When human mind fails, turn to nature

There is a story in Mao folklore that says, in days of yore, there was a terrible famine in their land. It lasted for seven long years and all they could depend on was the produce laboriously gathered from the forests. When the weather gods finally answered their prayers, they found themselves faced with a new problem. In the long period of hardship and interrupted period of cultivation, they had lost track of seasons. They could not remember the right time to sow and to plant crops. When they assessed their situation, surrounded as they were by warring neighbours, they decided on the only option left: send a secret mission to the village where one of their sisters had been married into. In those days, there was a practice to marry off a woman to an enemy village or tribe as a channel of communication. Unfortunately, to their disadvantage, their sister was married into a village who they had been most vehemently at war with. The prospect of crossing over to another tribe or village was fraught with too many dangers. Despite the problem, a spy set out to gather whatever information he could, taking his chances to meet the sister in his enemy village.

The story says that the spy tried to infiltrate into his target village but failed. It was closely guarded and the chance of losing his head was too real. All he could do was to hide beyond the guarded confines of the enemy village and wait for an opportunity to contact his sister in a clandestine manner. So, he placed himself in a hideout as possibly close to her house as he could. Exhausted and wary of his enemy, he endured until one day the sister ventured near his hideout and noticed him. The woman understood the purpose of her brother’s visit from the rumours she heard of problem in her parents' land. Fearing that their interaction could be noticed, she adopted a strategy. She carried her child to the backyard and made it to cry by pinching it. As she rocked the baby in her arms, she sung a lullaby knowing that her brother was listening:

Hoyee ho, hoa ho.

Chiitepa ti prali,

Mati tijii tholo.

Livopa ti prali,

Mati tijii tholo.

Hoyee ho, hoa ho.

(Hoyee ho, hoa ho. When the ‘wild berry’ pear tree blossoms, know that it is time to sow. When the orchid tree blossoms, know that fields are ready to receive the seeds. Hoyee ho, hoa ho.)

The brother went home with the information required for his people – when to sow seeds for the annual crop. That was when the Mao people revived their agricultural knowledge again.

A legend, no doubt, it tells of the hardship in the life of a people. When everything seemed lost and all odds were against them, they faced their problems with fortitude and found solutions to them through the resourceful role of a sister-daughter.

(There are other versions which significantly differ in the beginning of the story. For one version: see, Mao, A.A. and M. Hynniewta T, Plants used as agricultural seasons indicator by Mao Naga Tribe, Manipur, India, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, Vol. 10(3), July 2011, pp. 578-580. The article also contains some important information on other plants. Weblink here: http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/12043/1/IJTK%2010(3)%20578-580.pdf))

The trees that are mentioned in the lullaby that our ‘sister’ sings in the story are the ‘wild berry’ pear and the orchid tree.

For lack of a common name, not in my knowledge so far, I call Chiitesii (Chiitepa is the flower of Chiitesii) the ‘wild berry’ pear due to its small thumb size. There are several wild pear species, making it difficult to be specific. It is a species of the Pyrus genus of plants, whose fruit resembles the Iberian pear (Pyrus bourgaeana) and the birchleaf pear (Pyrus betulifolia) in its size, colour and shape. Its leaves are though not like the birch leaf and resembles more the leaves of Plymouth pear (Pyrus cordata) but smaller in size. When ripe, the fruits turn soft and dark, almost black, and are edible. Humans, birds and small animals like squirrels join the feast of gorging on the fruits. When I was young, I used to be a participant in such feasts (I wish I could put a smiley here).

The other pear which we cultivate is the Asian pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) which is commonly called naspati in Mao areas.

Sample of Plymouth pear (below)

Source: http://www.floralimages.co.uk/page.php?taxon=pyrus_cordata,3

Sample of Iberian pear (below)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fruiting_Iberian_pear.jpg

The other plant called Livosii (Livopa refers to the flower and a variant name in Mao language is Liyapa) is a species of the Bauhinia genus of plants. The species traditionally found in the Mao areas is the Bauhinia variegata, which produces fragrant flowers with variegated streaks of pink and white colours. Common names include Orchid tree, Camel’s foot tree (don’t get me wrong, it’s not Camel toe), Mountain ebony, etc. Another species, relatively new to the region, is the Bauhinia purpurea, also called the Hong Kong orchid tree, purple camel’s foot or Hawaiian orchid tree. Its flowers are bright pink to purple and introduced to the Mao areas mostly as an ornamental tree. On general observation, Bauhinia purpurea has larger leaves of deep green (shamrock green) colour while Bauhinia variegata has leaves of lighter shade. As Bauhinia is an important symbol of Hong Kong and it appears on the official Hong Kong flag, I checked out a web page of the University of Hong Kong which describes the difference between the two species as: flowering time – Bauhinia variegata February to May, Bauhinia purpurea early September to December; Flower colour – Bauhinia variegata pale pink to white, Bauhinia purpurea pinkish purple to white; number of stamens – Bauhinia variegata 5-6, Bauhinia purpurea 3-4; number of veins on leaf – Bauhinia variegata 11-13, Bauhinia purpurea 9-11; length of leafstalk – Bauhinia variegata 2.5 cm, Bauhinia purpurea 4.0 cm. Due to climatic variations, these may or may not be the case in the Mao areas.

Sample of Bauhinia variegata (below)

Source: http://lumberjocks.com/gfixler/blog/7849

Sample of Bauhinia purpurea (below)

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Bauhinia_purpurea_%28Kaniar%29_in_Hyderabad%2C_AP_W_IMG_2573.jpg

Livosii or orchid tree is a culturally and economically significant plant in Mao culture. The plant as the story above describes is used as an indicator of agricultural seasons. Its bark which is particularly flexible and supple, is peeled from live trees and used for making the toe-stand of woven back basket. The tree typically regenerates the bark in a matter of two to three years. Its seeds, resembling the bitter beans, are roasted and eaten.

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