Tasaday Left Alone

 

From 1976 to 1986

Tasaday Left Alone--                 

But They Still Keep Changing

    By 1976, each Tasaday had developed an appreciation of modern medicine, wanted and got a steel bolo, and learned to like rice and requested it often--and some said they’d like to travel outside the forest. The Tasaday began to change so rapidly that Elizalde worried they would lose their traditional values and character, and would soon confront issues for which they weren’t ready. So  Elizade slowed down his own visits and then stopped all visits by everyone. He urged the Tasaday to go back to their old ways of life and to remember the concepts of sharing and cooperation that had  exemplified their life in the forest.

    The Tasaday had visits three time by medical teams checking on their condition only two or  three times through 1979 and after that no mainstream outsiders visited until 1986.  The Tasaday , however, continued
to change on their own in very significant ways. The big factor: new wives.  1972, Belayem had married Sindi, a childless widow from the Blit community who came with translator Igna, and when Sindi could not conceive a child, she brought her sister, Sule’, so Belayem could become a father. Other Tasaday wanted wives, so Sindi brought more women from Blit to marry them and with the women came new ideas and needs that changed Tasaday culture.

    For instance, when their clothing wore out, they were willing to wear leaves (although they itched and sometimes cut them) but they refused to go topless, which was considered vulgar in their culture. They also disliked sleeping all together on the rocky floor of the cave, and didn’t enjoy the Tasaday diet of tadpoles and roots; they wanted rice, chicken, and more foods to which they were accustomed. Tasaday elders said nevermind, if those “new ones” don’t like the Tasaday ways let them go home--but the young husbands were eager to make them happy and began to learn new ways. Also, the tribes outside the forest were polygamous, so Tasaday adopted that concept-- even the women did not object  because that meant the Tasaday--who had feared dying out--could have more babies. The Tasaday population increased sharply.

 

Mahayag ponders the future as changes enter the Tasaday world.

Sule’, sister of Sindi, married  Belayem.

Belayem plays a bamboo harp for Sindi, left, his new wife from Blit. 1974;     Later, Sindi brought this young woman from Blit to marry a Tasaday, 1986