12 Chapter 12: Red seed

A woman with nothing but jewelries on, hurried towards the man next to me. She walked to welcome us in slow and controlled footsteps. Her legs are a bit apart and it made a small curve in between them. The jewelries adorning her naked body jiggled and moved with her every step.

I looked away when she neared and noticed two huts across each other. It is different from the hut I usually see on the web. And those are lying close to the papaya plantations.

I heard gibberish on my side and they talked that way for a moment. He hugged her before making undetermined gestures in the air. It seemed to me that he is giving her introductions and telling her about his journey out of respect to the elderly.

Not long before they both looked at me. I bowed lightly and focused on the man beside me.

He smiled. "This is my mother, Akte. She is the queen of our tribe and the oldest among us."

I slowly turned and looked at his mother. The old woman said things I did not understand. She continued and stopped after awhile.

"She is welcoming you. She just told you that she is glad to meet you and that the spirits around the forest welcomes you too."

I smiled awkwardly and eventually turned into something sincere. I suddenly looked to the trees around me, thinking deep about the spirit she is talking about and where it might be at this moment.

I looked to a certain direction when a few people emerged from the thick trees. Three woman and a man. Almost naked with jewelries instead of clothes and a skirt made out of straw covering the area between their legs. Their buttocks are exposed though and there are bands in their arms, wrists and some parts in there legs.

The only man among the new comers is wearing a round and yelķlow headress with black details. The women in the other hand have something pierced inside their noses, in the separation of the two holes. Both have almost bald head with just half-an-inch of hair growing. Their hair are unusually colored, something I did not expect from a tribe, or to an isolated tribe as I assume they'd be.

"Come. Let me show you around." Kruktu suggested after the time of introductions from the rest of the tribe.

I noticed that there are only six of them. I heard and read tribes that consists of just few members but there tribe are the least of the few. I wondered of where the others are in or is there tribe that hidden and secluded in the rest if the world?

He took me to the center of the huts. His mother went back to where she is seated before we interrupted her by our arrival and skinned a plant of something, that exposed the red seed within.

The man got his flute and played a symphonic tune. It sounds elemental like of the mixture of air and the surrounding life within the forest. It also sounds like it is something made centuries ago, even before the world progressed extensively.

Kruktu nudged me on the elbow and looked at the man playing the wind instrument, as if silently telling me to look at him, which is not needed anymore because I lock my eyes in every movement that captures my vision.

"He is playing the flute to welcome you. We rarely have visitors, and when we do, we gladly welcome them in our own way."

I heard a different sound and saw empty chestnuts woven into a piece of string tied to the lower part of his leg. It was made to sit next to one after the other to make a percussion sound when he taps his feet on the ground.

He did it for awhile and it somehow made me at peace as I continue to appreciate the nature around me. I listened to the one-man orchestra as if I was a king and it is only made for me. There is really something about the natives and their unusual ways in things. Of how they differ from us makes it more magical and earth-y.

I clapped after the wonderful performance of acceptance and pleasentries. The fear of being eaten still remained but the curiousness pang like venom and lingered in my veins.

I eyed Kruktu when I, in my peripheral vision, saw her mother rubbing the dried and crushed red seeds on her hair. And like a kid who is given an answer to his lifelong question, my eyes glinted in understanding.

Is it what I think it is?

And as if Kruktu read the idea I have inside my head, "Uma, is using the urucum plant to dye her hair, we all do! It is part of our culture." He said as he remained watching his mother.

"It is considered a cosmetic of our tribe, that we learned and inherited from our ancestors who did it for centuries." He continued.

My heart felt tight as if being squuezed. It is heartwarming to see and witness the culture that continuous to live on in the hands of the future generation. They never forget what has been taught to them and they know the importantance of maintaining it, by making it a part of their daily lives, and passing it on before they die.

"This is both nostalgic and sad for it remimds me of the good old days wherein the time is good and so as the harvest." His face turned sullen.

"What do you mean?"

"You see, we were barely able to harvest that much. We did not even fill a half of the basket. Unlike many years ago in which we could fill the whole basket so fast that we do not need to go deeper to get a good harvest. And it is all because of the landowners. It is their fault! They are blinded with money and greed. They use their power to swept us away, the ones who lived here even before they were born. We are one with nature and the forest knows us too. We are linked as one. But sadly, after finding out about how magnificent this place is, they sent troops and killed us to get what they want."