June 4, 2025 • 25 mins
The Bajau people aren’t just surviving—they’re living a way of life that defies everything we think we know about the ocean, tradition, and human potential. No passports. No borders. No limits. 🎧 Listen to the latest episode of Stories of Survival and dive into the world of the sea nomads before it vanishes.
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The Baja can dive up to 200 feet deep without equipment all in one breath.
The Baja are literally and figuratively built different. 3 00:00:12,483.375851365 --> 00:00:21,723.375851365 Welcome back to Stories of Survival, the podcast where we preserve the pulse of endangered cultures before they drift too far from the shores of memory. 4 00:00:22,143.375851365 --> 00:00:26,943.375851365 In our last episode, we journeyed through the golden grasses of East Africa. 5 00:00:27,513.375851365 --> 00:00:31,983.375851365 Walking beside the proud warriors and wise elders of the Maasai. 6 00:00:32,673.375851365 --> 00:00:40,533.375851365 But today we leave the dust behind and we trade spears for spear guns because today we set sail. 7 00:00:41,403.375851365 --> 00:00:49,623.375851365 Imagine a life without fences, no highways, no borders, no land at all beneath their feet. 8 00:00:49,623.375851365 --> 00:00:55,533.375851365 Just the wide open sky above and the endless restless sea below. 9 00:00:56,28.375851365 --> 00:01:15,378.375851365 Today we enter the world of the Baja, the legendary sea nomads of Southeast Asia, of people who have lived their lives afloat for generations, drifting with the tides, diving with the fish, and carrying their culture across coral reefs instead of continents. 10 00:01:16,128.375851365 --> 00:01:24,768.375851365 The Baja aren't just fishermen or sailors, they're ocean dwellers, people who've called the sea home for over a thousand years. 11 00:01:25,233.375851365 --> 00:01:31,803.375851365 And their story is one of resilience, resourcefulness, and reverence for the water that sustains them. 12 00:01:32,703.375851365 --> 00:01:44,853.37585136 So tighten your ropes, steady your balance, and breathe deep because we're about to plunge into a world where the ocean is your cradle, your classroom, your kitchen, and your cathedral. 13 00:01:45,213.37585136 --> 00:01:49,833.37585136 I'm your host Philip, an explorer of voices and paddler of forgotten waters. 14 00:01:50,343.37585136 --> 00:01:55,833.37585136 Welcome to the world of the Baja, the last of the true c nomads. 15 00:01:58,443.37585136 --> 00:02:01,653.37585136 For the Baja, they live a life between wind and water. 16 00:02:02,103.37585136 --> 00:02:09,303.37585136 You wake up not to an alarm clock, but to the rhythmic lap of waves kissing the hull of your wooden boat. 17 00:02:09,363.37585136 --> 00:02:15,963.37585136 Sadly, there is no snooze button, just the sound of the C, always calling, always moving. 18 00:02:16,548.37585136 --> 00:02:33,978.37585136 The smell of salt is in the air and the horizon stretches out like a canvas of endless blue and beneath your stilted home or houseboat or coral reef, teeming with light, color, motion and dinner you dive in. 19 00:02:34,98.37585136 --> 00:02:41,808.37585136 No oxygen tank, no flippers, just your lungs, your knowledge, and a spleen that's evolved to store. 20 00:02:41,838.37585136 --> 00:02:42,888.37585136 Extra oxygen. 21 00:02:43,443.37585136 --> 00:02:48,963.37585136 Seriously, science confirms this, and 60 meters below, you'll harvest your meal. 22 00:02:50,43.37585136 --> 00:02:51,333.37585136 This isn't fantasy. 23 00:02:51,393.37585136 --> 00:02:59,823.37585136 This is daily life for the Baja people, a community of sea nomads who've lived on the waters of Southeast Asia for over a thousand years. 24 00:03:00,303.37585136 --> 00:03:05,433.37585136 In 2018, researchers studying the Baja discovered something astounding. 25 00:03:06,33.37585136 --> 00:03:08,703.37585136 They have genetically enlarged spleens. 26 00:03:08,943.37585136 --> 00:03:11,493.37585136 Nearly 50% larger than average. 27 00:03:12,138.37585136 --> 00:03:17,298.37585136 That's not training, that's evolution over centuries of life at sea. 28 00:03:17,358.37585136 --> 00:03:20,808.37585136 Their bodies have literally adapted to the deep. 29 00:03:21,138.37585136 --> 00:03:36,258.37585136 They have lived with the water for over a thousand years, and when the Baja dive, their spleens contract, pushing extra red blood cells into circulation, giving them a longer breath hold, and a greater resistance to low oxygen. 30 00:03:37,758.37585136 --> 00:03:44,928.37585136 How long can they stay down? Well, in some cases up to 13 minutes and not just shallow dives either. 31 00:03:45,228.37585136 --> 00:03:52,188.37585136 The Baja have been recorded to reach depths of up to 60 to 70 meters for reference. 32 00:03:52,188.37585136 --> 00:04:00,108.37585136 That's the height of a 20 story building straight down with absolutely no gear for comparison. 33 00:04:00,168.37585136 --> 00:04:05,298.37585136 An average untrained person might be able to dive four to six meters. 34 00:04:05,613.37585136 --> 00:04:16,293.37585136 And experienced free divers generally max out around 30 meters, and your average person can only hold their breath for about 40 to 90 seconds. 35 00:04:17,163.37585136 --> 00:04:21,393.37585136 The Baja literally blow that out of the water, pun intended. 36 00:04:21,933.37585136 --> 00:04:24,648.37585136 However, this isn't a one-off daredevil stunt. 37 00:04:24,798.37585136 --> 00:04:26,208.37585136 This is just breakfast. 38 00:04:26,838.37585136 --> 00:04:35,253.37585136 They glide beneath the waves, spearing, fish, harvesting sea cucumbers, octopuses, and shellfish with grace and precision. 39 00:04:35,898.37585136 --> 00:04:38,268.37585136 Their eyes adapt underwater too. 40 00:04:38,568.37585136 --> 00:04:48,36.26685136 Some Baja children have been found to have enhanced underwater vision, able to focus more clearly beneath the surface than children who grow up on land. 41 00:04:48,966.26685136 --> 00:05:03,601.26685136 There are sometimes called sea gypsies in tourism brochures or pop culture, but let's be honest that term, even though widespread is an outsider's label, a romanticized colonial leftover, the term Baja pronounced. 42 00:05:04,176.26685136 --> 00:05:10,581.26685136 But Jao is the respectful, self-identified name that honors their heritage and dignity. 