Discuss the method of swidden farming as practiced by the mangyan.

To the Hanunuo, clothing (rutay) is one of the most important criteria in distinguishing the Mangyan from the non-Manyan (damuong). A Hanunuo-Mangyan male wears a loin cloth (ba-ag) and a shirt (balukas). A female wears an indigo-dyed short skirt (ramit) and a blouse (lambung). Many of the traditional style shirts and blouses are embroidered on the back with a design called pakudos, based on the cross shape.

In the past they cultivated cotton trees and from these obtained raw materials which they wove in a crude hand loom called harablon. The process of weaving was called habilan, which starts with the gathering of cotton balls and pilling them to dry in a flat basket (bilao). Afterwards, the seeds are removed and the cotton placed on a mat and beaten by two flat sticks to make it fine. Next the cotton is placed inside a container made out of banana stalks (binuyo) and woven

Uhulaaibigo Uhulaaibigo · Answer 2

Swidden farming, also know as shifting cultivation or milpa in Latin America, is conventionally defined as “an agricultural system in which temporary clearings are cropped for fewer years than they are allowed to remain fallow” (Sanchez, 1976). While certainly correct, this definition reflects a Western or modern emphasis on the relatively short period when annual food and other crops are grown. Swidden can also be thought of as forest farming, since the fallow period is typically long, managed and often cultivated as well, although with perennial species rather than annuals.
Irrespective of the emphasis, swidden is a rotational form of agriculture that applies natural vegetative processes as a means of replenishing soil fertility and controlling invasive weeds. The practice evolved independently throughout the world and varies in response to site-specific ecological, socio-economic and cultural conditions. Swidden systems have proven to be productive and sustainable adaptations to challenging environmental conditions that feature high labor productivity at low population densities (Cairns, 2007). Swidden agriculture, often pejoratively called slash and burn, has had a poor reputation and been actively suppressed from colonial to contemporary times.