Nature as Sacred

Nature as Sacred

The distinction of the natural and the ordinary world can be explained in a clearer point of view as we look into the story of Kashawing: Rice ritual of the Maranaos. It will focus on the tradition and characteristics of the Maranaos that will show the sacredness of their existence in the pre-Islamic times.

As stated in the text “The Maranaos, Muslims of southern Philippines, still practice today rituals that may be considered un-islamic. These rituals are actually vestiges of pre-Islamic times, when epic heroes reigned supreme. (Madale 1)”

This would show how the Maranaos gave meaning and honour to their ancestors for they really preserved the tradition and practices of their ancestors. One of the examples would be the rice ritual which they truly believe that it is a renewal between ancestors that will serve as a foundation of their relationship towards the tonong or spirit and maranaos (Madale 1).

The kashawing or rice ritual is a kind of practice that their ancestors made in which it can benefit them a bountiful harvest and good crops in the farm. They followed the ritual, reasons in which they believe there is something greater and powerful that a man cannot fathom in nature with his or her understanding about it. They hold on to something which they know has the authority for everything they do.

Mircea Eliade, a Romanian historian of religion and philosopher stated in his work The Sacred and Profane “By manifesting the sacred, any object becomes something else, yet it continues to remain itself, for it continues to participate in its surrounding (12).” I would relate it to the way they perform the Kashawing or rice ritual. The offering of food by using lipet can be an act of manifestation of the sacred that is offered to the spirit called tonong in which it involves a being that is supernatural or something greater.

The object or the act itself turns into something else because the maranaos believes it to be possessed by a higher being in which nature responds to it and would guide them to better progress in their town.

The red flag or dopo a mariaga that would represent the living and seen beings, the yellow flag which symbolizes the unseen and dead beings, the waving of the yellow-green cloth which is believed to be a gesture of invitation for all the spirits or tonong in preparation for the ritual and lastly, the red and yellow flags near the mat signified the reunion of the maranaos and tonong (Madale 4) all these are manifestations of the sacred.

The entity or object is not literally taken as it is because for a maranao who is a believer of nature, a stone may mean something than what others perceived it as merely a stone. Like the nonok or balete tree, for the maranaos it is considered as an abode of the tonong or spirit but for ordinary people it is just simply a tree.

It actually depends on the perspective of the person as shown in the examples for the maranaos as believers of their tradition that dates back to their ancestors. They see nature as something else, there is something beyond than what the eyes can see and for them it is something sacred.