43 00:05:11,931.26685136 --> 00:05:21,921.26685136 You'll find the Baja scattered like pearls across the maritime zones of the Southern Philippines, Eastern Malaysia, especially Saba and coastal Indonesia. 44 00:05:22,791.26685136 --> 00:05:24,561.26685136 And here's something to grapple with. 45 00:05:24,981.26685136 --> 00:05:28,71.26685136 Many Baja are technically stateless. 46 00:05:28,281.26685136 --> 00:05:32,571.26685136 They've spent centuries drifting between nations, cultures and tides. 47 00:05:33,66.26685136 --> 00:05:47,556.26685136 They were seafarers long before borders were drawn on maps, and because they rarely register births or claim citizenship, many have no official identity in the eyes of the government that now rule the lands they fish near. 48 00:05:48,246.26685136 --> 00:05:58,296.26685136 There are people shaped by the sea Uneed yet deeply rooted a culture that never sought to conquer land, but to live harmoniously with the ocean. 49 00:05:58,806.26685136 --> 00:06:06,276.26685136 And in a world obsessed with territory and borders, the bajas very existence is a radical act of fluidity. 50 00:06:07,262.94303307 --> 00:06:19,982.94303307 Now, when I say the ocean is home to the Baja, I mean that literally, traditionally the Baja lived on boats called Le Lippa, narrow, shallow wooden vessels with sails and tiny living quarters. 51 00:06:20,192.94303307 --> 00:06:24,812.94303307 Think of them as houseboats, minus the luxury, plus a whole lot of effort and soul. 52 00:06:25,712.94303307 --> 00:06:27,872.94303307 These boats aren't just transportation. 53 00:06:28,592.94303307 --> 00:06:34,532.94303307 They're homes, nurseries, kitchens, altars, and sometimes even classrooms. 54 00:06:34,742.94303307 --> 00:06:43,964.48503307 Children were born on boats, raised on boats and learn to swim before they could walk, and they could even read the currents long before they could read a book. 55 00:06:44,624.48503307 --> 00:06:52,364.48503307 And though many Baja have shifted to stilt houses, which are timber homes, balanced on poles rising straight from the shallow reef flats. 56 00:06:52,949.48503307 --> 00:06:54,719.48503307 One thing hasn't changed. 57 00:06:55,619.48503307 --> 00:06:57,779.48503307 The sea is still everything. 58 00:06:59,39.48503307 --> 00:07:04,499.48503307 Their homes are built on the ocean, not beside it, and often kilometers from the nearest land. 59 00:07:04,949.48503307 --> 00:07:13,439.48503307 Imagine waking up and stepping outside on a bamboo platform with nothing but turquoise water beneath you and the distant hum of the tide. 60 00:07:13,979.48503307 --> 00:07:19,79.48503307 For the Baja the Sea is not a resource to be extracted, and it's not a tourist destination. 61 00:07:19,634.48503307 --> 00:07:20,264.48503307 For them. 62 00:07:20,594.48503307 --> 00:07:36,524.48503307 The sea is an ancestor, a provider, a cradle of life, a school, a supermarket, a playground, and a spiritual sanctuary all rolled into one where we see salt water, they see stories where we might see danger, they see direction. 63 00:07:37,64.48503307 --> 00:07:41,654.48503307 And this relationship with the ocean isn't just cultural, it's physical. 64 00:07:42,224.48503307 --> 00:07:50,144.48503307 As we touched on earlier, the Baja have lived at sea for over a thousand years so long that their bodies actually adapted to it. 65 00:07:50,234.48503307 --> 00:07:55,544.48503307 They have a suite of biological traits, some of which science is only beginning to understand. 66 00:07:56,84.48503307 --> 00:08:03,97.20603307 They've been found to possess greater underwater vision in childhood, and they can slow their heart rates dramatically during dives. 67 00:08:03,637.20603307 --> 00:08:10,89.48503307 What's also known as the mammalian dive reflex, which lets them conserve oxygen like seals or whales. 68 00:08:10,989.48503307 --> 00:08:14,289.48503307 And yes, they have those famously enlarged spleens. 69 00:08:14,289.48503307 --> 00:08:19,809.48503307 We talked about basically an internal oxygen tank shaped by evolution itself. 70 00:08:20,109.48503307 --> 00:08:23,109.48503307 They're biologically built for life under water. 71 00:08:23,459.48503307 --> 00:08:28,289.48503307 Extraordinary isn't just their biology, it's their philosophy. 72 00:08:28,949.48503307 --> 00:08:32,39.48503307 In Baja culture, the sea doesn't belong to them. 73 00:08:32,279.48503307 --> 00:08:33,899.48503307 They belong to the sea. 74 00:08:34,139.48503307 --> 00:08:47,969.48503307 They believe in taking only what is needed, offering gratitude and passing down wisdom from generation to generation, not in textbooks, but in songs, stories, and the practiced art of survival. 75 00:08:48,344.48503307 --> 00:08:56,504.48503307 And in a world where we are trying to remember how to live in balance with nature, the Baja never forgot. 76 00:08:56,954.48503307 --> 00:09:03,104.48503307 Nature to them is an ancestor, a teacher, a provider, and a spiritual force. 77 00:09:03,674.48503307 --> 00:09:08,834.48503307 Now, here's where things get even more fascinating and sadly fragile. 78 00:09:09,104.48503307 --> 00:09:12,164.48503307 The Baja don't speak just one language. 79 00:09:12,539.48503307 --> 00:09:15,539.48503307 Therefore, meaning there is no one single Baja language. 80 00:09:15,719.48503307 --> 00:09:26,69.48503307 Instead, they speak a whole array of closely related languages connected to the Hessian branch of the Aronian languages. 81 00:09:26,489.48503307 --> 00:09:35,549.48503307 The dialect and languages gently shift depending on where they live, and they, they're often mixed with local tongues wherever they reside. 82 00:09:36,329.48503307 --> 00:09:38,939.48503307 It's a language shaped by water. 83 00:09:39,434.48503307 --> 00:09:47,204.48503307 Travel and adaptation just like the people themselves in Malaysia, especially in Saba. 84 00:09:47,264.48503307 --> 00:09:58,154.48503307 Many Sam Baja speak, Sam Baja, a broad linguistic group with several dialects that can differ dramatically even from village to village. 85 00:09:59,204.48503307 --> 00:10:14,234.48503307 In the Southern Philippines, particularly the Ulu Archipelago, they speak sma, a melodic complex tongue passed down through oral storytelling, lullabies and ancient chants that guide everything from fishing to prayer. 