suppl):118-26.

Phillips TD, Sarr AB and Grant PG. "Selective chemisorption and detoxification of aflatoxins by phyllosilicate clay," Nat Toxins. 1995;3(4):204-13.