▶ Play Video 1. The World of a Maguindanao Virtuoso: This episode was first aired on Filipino television on August 18, 1994. This episode has been modified from its original format.\n\nThe Maguindanao (Magindanaw, Maguindanaw, Magindanao, Maguindanaon, Magindanaoan, Mindanao) form one of the large ethnic groups of the country. Most of the members are concentrated in the municipalities of Dinaig, Datu Piang, Shariff Aguak, and Buluan, in the province of Maguindanao.\n\nConstant contact with the Spaniards led to naming the entire island after the Maguindanao. The people practice Islam; their culture and social structure are deeply tied to this eligion, forming a conformity without which the group would not have been able to resist the incursions of the Spanish conquistadores. One of the three Philippine sultanates is aguindanao. The Maguindanao sultanate at one period in history could claim ritual authority over southwestern Mindanao. Their socio-political system and the hierarchical structure of their society are complex and similar to that of the Sulu sultanate.\n\nThere are three royal houses: Maguindanaon in Sultan Kudarat, Buayan in Datu Piang, and Kabuntalan in Tumbao, all of which trace their lineage to Sharif Kabunsuan, one of the earliest Muslim missionaries, and Sultan Kudarat. Customary law (adat) is applied, embodied in oral traditions and in accordance with the Paluwaran code, which contains provisions for very aspect of life.\n\nThe culture is characteristically lowland with a special adaptation to marshland, and wet rice is the staple food. Arts and crafts are well developed, exhibiting sophistication in eaving. Through waste mold technology metalwork and with the double-bellows Malaysian forge, they produce a wide range of bronze artifacts including betel-nut boxes, gongs, knives, racelets, and even the Southeast Asian cannon, the lantaka. The lantaka is not used just in warfare, but also as a prestigious status symbol.\n\nTheir ornamental art employs very characteristic design motifs that show affinity with the rest of Southeast Asia while retaining a distinctive ethnic identity. Their musical nstruments include a unique crocodile-motif version of the ubiquitous two-stringed lute, the kutyapi; the kulintang, which comprises eight brass gongs of graduated sizes; and the very large and deep agong, as well as various drums and flutes. Their music is characterized by drone and permutation.

▶ Play Video 7. The T’boli A People Who Live with Art\nThis episode was first aired on Filipino television on September 19, 1996. This episode has been modified from its original format.\n\nThe T’boli (Tagabili, Tiboli), together with the B’laan to the east and Teduray to the north, are in a single language group distinct from the remaining language groups of Mindanao. The T’boli traditionally live in scattered ettlements in the highlands of southwestern Mindanao, in the province of South Cotabato. The cultural communities surround the complex of highland lakes—Lake Sebu, Lake Selutan, and Lake Lahit. Settlements are composed of family clusters of fifteen or more households. Clusters are at elevations averaging 3,000 feet above sea level. Recently, these settlements have grown to comprise thirty or more households. Each settlement has a ceremonial house called a gono bong (big house). Members of such communities are usually related by kinship.\n\nThe T’boli practice swidden farming, cultivating highland rice (teneba), the staple food, potato, sugar cane, taro, and sweet potato. Corn and coffee are considered cash crops. Owning a horse is an indicator of economic status. Forests function as the main source of food, and the main source of protein is lake fish.\n\nThe T’boli are noted for their backstrap loom textile, t’nalak, which is woven from tie-dyed abaca fiber. Personal ornaments made of multicolored beads and embroidered blouses and hats are other notable features of the T’boli. Small household metal industries use the lost-wax process to manufacture cast brass bolo handles, figurines and betel-nut containers, and other ornaments.\n\nWhile the kinship system is bilateral, there is a strong male dominance. The father leads the household, and the oldest male leads joint and extended families. The oldest male child takes over this dominance upon the death of the father. If there is no son, lomolo is practiced, whereby the father’s eldest brother assumes the wealth of the deceased and claims the latter’s wife as his own.\n\nThe communities are also linked through a recognized leader, the datu, who does not officially command but whose word is respected because of his status, economic means, reputed courage, skill in settling disputes, and wisdom in the interpretation of custom laws. The position is achieved through community validation. He traditionally acquires rights over a person for whom he has paid an unsettled debt.\n\nA major social ritual of the T’boli is the mo-ninum, which is usually celebrated for a marriage and includes a multilateral exchange of articles of wealth (kimu). After six ceremonial feasts, for which the families take turns being hosts (moken) and guests (mulu), the ceremony climaxes with the marriage itself. The whole cycle may take many years to complete and sometimes results in the construction of a gono mo-ninum, a huge house that can accommodate more than two hundred people.\n\nMaguindanaoMandayaKalingaSubanonTagalogManobo