86 00:10:14,414.48503307 --> 00:10:17,174.48503307 Here are some common greetings in sma. 87 00:10:17,834.48503307 --> 00:10:19,244.48503307 Good morning is Aha. 88 00:10:20,684.48503307 --> 00:10:22,544.48503307 Good afternoon is Aha Koha. 89 00:10:23,294.48503307 --> 00:10:30,224.48503307 My name is Translates to Koi, so in my case it would be Koi Philip. 90 00:10:30,434.48503307 --> 00:10:33,464.48503307 And finally, thank You means Pu. 91 00:10:34,364.48503307 --> 00:10:42,494.48503307 In Indonesia, you'll hear dialects blended with local inflections and sometimes mixing in Indonesian words. 92 00:10:42,614.48503307 --> 00:10:46,214.48503307 This is especially common among younger speakers. 93 00:10:46,829.48503307 --> 00:10:51,599.48503307 This linguistic variety is part of what makes the Baja so beautifully complex. 94 00:10:52,49.48503307 --> 00:11:03,585.72113058 Their speech is a living archive of their nomadic history filled with oceanic metaphors, directional knowledge, and environmental cues we don't even have words for in English. 95 00:11:04,665.72113058 --> 00:11:12,795.72113058 There are terms for currents, reef types, monsoon winds, fish behaviors, and boat navigation. 96 00:11:12,795.72113058 --> 00:11:13,935.72113058 So precise. 97 00:11:13,935.72113058 --> 00:11:15,585.72113058 They could rival A GPS. 98 00:11:16,350.72113058 --> 00:11:18,840.72113058 But here's the hard truth. 99 00:11:19,170.72113058 --> 00:11:23,40.72113058 These languages, this web of ancestral voices is fading. 100 00:11:24,60.72113058 --> 00:11:37,170.72113058 Why? Because as national borders hardened and formal education systems push for standardized national languages, younger generations of Baja are growing up without the fluency in their mother tongues. 101 00:11:37,890.72113058 --> 00:11:41,490.72113058 They're taught to speak the language of the state, not the sea. 102 00:11:41,970.72113058 --> 00:11:44,940.72113058 And when language goes, it's not just vocabulary. 103 00:11:44,940.72113058 --> 00:11:45,420.72113058 We lose. 104 00:11:45,795.72113058 --> 00:11:50,805.72113058 We lose songs, the ones that lull children into sleep and awaken spirits. 105 00:11:50,805.72113058 --> 00:11:54,75.72113058 During rituals, we lose oral maps. 106 00:11:54,105.72113058 --> 00:12:08,25.72113058 Stories passed from grandparent to child that explain how to read the wind or when the fish will return, we lose the names, the unique intimate words for different fish tides, weather patterns, and reef zones. 107 00:12:08,355.72113058 --> 00:12:10,125.72113058 We lose cultural identity. 108 00:12:10,155.72113058 --> 00:12:16,155.72113058 That deep sense of belonging to a world far more ancient and fluid than any passport. 109 00:12:17,265.72113058 --> 00:12:27,45.72113058 One Baja Elder once told a researcher, when our children stop speaking our language, they forget who they are, and the sea becomes silent. 110 00:12:27,105.72113058 --> 00:12:29,175.72113058 That's why we're here. 111 00:12:29,265.72113058 --> 00:12:37,455.72113058 That's why this podcast exists, because language isn't just communication, it's culture, ecology, and survival all liberated into one. 112 00:12:39,450.72113058 --> 00:12:42,960.72113058 Now let's discover a culture that flows like water. 113 00:12:42,990.72113058 --> 00:12:50,10.72113058 So what makes the Baja culture truly unique? Well, for one, they are master free divers and spear fishers. 114 00:12:50,100.72113058 --> 00:12:53,250.72113058 Children learn to swim far before they could even walk. 115 00:12:53,250.72113058 --> 00:12:54,0.72113058 Seriously. 116 00:12:54,270.72113058 --> 00:12:56,790.72113058 Imagine a toddler in diapers and goggles. 117 00:12:57,510.72113058 --> 00:13:04,170.72113058 They dive using wooden goggles carved by hand, and often use weights tied to their waist to sink faster. 118 00:13:04,831.87102897 --> 00:13:18,451.87102897 Baja perform Igal, a slow flowing dance, often accompanied by ang, a set of small nobbed gongs, ang, which are drums and sometimes bamboo flutes. 119 00:13:19,321.87102897 --> 00:13:24,301.87102897 Igal is performed during weddings, religious festivals, and ceremonies to honor spirits. 120 00:13:24,751.87102897 --> 00:13:27,481.87102897 The dance mimics the motions of the sea life. 121 00:13:27,631.87102897 --> 00:13:31,351.87102897 Gliding fish, waving seaweed, and rolling tides. 122 00:13:31,591.87102897 --> 00:13:33,871.87102897 It's both performance and prayer. 123 00:13:34,101.87102897 --> 00:13:43,941.87102897 Dancers are often dressed in ornate costumes made from brightly colored silk or cotton, and they're embellished with sequins beads, and gold thread. 124 00:13:44,931.87102897 --> 00:13:49,161.87102897 Baja weddings are very elaborate and in fact very colorful affairs. 125 00:13:49,251.87102897 --> 00:14:01,401.87102897 The actual wedding day is a community spectacle, and the couple is paraded on beautifully decorated bolts called lepa adorned with vibrant Sam flags fluttering above. 126 00:14:02,369.43282214 --> 00:14:04,409.43282214 Even their architecture tells a story. 127 00:14:05,144.43282214 --> 00:14:13,454.43282214 But Jiao families often lived in balo, stilt houses built above coral reefs or floating homes last to boats. 128 00:14:13,844.43282214 --> 00:14:18,14.43282214 These homes are a lightweight, portable, and tethered by logs or anchors. 129 00:14:18,434.43282214 --> 00:14:27,374.43282214 They're construction reflects a nomadic way of life, dictated by monsoons, fishing, migration, and intergenerational knowledge of the tides. 130 00:14:28,49.43282214 --> 00:14:29,69.43282214 Food is prepared. 131 00:14:29,129.43282214 --> 00:14:37,800.32882214 Communally grilled econ bacca, which is charcoal fish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers are dietary staples for the Baja people. 132 00:14:38,190.32882214 --> 00:14:46,422.44971415 Every aspect of Baja life from cuisine to cosmology is deeply intertwined with the sea. 133 00:14:47,922.44971415 --> 00:14:52,632.44971415 This is not just a culture, it's a living archive of maritime human history. 134 00:14:53,127.44971415 --> 00:15:02,157.44971415 To live as the Baja do is to inhabit a fluid world, one where identity is inseparable from the ocean's pulse. 