Jesus was Filipino

North Forbes Parc, Manila, December 2011.

Carabao ride

Laiya, Batangas, March 2011.

Scenic bridge

Mindoro, June 2010.

Carabao kids

Northern Mindoro, June 2010.

Rural Art

Bigaan, Mindoro, June 2010.

Coco Carabao

South of San Juan, Batangas, May 2010.

Ploughing a rice field, the animal way

The traditional way of ploughing a Sumbanese rice field does not involve any tool, just a small bamboo stick and a few buffaloes eager to have a walk. The buffaloes are just criss-crossing the field numerous times, turning the soil over and over with their feet, and reminded not to stop in between by a not too gentle slap on their backs with the bamboo stick.

West-Sumba, February 2010.

Buffalo sacrifice Tana Toraja

The higher the status of a dead person, the more buffalo are slaughtered at a Torajan funeral. The ritualized Torajan way of slaughtering a buffalo may remind of an ancient but unequal fight between humans and animals. I know that most of us don't like to see such pictures but we somehow have to realize that modern society industrialized such processes, taking them away from our eyes. Anyway, we continue to eat meat...

Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, May 2009.

White buffalo and a Toyota car

What does a white buffalo and a Toyota car have in common?

Well-built albino buffaloes with long horns are a rarity. Rare goods are precious, and therefore never cheap. A nice exemplary can fetch 160 million Rupiah (approx. US$16,000) on a market in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi.

The Toyota Innovo is a most common sight in Indonesia. Previously called 'kijang' (deer) and used for collective transport or as family vehicle, the new, more modern version plies the routes of Indonesia as much as the kijang. The average Innova costs around 16 million Indonesian rupiah (they love big numbers here...). Buy it in Sulawesi, and you will contribute to the wealth of the current vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, himself a Sulawesian and the one and only Toyota agent on the island.

But the commonality stops here. If your Innova will carry you for thousands and thousands of kilometers, don’t expect anybody in Tana Toraja to use an albino buffalo for transport or work. Such an animal deserves to be pampered. Every morning, it will be taken to a nice place where there is food, sun, shade, and muddy water. After a day of eating, digesting and bathing, the animal will be brushed to shine and brought back to the house. Should it stay around the house, it will be hand-fed.

It is often said that the Torajans see life as a preparation to death. The good life of the buffaloes definitely follows this philosophy. When somebody dear dies, no (buffalo) sacrifice is big enough to ensure the dead person a safe passage in the afterworld, where s/he will reunite with the gods and return to the earth as rain, thus ensuring fertility and the preservation of the people.

The better the buffaloes and the bigger their amount for the funeral, the safer this journey will be. Should you want a tau-tau (wooden effigy) for your dead relative, 24 buffaloes will at least have to be killed.

You might have to sell your Innova (and more) for this…

Buffalo haircut

Rantepao, Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, May 2009.

middle of the road carabao

Some carabaos need to follow a line. Who cares if it is the dividing line.

Photo close to Mamburao, Mindoro in June 2007.

Rural Philippines

After yesterday’s chaotic and self defeating madness picture we better turn the page to look onto the bright side of the Philippines.

Carabao photo from somewhere in Bataan in May 2007.

Traveling in time

Carabao journey: Not everything changed in 21st century Philippines.

Photo from Camarines Sur in April 2007.

Carabao-go-round

The indigenous Filipino version of a carousel is related to the national Filipino animal, the Carabao.

Photo from Marikina, Metro Manila in February 2007 together with Jejomar (i.e. the genuine Tagalog all-inclusive name for Jesus, Joseph and Maria) on the carabao cart.