Okir
Okir, also spelled okil or ukkil, is the term for rectilinear and curvilinear plant-based designs and folk motifs that can be usually found among the Moro and Lumad people of the Southern Philippines, as well as parts of Sabah.
It is particularly associated with the artwork of the Maranao and Sama (Badjao) tribes, although it can also be found to a lesser extent among the Maguindanao, Iranun, Tausug, Yakan, and Lumad groups.
They are believed to have originated from the much earlier okil or okil-okil decorative carving traditions of the Sama (Badjao) people, which are often highly individualistic and rectilinear.
The Sama are master carvers, and they made lavish decorations on ritual animistic objects, grave markers (both in wood and stone), and their houseboats.
[1] The rectilinear designs of the Sama were adopted and refined by the Maranao to decorate the torogan houses of the ruling dato class.
It influenced other Maranao artforms greatly due to its association with rank and prestige, becoming used in textiles, musical instruments, betel quid containers, sculptures, weaponry, silver inlays, and so on.
Elements of okir have been adopted by the neighboring Maguindanao, Lumad, Yakan, and Tausug peoples of the Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago; even influencing the carving traditions of the Sama later on.
These graves are often decorated with buntings and food offerings, again reflecting the ancient ancestor worship (anito) traditions of the Sama.
In the past, okir designs, particularly for textiles, are distinctive enough that a Maranao can usually distinguish which region someone is from based only on the patterns of their malong and their woven decorative strips (langkit).
Unlike Sama okil, okir designs are deliberately stylized when depicting living things, due to Islamic beliefs against idolatry.
Some examples include:[1][2] Complete designs using these motifs are usually given poetic names like sapak a madanding ("branch of happiness"), raon a kayo ("tree leaves") or tring indawa ("yellow bamboo").