135 00:15:02,987.91965958 --> 00:15:20,267.91965958 Now religion among the Baja is a blend of Islam introduced through trade and animus beliefs that predated while most paja identify as Sunni Muslims and observe Islamic practices, many still perform rituals rooted in ancestral sea warship. 136 00:15:20,732.91965958 --> 00:15:27,812.91965958 Before long voyages or important ceremonies, offerings like rice, beetle leaves, or diet cloth may be made. 137 00:15:27,812.91965958 --> 00:15:32,762.91965958 T the Lord of the sea and other spirits of the sea. 138 00:15:33,362.91965958 --> 00:15:41,252.91965958 Shamans known as are sometimes called to heal illnesses, believed to be caused by angry spirits or broken taboos. 139 00:15:41,702.91965958 --> 00:15:47,192.91965958 In these moments, spiritual practice becomes survival and tradition becomes protection. 140 00:15:48,632.91965958 --> 00:15:51,482.91965958 They believe in sea spirits and ancestral guardians. 141 00:15:51,692.91965958 --> 00:15:53,732.91965958 These spirits aren't just folklore. 142 00:15:54,92.91965958 --> 00:15:58,802.91965958 They're considered very real presences embedded into the fabric of daily life. 143 00:15:59,222.91965958 --> 00:16:10,562.91965958 A sudden storm, an illness after a dive or a poor fishing catch might all be interpreted as signs that a spirit has been offended or balance has been broken. 144 00:16:11,342.91965958 --> 00:16:16,712.91965958 When the sea gets angry, the Baja don't just think it up to, oh, it's bad weather. 145 00:16:17,192.91965958 --> 00:16:19,472.91965958 No, they read it as a message. 146 00:16:19,892.91965958 --> 00:16:22,202.91965958 In these moments, offerings are made. 147 00:16:22,772.91965958 --> 00:16:33,992.91965958 These offerings like the ones discussed earlier, such as bele leaves are gently floated on the waves or left near mangroves and reef outcrops where the spirits are believed to dwell. 148 00:16:34,52.91965958 --> 00:16:39,417.91965958 Some families may even burn incense or recite chance passed down orally through generations. 149 00:16:40,457.9196596 --> 00:16:47,927.9196596 At the center of the spiritual practices is the HUN or Sea Shaman, a figure of immense respect and authority. 150 00:16:48,227.9196596 --> 00:17:00,677.9196596 The D is a spiritual mediator who can diagnose spirit caused illnesses, perform healing rituals, burlesque, voyages, and even interpret os from the tides, stars or dreams. 151 00:17:01,577.9196596 --> 00:17:09,287.9196596 Their knowledge is part inherited and part initiated, usually passed down from master to apprentice over many years. 152 00:17:09,902.9196596 --> 00:17:18,752.9196596 In some cases, Aun may go into a trance-like state to speak with the spirit world offering messages or warnings to the community. 153 00:17:19,682.9196596 --> 00:17:26,102.9196596 In some cases, a ceremonial dance is performed not for entertainment, but to appease the spirits of the sea. 154 00:17:26,402.9196596 --> 00:17:34,382.9196596 During this ritual, the shaman may wear symbolic attire and use specific instruments like drums and chants to call the spirits. 155 00:17:35,862.9196596 --> 00:17:39,762.9196596 In the end for the Baja, the Sea is not just water. 156 00:17:40,212.9196596 --> 00:17:41,142.9196596 It is alive. 157 00:17:41,202.9196596 --> 00:17:48,132.9196596 It listens, and if you know how to read its moods and respect its spirits, it will provide. 158 00:17:49,647.9196596 --> 00:17:54,147.9196596 Hey, if you made it this far, thanks for diving deep with me into the world of the Baja. 159 00:17:54,927.9196596 --> 00:17:56,37.9196596 Don't sign off just yet. 160 00:17:56,37.9196596 --> 00:18:09,957.9196596 There is much more to discuss, but if you learn something new, felt inspired, or want to support stories like this getting told, do me a favor, please, like, follow, subscribe, share, or whatever your platform lets you do, hit that button. 161 00:18:10,197.9196596 --> 00:18:12,687.9196596 Smash it like you're diving for sea cucumbers. 162 00:18:13,137.9196596 --> 00:18:16,977.9196596 Rate the show, leave a review and tag us if you're sharing it on social media. 163 00:18:17,712.9196596 --> 00:18:19,932.9196596 I'd love to see where you're listening from. 164 00:18:20,52.9196596 --> 00:18:36,552.9196596 Remember to follow advocates of Heritage on Instagram and TikTok, and if you have ideas for future episodes, questions, or just wanna share ideas over indigenous cultures and languages, please share with me, slide into the dms, or shoot me an email at advocates of heritage@gmail.com. 165 00:18:37,2.9196596 --> 00:18:44,532.9196596 Your support helps keep these voices alive and this project afloat literally, let's keep preserving the past one story at a time. 166 00:18:44,802.9196596 --> 00:18:46,302.9196596 Now, back to the episode. 167 00:18:49,242.9196596 --> 00:18:54,432.9196596 Sadly, the Baja are facing a lot of pressure, especially with modern struggles. 168 00:18:54,732.9196596 --> 00:18:59,592.9196596 The truth is many Baja are completely invisible on paper. 169 00:18:59,862.9196596 --> 00:19:07,692.9196596 Entire generations have lived and died without a birth certificate, passport, or any form of official citizenship. 170 00:19:07,782.9196596 --> 00:19:12,192.9196596 In the eyes of modern nation states, they quite literally don't exist. 171 00:19:12,522.9196596 --> 00:19:15,282.9196596 That means no healthcare, no education. 172 00:19:16,32.9196596 --> 00:19:18,972.9196596 No legal protections and no political voice. 173 00:19:19,92.9196596 --> 00:19:31,512.9196596 They are stateless at sea, caught in bureaucratic limbo between countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, none of which fully claim or protect them, but the pressure isn't just legal. 174 00:19:31,782.9196596 --> 00:19:42,432.9196596 Their way of life is' under siege from a cascade of modern challenges, one being overfishing by large commercial fleets, which has completely devastated fish stocks in coastal waters. 175 00:19:42,987.9196596 --> 00:19:47,217.9196596 Making traditional spearfishing a lot less fruitful. 176 00:19:47,277.9196596 --> 00:19:55,161.6606596 The Baja who fish sustainably and take only what they need now find themselves competing with industries dragging up everything in their path. 177 00:19:55,971.6606596 --> 00:19:59,241.6606596 Coral reefs are also the heart of Baja fishing grounds. 178 00:20:00,261.6606596 --> 00:20:03,561.6606596 And thanks to coral bleaching, a lot of them are dying. 