Lununa, 50, Signapan Basin, Palawan, Philippines
Phil Borges

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Lununa belongs to small tribe of 20 families called the Tau't Duram. As a balyan (shaman), Lununa regularly conducts healings by entering a trance through singing and chanting. In the last few years the Tau't Duram have had to rely on slash-and-burn farming to augment their hunting and gathering. I watched as Lununa conducted a ritual for a patient. His diagnosis for the illness: the patient had angered the mountain spirit by burning the land. This struck me, since Lununa himself had become a slash-and-burn farmer.