✦ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS✦

 Eco-consciousness in Tribal Lifestyle


Detail from Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

The more we, humans, grew apart from nature, the more harm we bring upon on nature and ourselves. We are now in such a state that the indigenous tribal communities are probably the only people who cohabit with nature in the truest sense of the word. Many tribes cohabit with nature and sustain and nurture each-other. In this page we will look at some tribal practices that protect and sustains nature and natural habitats.

1.      Worshipping Nature

In Many ancient religions nature is worshipped as divine. Forests, trees, mountains, natural lakes, even some animals are believed to possess a spiritual soul and are often worshipped and protected as holy and auspicious. Sacred groves are small areas of forest or water bodies filled with biodiversity, and are traditionally dedicated to deities worshipped by tribal communities. The tribal communities of Odissa, India are protecting these forests that are integral to their lives and are saving the bio-diversity rich area from the wrath of mining. The mineral-rich Niyamgiri is considered Sacred by Odissa’s Paraja tribe. The Tachi Yokut Tribe is celebrating the return of water in California's Tulare Lake, they understand that the lake is essential to rejuvenate the harmed ecosystem. The Santhal tribes of India protect several hills that they worship as their deity Marang Buru.

 

2.      Sustainable agriculture

The tribes live off nature but they do not exploit or exhaust it. Tribes all over the world have the innate knowledge that Nature is our sustenance and it needs to be cherished so that it can nurture our future generations. The most primitive occupation of many tribes were travellig cultivation. The system is still intact in many cases; this cultivation method does not exhaust a piece of land of nutrients and gives the land time to revitalize itself. Mixed farming is another method followed by the tribes that incorporate birds and farm animals into the agriculture, and they live off the field residues and fertile the land with their wastes.

 

3.      Foraging

A very common tribal practice is foraging fruits, flowers, greens, dry leaves and twigs from the forests. If speculated closely, we can see that hardly any tribal practice includes cutting down trees or deforestation. Foraging is one of the most sustainable ways that our environment can be protected.

 

4.      Eco-friendly lifestyle

Indigenous people living in close proximity to nature are innately extremely environmentally conscious and practice an eco-friendly lifestyle. They consider themselves to be a part of nature itself and produce negligible amount carbon footprint. Their lives are intertwined with the habitat that they dwell in.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Society and culture of the Santals, an indigenous group of India.

Image
Ancient Tribal Society and Culture of India: Santal   Pictures: Collected      July 14, 2023.      Art & Culture A t one time the people of the Austric language group were spread as far north as Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. Broad nose and thin, dark complexion with wavy hair was their constitution. This group migrated to Australia approximately twenty-five to thirty years ago. The rulers of that Austric clan are now known as Santal clans. After the defeat of the santal rebellion in 1855, they were scattered again. Spread in Bengal, Tripura and Orissa. According to a 2001 estimate, the total number of Santals in Bangladesh is 1,57,698. Currently, this number is believed to have crossed 2 lakhs. On June 30, 1855, a sudden fire broke out in the soil of Birbhum against the oppression of British rule, landlords and indigo farmers. The British regime shook even when faced with modern guns and cannons with native weapons. With the death of Sidhu, Kanu, Chand and Bhairav, the reb
Read more

Practice of Cannibalism in the Asmat Tribe

Image
The Asmat Tribe and Their Cannibalism Photo by Edi Wibowo on Wikipedia There is still a sizable tribe in Indonesia's uncharted regions that engages in cannibalism for ritual and ceremonies. Twelve sub-ethnic groups make up the Asmat tribe, which has a total population of about 65,000. The men in this cannibalistic tribe frequently hunt and murder their foes and consume their heads as part of ceremonies. Additionally, the skull is split in half and used as bowls. The head has been made for the community by having the skin peeled off of it and baking it. They use the jaw and spine fragments of the humans they have killed as jewels to adorn their bodies as a sign of their manhood. Asmat tribal members are reputed to be very devout, which explains why they engage in such ludicrous rites. They liken the man to a tree and refer to his head as fruit. The Asmat tribe is said to kill human adversaries in order to demonstrate their sexual prowess or kinship. They also think that after murder
Read more

Ma'nene: Indoneasia's Death Ritual

Image
  Indonesia's Death Ritual or Ma'nene One of Indonesia's largest i slands, Sulawesi, is home to the Toraja people, who are renowned for their complex funeral rites that involve both exhuming and preserving the deceased. Every three or five years in August, a rite known as Ma'nene entails exhuming the corpses of deceased family members, cleaning and redressing them, and lighting cigarettes in their mouths. They mummify the bodies of the dead and treat them as though they were still alive, providing them food, clothing, water, and tobacco. The ceremony, performed in August, is predicated on the idea that life continues after death. By exhuming, dressing, and bringing preserved bodies from a burial cave, Torajans honor spirits and make gifts. They hold the view that after being immortalized, spirits remain in the physical world until burial rites and then depart for spirit land. In order to conserve money for a lavish funeral, families store the remains. Ma'nene tradit
Read more