179 00:20:03,861.6606596 --> 00:20:14,751.6606596 In addition, thanks to rising sea temperatures, ocean in acidification and pollution, these very fragile ecosystems home to the fish they depend on are collapsing in real time. 180 00:20:15,591.6606596 --> 00:20:27,921.6606596 Also, government bans on tradition fixing methods such as dynamite fishing, which were once common among a lot of Baja communities have cut access to what they have historically relied on to survive. 181 00:20:28,611.6606596 --> 00:20:33,711.6606596 While, yes, dynamite fishing can be harmful to the environment and it is rightfully banned. 182 00:20:34,521.6606596 --> 00:20:42,231.6606596 Many of these bands come without offering alternatives or support, which leaves entire communities without a way to fish. 183 00:20:43,341.6606596 --> 00:20:47,61.6606596 And perhaps the most destructive of all is forest resettlement. 184 00:20:47,991.6606596 --> 00:20:54,231.6606596 In places like Saba, Malaysia, the government has forced the Baja to push them into land-based housing projects. 185 00:20:54,501.6606596 --> 00:20:56,271.6606596 And when they did this without consent. 186 00:20:56,871.6606596 --> 00:21:03,411.6606596 Adequate preparation or cultural understanding for a people whose identity is tied to the tides, boats, and sea breeze. 187 00:21:03,831.6606596 --> 00:21:07,71.6606596 Being forced onto land is very distorting. 188 00:21:08,31.6606596 --> 00:21:13,941.6606596 The result is a loss of language, loss of tradition, and loss of identity. 189 00:21:14,541.6606596 --> 00:21:15,861.6606596 And here's the harshest truth. 190 00:21:16,401.6606596 --> 00:21:22,405.5608863 UN recognition equals silence, and silence equals cultural extinction. 191 00:21:22,635.5608863 --> 00:21:32,64.0416596 Without official Documentation, the Baja remain excluded from national census records, history, books, and policy decisions. 192 00:21:32,484.0416596 --> 00:21:46,854.0416596 It's as if they were never there, and if we don't listen, really listen to the stories, the songs to spirit of the scene, nomads, they could be gone before the next generation even knows that they were there. 193 00:21:48,459.0416596 --> 00:22:01,29.0416596 Now, here's where you come in by donating to our mission, subscribing to our podcast, following the podcast, or sharing our podcast or following on any of our platforms, you're opening a doorway. 194 00:22:01,599.0416596 --> 00:22:07,329.0416596 Your support helps us travel directly and hear the voices of the Baja, not just talk to them. 195 00:22:08,289.0416596 --> 00:22:15,249.0416596 It allows us to sit beside their boat builders, dive with our fishermen, and learn hand to hand. 196 00:22:15,849.0416596 --> 00:22:17,529.0416596 And heart to heart. 197 00:22:18,279.0416596 --> 00:22:31,389.0416596 We're here to listen, document to be taught, and to share, to understand the rhythms of the le, the pulse of the, and the sacred bond between a people and their sea. 198 00:22:31,779.0416596 --> 00:22:44,649.0416596 Then we bring back that knowledge, not to keep, but to share through podcast episodes such as this films, exhibitions, and workshops that help amplify indigenous voices, not replace them. 199 00:22:45,264.0416596 --> 00:22:50,544.0416596 So if this story moved you, please like, share, subscribe, and follow. 200 00:22:50,634.0416596 --> 00:22:56,334.0416596 But more than that, support because preserving a culture doesn't happen from a distance. 201 00:22:56,424.0416596 --> 00:23:00,294.0416596 It happens when we show up, ask questions, and honor the answers. 202 00:23:00,744.0416596 --> 00:23:02,964.0416596 Let's make sure that Baja aren't a scene. 203 00:23:02,994.0416596 --> 00:23:04,254.0416596 But truly heard. 204 00:23:04,914.0416596 --> 00:23:07,884.0416596 This movement isn't about freezing the past in Amber. 205 00:23:08,124.0416596 --> 00:23:14,604.0416596 It's about steering the future with one hand on the rudder of tradition, it's about ensuring that the next generation. 206 00:23:15,159.0416596 --> 00:23:19,539.0416596 Doesn't just inherit memories, but tools, stories, and purpose. 207 00:23:20,139.0416596 --> 00:23:28,149.0416596 Now, you might be wondering, why should I even do this? Well, the Baja are extremely knowledgeable and can teach us multitude of things. 208 00:23:28,749.0416596 --> 00:23:35,349.0416596 One being free diving techniques, breathing control, pressure, adaptation, and underwater hunting without modern gear. 209 00:23:35,889.0416596 --> 00:23:42,399.0416596 They spear fish with precision, patience, and reading underwater currents to catch fish sustainably. 210 00:23:43,359.0416596 --> 00:23:50,649.0416596 Also, they're boat building, crafting lepa bolts by hand, using traditional tools and no blueprints, just memory and skill. 211 00:23:51,309.0416596 --> 00:24:04,539.0416596 In addition, their navigation and marine stewardship by using wave patterns, stars and winds to travel across open sea without instruments they can understand reef systems, fishing seasons, and respectful harvesting. 212 00:24:05,199.0416596 --> 00:24:27,129.0416596 Another thing being their healing practices, such as natural remedies and spiritual rituals but most of all, to prevent the world from losing another culture and another language, one language dies every two weeks, meaning by the end of this century, half of the world, 7,000 languages are predicted to be gone. 213 00:24:28,509.0416596 --> 00:24:35,649.0416596 I would like you to imagine the world as a mosaic, a sort of painting, and when one of these indigenous communities. 214 00:24:36,159.0416596 --> 00:24:41,109.0416596 Dies when one of these languages dies, one of these cultures dies. 215 00:24:41,679.0416596 --> 00:24:54,39.0416596 A piece of the human mosaic is falling with it, and therefore, we are losing a point of view, a perspective, and a people that we can learn from. 216 00:24:55,629.0416596 --> 00:24:58,779.0416596 I would like to remind you that the Baja aren't lost. 217 00:24:58,989.0416596 --> 00:25:02,319.0416596 They're just drifting in a world that no longer values the tide. 218 00:25:02,964.0416596 --> 00:25:09,84.0416596 But if we can pause, if we can dive in and hear their song, maybe we'll find ourselves a little closer to the truth. 219 00:25:09,474.0416596 --> 00:25:18,654.0416596 So next time you hear the ocean, imagine it Carrying stories of freedom, of survival, and of a people who never needed maps only stars. 220 00:25:19,104.0416596 --> 00:25:21,744.0416596 Thank you for joining me on this journey across the waves. 221 00:25:22,89.0416596 --> 00:25:32,859.0416596 Next episode we'll travel to the snow covered lands to meet a people who sing with a throat of the wind and ride reindeer through the Arctic desk. 222 00:25:33,489.0416596 --> 00:25:38,109.0416596 Until then, stay curious, stay kind, and keep the stories alive.