In several rural communities of Timor-Leste, Tuku-Osan—meaning “iron striking” or traditional blacksmithing—remains a respected livelihood and cultural craft. Practitioners, often known as tukun-besi (blacksmiths), transform scrap metal into ritual accessories and functional tools using simple, locally made equipment: a small furnace, a bellows typically fashioned from bamboo or wood, hammers, anvils, and chisels.\n\nThis blacksmithing tradition is not just about utility but also ceremony. Items created include decorative arm rings (li’uli’u), ritual knives, and symbolic metal accessories worn during important events like weddings, funerals, and traditional dances. These artifacts often serve as markers of identity, social status, or ancestral ties.\n\nApprenticeship usually begins at home, with young boys observing and gradually assisting their fathers or uncles in forging metal. Mastery takes years and involves not only technical skill but knowledge of the symbolic meanings tied to each object. For instance, some blades or tools are believed to possess protective properties or spiritual significance, especially when used during sacred rituals or by lia-nain (custom custodians).\n\nThe process itself requires intense physical labor and patience. The blacksmith begins by heating pieces of iron until they are malleable, then striking them repeatedly on an anvil to shape them. The rhythmic clanging of hammer against metal is accompanied by puffs of smoke from the wood-fired furnace—an image that recalls generations of artisans practicing the same technique.\n\nWhile modern materials and factory tools have reduced the demand for handmade ironwork, many rural communities continue to commission traditional blacksmiths for ceremonial needs. These craftspeople are regarded as keepers of ancestral knowledge, and their work is vital to ensuring that elements of Timorese identity endure in tangible form.

Batik is a type of traditional Indonesian handcrafted textile that emerged in the Java region in the early nineteenth century and became widespread across Indonesia in the mid 1980s. Batik is made by applying dots and lines of hot wax to cloth using a copper pen or stamp and then placing the cloth in a dye bath.\n\nThe earliest reference to batik is found in the text of Siksa Kanda in ad 1517. Batik patterns are inspired by social status, local community, nature, history, and cultural heritage. Batik is an art form that promotes cultural diversity, cultural industries, and human creativity through its symbolic and cultural values.

Yam (kehp) is the pride of men on Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. Men put more labor to prestigious goods for feasts, especially yams, pigs, and sakau (kava), among which yams have the highest value to attain social status than other daily food crops. In addition to hereditary quality, achievements, especially contributions during the feasts, are an important factor for a man to gain prestige and higher hierarchical chiefly titles in Pohnpeian society. \n\nWomen dancing to Pohnpeian popular music during the ceremonial yam feast.\nThese days women dance to Pohnpeian popular music played loudly inside the community assembly house.

Yam (kehp) is the pride of men on Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. Men put more labor to prestigious goods for feasts, especially yams, pigs, and sakau (kava), among which yams have the highest value to attain social status than other daily food crops. In addition to hereditary quality, achievements, especially contributions during the feasts, are an important factor for a man to gain prestige and higher hierarchical chiefly titles in Pohnpeian society. \n\nMen bringing sakau bushes.\nTo emphasize the quality and size of the sakau tribute, small sakau bushes are carried first; the next to follow are ascend in terms of the size of the bushes. The bushes are accumulated as high as possible to stress the quantity. A lively and dynamic atmosphere is created by workers' vivacious actions and shouts of instructions and encouragement.

