Sunday, December 07, 2003
Thanks to Jean for pointing me to another Filipino Ifugao word for soul: gimokud.
According to the myth, the soul, or gimokud, goes about its customary existence at night, and at the rising of the sun, plucks a leaf, twists it into a vessel suggesting the form of a boat, and seats itself upon it, waiting until the hot rays of the sun dissolve it into water. Only when darkness spreads over the land of the dead, does the gimokud resume its active existence.
I like the idea of darkness spreading over the land of the dead. That the gimokud waits for this darkness before it resumes its life suggests to me the need to love the land, the dead, and the darkness that passes over it. Love awakened by darkness. Love awakened by death.
According to the myth, the soul, or gimokud, goes about its customary existence at night, and at the rising of the sun, plucks a leaf, twists it into a vessel suggesting the form of a boat, and seats itself upon it, waiting until the hot rays of the sun dissolve it into water. Only when darkness spreads over the land of the dead, does the gimokud resume its active existence.
I like the idea of darkness spreading over the land of the dead. That the gimokud waits for this darkness before it resumes its life suggests to me the need to love the land, the dead, and the darkness that passes over it. Love awakened by darkness. Love awakened by death.
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