The Baja can dive up to 200 feet deep without equipment all in one breath.
The Baja are literally and figuratively built different. 3 00:00:12,483.375851365 --> 00:00:21,723.375851365 Welcome back to Stories of Survival, the podcast where we preserve the pulse of endangered cultures before they drift too far from the shores of memory. 4 00:00:22,143.375851365 --> 00:00:26,943.375851365 In our last episode, we journeyed through the golden grasses of East Africa. 5 00:00:27,513.375851365 --> 00:00:31,983.375851365 Walking beside the proud warriors and wise elders of the Maasai. 6 00:00:32,673.375851365 --> 00:00:40,533.375851365 But today we leave the dust behind and we trade spears for spear guns because today we set sail. 7 00:00:41,403.375851365 --> 00:00:49,623.375851365 Imagine a life without fences, no highways, no borders, no land at all beneath their feet. 8 00:00:49,623.375851365 --> 00:00:55,533.375851365 Just the wide open sky above and the endless restless sea below. 9 00:00:56,28.375851365 --> 00:01:15,378.375851365 Today we enter the world of the Baja, the legendary sea nomads of Southeast Asia, of people who have lived their lives afloat for generations, drifting with the tides, diving with the fish, and carrying their culture across coral reefs instead of continents. 10 00:01:16,128.375851365 --> 00:01:24,768.375851365 The Baja aren't just fishermen or sailors, they're ocean dwellers, people who've called the sea home for over a thousand years. 11 00:01:25,233.375851365 --> 00:01:31,803.375851365 And their story is one of resilience, resourcefulness, and reverence for the water that sustains them. 12 00:01:32,703.375851365 --> 00:01:44,853.37585136 So tighten your ropes, steady your balance, and breathe deep because we're about to plunge into a world where the ocean is your cradle, your classroom, your kitchen, and your cathedral. 13 00:01:45,213.37585136 --> 00:01:49,833.37585136 I'm your host Philip, an explorer of voices and paddler of forgotten waters. 14 00:01:50,343.37585136 --> 00:01:55,833.37585136 Welcome to the world of the Baja, the last of the true c nomads. 15 00:01:58,443.37585136 --> 00:02:01,653.37585136 For the Baja, they live a life between wind and water. 16 00:02:02,103.37585136 --> 00:02:09,303.37585136 You wake up not to an alarm clock, but to the rhythmic lap of waves kissing the hull of your wooden boat. 17 00:02:09,363.37585136 --> 00:02:15,963.37585136 Sadly, there is no snooze button, just the sound of the C, always calling, always moving. 18 00:02:16,548.37585136 --> 00:02:33,978.37585136 The smell of salt is in the air and the horizon stretches out like a canvas of endless blue and beneath your stilted home or houseboat or coral reef, teeming with light, color, motion and dinner you dive in. 19 00:02:34,98.37585136 --> 00:02:41,808.37585136 No oxygen tank, no flippers, just your lungs, your knowledge, and a spleen that's evolved to store. 20 00:02:41,838.37585136 --> 00:02:42,888.37585136 Extra oxygen. 21 00:02:43,443.37585136 --> 00:02:48,963.37585136 Seriously, science confirms this, and 60 meters below, you'll harvest your meal. 22 00:02:50,43.37585136 --> 00:02:51,333.37585136 This isn't fantasy. 23 00:02:51,393.37585136 --> 00:02:59,823.37585136 This is daily life for the Baja people, a community of sea nomads who've lived on the waters of Southeast Asia for over a thousand years. 24 00:03:00,303.37585136 --> 00:03:05,433.37585136 In 2018, researchers studying the Baja discovered something astounding. 25 00:03:06,33.37585136 --> 00:03:08,703.37585136 They have genetically enlarged spleens. 26 00:03:08,943.37585136 --> 00:03:11,493.37585136 Nearly 50% larger than average. 27 00:03:12,138.37585136 --> 00:03:17,298.37585136 That's not training, that's evolution over centuries of life at sea. 28 00:03:17,358.37585136 --> 00:03:20,808.37585136 Their bodies have literally adapted to the deep. 29 00:03:21,138.37585136 --> 00:03:36,258.37585136 They have lived with the water for over a thousand years, and when the Baja dive, their spleens contract, pushing extra red blood cells into circulation, giving them a longer breath hold, and a greater resistance to low oxygen. 30 00:03:37,758.37585136 --> 00:03:44,928.37585136 How long can they stay down? Well, in some cases up to 13 minutes and not just shallow dives either. 31 00:03:45,228.37585136 --> 00:03:52,188.37585136 The Baja have been recorded to reach depths of up to 60 to 70 meters for reference. 32 00:03:52,188.37585136 --> 00:04:00,108.37585136 That's the height of a 20 story building straight down with absolutely no gear for comparison. 33 00:04:00,168.37585136 --> 00:04:05,298.37585136 An average untrained person might be able to dive four to six meters. 34 00:04:05,613.37585136 --> 00:04:16,293.37585136 And experienced free divers generally max out around 30 meters, and your average person can only hold their breath for about 40 to 90 seconds. 35 00:04:17,163.37585136 --> 00:04:21,393.37585136 The Baja literally blow that out of the water, pun intended. 36 00:04:21,933.37585136 --> 00:04:24,648.37585136 However, this isn't a one-off daredevil stunt. 37 00:04:24,798.37585136 --> 00:04:26,208.37585136 This is just breakfast. 38 00:04:26,838.37585136 --> 00:04:35,253.37585136 They glide beneath the waves, spearing, fish, harvesting sea cucumbers, octopuses, and shellfish with grace and precision. 39 00:04:35,898.37585136 --> 00:04:38,268.37585136 Their eyes adapt underwater too. 40 00:04:38,568.37585136 --> 00:04:48,36.26685136 Some Baja children have been found to have enhanced underwater vision, able to focus more clearly beneath the surface than children who grow up on land. 41 00:04:48,966.26685136 --> 00:05:03,601.26685136 There are sometimes called sea gypsies in tourism brochures or pop culture, but let's be honest that term, even though widespread is an outsider's label, a romanticized colonial leftover, the term Baja pronounced. 