Yam (kehp) is the pride of men on Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. Men put more labor to prestigious goods for feasts, especially yams, pigs, and sakau (kava), among which yams have the highest value to attain social status than other daily food crops. In addition to hereditary quality, achievements, especially contributions during the feasts, are an important factor for a man to gain prestige and higher hierarchical chiefly titles in Pohnpeian society. \n\nBringing agricultural products.\nBanana, coconut, taro, and other agricultural products are brought to display on the main platform in the community assembly house before they are redistributed while men prepare pigs for cooking.

Yam (kehp) is the pride of men on Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. Men put more labor to prestigious goods for feasts, especially yams, pigs, and sakau (kava), among which yams have the highest value to attain social status than other daily food crops. In addition to hereditary quality, achievements, especially contributions during the feasts, are an important factor for a man to gain prestige and higher hierarchical chiefly titles in Pohnpeian society. \n\nWomen dancing to a rhythmical sakau pounding.\nA part of the sakau en enihlap bush is used for public sakau drinking. Women dance to a rhythmical sakau pounding (called sokamah), which signals that sakau is ready to be served in the community assembly house.

Yam (kehp) is the pride of men on Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. Men put more labor to prestigious goods for feasts, especially yams, pigs, and sakau (kava), among which yams have the highest value to attain social status than other daily food crops. In addition to hereditary quality, achievements, especially contributions during the feasts, are an important factor for a man to gain prestige and higher hierarchical chiefly titles in Pohnpeian society. \n\nYouth group's dance.\nA youth group dances to celebrate the ceremonial yam feast.

Yam (kehp) is the pride of men on Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. Men put more labor to prestigious goods for feasts, especially yams, pigs, and sakau (kava), among which yams have the highest value to attain social status than other daily food crops. In addition to hereditary quality, achievements, especially contributions during the feasts, are an important factor for a man to gain prestige and higher hierarchical chiefly titles in Pohnpeian society.\n\nDr. Rufino Mauricio's interview on ceremonial yam feast.\nDr. Rufino Mauricio (Director, FSM Office of National Archives, Culture and Historic Preservation) talks about a significant change that the ceremonial yam feast underwent in the past fifty years.

Yam (kehp) is the pride of men on Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. Men put more labor to prestigious goods for feasts, especially yams, pigs, and sakau (kava), among which yams have the highest value to attain social status than other daily food crops. In addition to hereditary quality, achievements, especially contributions during the feasts, are an important factor for a man to gain prestige and higher hierarchical chiefly titles in Pohnpeian society.\n\nMen bringing roasted pigs.\nRoasted pigs are gathered in front of the high chiefs on the main platform of the community assembly house and are cut into various pieces. Different sizes of portions are redistributed among participants according to social rank. The pwekipwek redistribution of baked pigs and yams is the most bustling and cheerful part of the feast.\n\n\n\n

Yam (kehp) is the pride of men on Pohnpei Island, Micronesia. Men put more labor to prestigious goods for feasts, especially yams, pigs, and sakau (kava), among which yams have the highest value to attain social status than other daily food crops. In addition to hereditary quality, achievements, especially contributions during the feasts, are an important factor for a man to gain prestige and higher hierarchical chiefly titles in Pohnpeian society. \n\nWomen bringing food baskets.\nAround noon, women bring their contribution of food baskets to the main platform in the community assembly house. After having the contributions blessed in a Christian manner, they are redistributed among participants with respect to social ranking; chiefly titles are called out loudly. This way of redistribution called pwekipwek, which is also done to other foods of prestige such as yams and pigs, actualizes and visualizes the honor of the recipients.