42 00:05:04,176.26685136 --> 00:05:10,581.26685136 But Jao is the respectful, self-identified name that honors their heritage and dignity. 43 00:05:11,931.26685136 --> 00:05:21,921.26685136 You'll find the Baja scattered like pearls across the maritime zones of the Southern Philippines, Eastern Malaysia, especially Saba and coastal Indonesia. 44 00:05:22,791.26685136 --> 00:05:24,561.26685136 And here's something to grapple with. 45 00:05:24,981.26685136 --> 00:05:28,71.26685136 Many Baja are technically stateless. 46 00:05:28,281.26685136 --> 00:05:32,571.26685136 They've spent centuries drifting between nations, cultures and tides. 47 00:05:33,66.26685136 --> 00:05:47,556.26685136 They were seafarers long before borders were drawn on maps, and because they rarely register births or claim citizenship, many have no official identity in the eyes of the government that now rule the lands they fish near. 48 00:05:48,246.26685136 --> 00:05:58,296.26685136 There are people shaped by the sea Uneed yet deeply rooted a culture that never sought to conquer land, but to live harmoniously with the ocean. 49 00:05:58,806.26685136 --> 00:06:06,276.26685136 And in a world obsessed with territory and borders, the bajas very existence is a radical act of fluidity. 50 00:06:07,262.94303307 --> 00:06:19,982.94303307 Now, when I say the ocean is home to the Baja, I mean that literally, traditionally the Baja lived on boats called Le Lippa, narrow, shallow wooden vessels with sails and tiny living quarters. 51 00:06:20,192.94303307 --> 00:06:24,812.94303307 Think of them as houseboats, minus the luxury, plus a whole lot of effort and soul. 52 00:06:25,712.94303307 --> 00:06:27,872.94303307 These boats aren't just transportation. 53 00:06:28,592.94303307 --> 00:06:34,532.94303307 They're homes, nurseries, kitchens, altars, and sometimes even classrooms. 54 00:06:34,742.94303307 --> 00:06:43,964.48503307 Children were born on boats, raised on boats and learn to swim before they could walk, and they could even read the currents long before they could read a book. 55 00:06:44,624.48503307 --> 00:06:52,364.48503307 And though many Baja have shifted to stilt houses, which are timber homes, balanced on poles rising straight from the shallow reef flats. 56 00:06:52,949.48503307 --> 00:06:54,719.48503307 One thing hasn't changed. 57 00:06:55,619.48503307 --> 00:06:57,779.48503307 The sea is still everything. 58 00:06:59,39.48503307 --> 00:07:04,499.48503307 Their homes are built on the ocean, not beside it, and often kilometers from the nearest land. 59 00:07:04,949.48503307 --> 00:07:13,439.48503307 Imagine waking up and stepping outside on a bamboo platform with nothing but turquoise water beneath you and the distant hum of the tide. 60 00:07:13,979.48503307 --> 00:07:19,79.48503307 For the Baja the Sea is not a resource to be extracted, and it's not a tourist destination. 61 00:07:19,634.48503307 --> 00:07:20,264.48503307 For them. 62 00:07:20,594.48503307 --> 00:07:36,524.48503307 The sea is an ancestor, a provider, a cradle of life, a school, a supermarket, a playground, and a spiritual sanctuary all rolled into one where we see salt water, they see stories where we might see danger, they see direction. 63 00:07:37,64.48503307 --> 00:07:41,654.48503307 And this relationship with the ocean isn't just cultural, it's physical. 64 00:07:42,224.48503307 --> 00:07:50,144.48503307 As we touched on earlier, the Baja have lived at sea for over a thousand years so long that their bodies actually adapted to it. 65 00:07:50,234.48503307 --> 00:07:55,544.48503307 They have a suite of biological traits, some of which science is only beginning to understand. 66 00:07:56,84.48503307 --> 00:08:03,97.20603307 They've been found to possess greater underwater vision in childhood, and they can slow their heart rates dramatically during dives. 67 00:08:03,637.20603307 --> 00:08:10,89.48503307 What's also known as the mammalian dive reflex, which lets them conserve oxygen like seals or whales. 68 00:08:10,989.48503307 --> 00:08:14,289.48503307 And yes, they have those famously enlarged spleens. 69 00:08:14,289.48503307 --> 00:08:19,809.48503307 We talked about basically an internal oxygen tank shaped by evolution itself. 70 00:08:20,109.48503307 --> 00:08:23,109.48503307 They're biologically built for life under water. 71 00:08:23,459.48503307 --> 00:08:28,289.48503307 Extraordinary isn't just their biology, it's their philosophy. 72 00:08:28,949.48503307 --> 00:08:32,39.48503307 In Baja culture, the sea doesn't belong to them. 73 00:08:32,279.48503307 --> 00:08:33,899.48503307 They belong to the sea. 74 00:08:34,139.48503307 --> 00:08:47,969.48503307 They believe in taking only what is needed, offering gratitude and passing down wisdom from generation to generation, not in textbooks, but in songs, stories, and the practiced art of survival. 75 00:08:48,344.48503307 --> 00:08:56,504.48503307 And in a world where we are trying to remember how to live in balance with nature, the Baja never forgot. 76 00:08:56,954.48503307 --> 00:09:03,104.48503307 Nature to them is an ancestor, a teacher, a provider, and a spiritual force. 77 00:09:03,674.48503307 --> 00:09:08,834.48503307 Now, here's where things get even more fascinating and sadly fragile. 78 00:09:09,104.48503307 --> 00:09:12,164.48503307 The Baja don't speak just one language. 79 00:09:12,539.48503307 --> 00:09:15,539.48503307 Therefore, meaning there is no one single Baja language. 80 00:09:15,719.48503307 --> 00:09:26,69.48503307 Instead, they speak a whole array of closely related languages connected to the Hessian branch of the Aronian languages. 81 00:09:26,489.48503307 --> 00:09:35,549.48503307 The dialect and languages gently shift depending on where they live, and they, they're often mixed with local tongues wherever they reside. 82 00:09:36,329.48503307 --> 00:09:38,939.48503307 It's a language shaped by water. 83 00:09:39,434.48503307 --> 00:09:47,204.48503307 Travel and adaptation just like the people themselves in Malaysia, especially in Saba. 84 00:09:47,264.48503307 --> 00:09:58,154.48503307 Many Sam Baja speak, Sam Baja, a broad linguistic group with several dialects that can differ dramatically even from village to village. 85 00:09:59,204.48503307 --> 00:10:14,234.48503307 In the Southern Philippines, particularly the Ulu Archipelago, they speak sma, a melodic complex tongue passed down through oral storytelling, lullabies and ancient chants that guide everything from fishing to prayer. 86 00:10:14,414.48503307 --> 00:10:17,174.48503307 Here are some common greetings in sma. 87 00:10:17,834.48503307 --> 00:10:19,244.48503307 Good morning is Aha. 88 00:10:20,684.48503307 --> 00:10:22,544.48503307 Good afternoon is Aha Koha. 89 00:10:23,294.48503307 --> 00:10:30,224.48503307 My name is Translates to Koi, so in my case it would be Koi Philip. 90 00:10:30,434.48503307 --> 00:10:33,464.48503307 And finally, thank You means Pu. 91 00:10:34,364.48503307 --> 00:10:42,494.48503307 In Indonesia, you'll hear dialects blended with local inflections and sometimes mixing in Indonesian words. 92 00:10:42,614.48503307 --> 00:10:46,214.48503307 This is especially common among younger speakers. 93 00:10:46,829.48503307 --> 00:10:51,599.48503307 This linguistic variety is part of what makes the Baja so beautifully complex. 94 00:10:52,49.48503307 --> 00:11:03,585.72113058 Their speech is a living archive of their nomadic history filled with oceanic metaphors, directional knowledge, and environmental cues we don't even have words for in English. 95 00:11:04,665.72113058 --> 00:11:12,795.72113058 There are terms for currents, reef types, monsoon winds, fish behaviors, and boat navigation. 96 00:11:12,795.72113058 --> 00:11:13,935.72113058 So precise. 97 00:11:13,935.72113058 --> 00:11:15,585.72113058 They could rival A GPS. 98 00:11:16,350.72113058 --> 00:11:18,840.72113058 But here's the hard truth. 99 00:11:19,170.72113058 --> 00:11:23,40.72113058 These languages, this web of ancestral voices is fading. 100 00:11:24,60.72113058 --> 00:11:37,170.72113058 Why? Because as national borders hardened and formal education systems push for standardized national languages, younger generations of Baja are growing up without the fluency in their mother tongues. 101 00:11:37,890.72113058 --> 00:11:41,490.72113058 They're taught to speak the language of the state, not the sea. 102 00:11:41,970.72113058 --> 00:11:44,940.72113058 And when language goes, it's not just vocabulary. 103 00:11:44,940.72113058 --> 00:11:45,420.72113058 We lose. 104 00:11:45,795.72113058 --> 00:11:50,805.72113058 We lose songs, the ones that lull children into sleep and awaken spirits. 105 00:11:50,805.72113058 --> 00:11:54,75.72113058 During rituals, we lose oral maps. 106 00:11:54,105.72113058 --> 00:12:08,25.72113058 Stories passed from grandparent to child that explain how to read the wind or when the fish will return, we lose the names, the unique intimate words for different fish tides, weather patterns, and reef zones. 107 00:12:08,355.72113058 --> 00:12:10,125.72113058 We lose cultural identity. 108 00:12:10,155.72113058 --> 00:12:16,155.72113058 That deep sense of belonging to a world far more ancient and fluid than any passport. 109 00:12:17,265.72113058 --> 00:12:27,45.72113058 One Baja Elder once told a researcher, when our children stop speaking our language, they forget who they are, and the sea becomes silent. 110 00:12:27,105.72113058 --> 00:12:29,175.72113058 That's why we're here. 111 00:12:29,265.72113058 --> 00:12:37,455.72113058 That's why this podcast exists, because language isn't just communication, it's culture, ecology, and survival all liberated into one. 112 00:12:39,450.72113058 --> 00:12:42,960.72113058 Now let's discover a culture that flows like water. 113 00:12:42,990.72113058 --> 00:12:50,10.72113058 So what makes the Baja culture truly unique? Well, for one, they are master free divers and spear fishers. 114 00:12:50,100.72113058 --> 00:12:53,250.72113058 Children learn to swim far before they could even walk. 115 00:12:53,250.72113058 --> 00:12:54,0.72113058 Seriously. 116 00:12:54,270.72113058 --> 00:12:56,790.72113058 Imagine a toddler in diapers and goggles. 117 00:12:57,510.72113058 --> 00:13:04,170.72113058 They dive using wooden goggles carved by hand, and often use weights tied to their waist to sink faster. 118 00:13:04,831.87102897 --> 00:13:18,451.87102897 Baja perform Igal, a slow flowing dance, often accompanied by ang, a set of small nobbed gongs, ang, which are drums and sometimes bamboo flutes. 119 00:13:19,321.87102897 --> 00:13:24,301.87102897 Igal is performed during weddings, religious festivals, and ceremonies to honor spirits. 120 00:13:24,751.87102897 --> 00:13:27,481.87102897 The dance mimics the motions of the sea life. 121 00:13:27,631.87102897 --> 00:13:31,351.87102897 Gliding fish, waving seaweed, and rolling tides. 122 00:13:31,591.87102897 --> 00:13:33,871.87102897 It's both performance and prayer. 123 00:13:34,101.87102897 --> 00:13:43,941.87102897 Dancers are often dressed in ornate costumes made from brightly colored silk or cotton, and they're embellished with sequins beads, and gold thread. 124 00:13:44,931.87102897 --> 00:13:49,161.87102897 Baja weddings are very elaborate and in fact very colorful affairs. 125 00:13:49,251.87102897 --> 00:14:01,401.87102897 The actual wedding day is a community spectacle, and the couple is paraded on beautifully decorated bolts called lepa adorned with vibrant Sam flags fluttering above. 126 00:14:02,369.43282214 --> 00:14:04,409.43282214 Even their architecture tells a story. 127 00:14:05,144.43282214 --> 00:14:13,454.43282214 But Jiao families often lived in balo, stilt houses built above coral reefs or floating homes last to boats. 128 00:14:13,844.43282214 --> 00:14:18,14.43282214 These homes are a lightweight, portable, and tethered by logs or anchors. 129 00:14:18,434.43282214 --> 00:14:27,374.43282214 They're construction reflects a nomadic way of life, dictated by monsoons, fishing, migration, and intergenerational knowledge of the tides. 130 00:14:28,49.43282214 --> 00:14:29,69.43282214 Food is prepared. 131 00:14:29,129.43282214 --> 00:14:37,800.32882214 Communally grilled econ bacca, which is charcoal fish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers are dietary staples for the Baja people. 132 00:14:38,190.32882214 --> 00:14:46,422.44971415 Every aspect of Baja life from cuisine to cosmology is deeply intertwined with the sea. 133 00:14:47,922.44971415 --> 00:14:52,632.44971415 This is not just a culture, it's a living archive of maritime human history. 134 00:14:53,127.44971415 --> 00:15:02,157.44971415 To live as the Baja do is to inhabit a fluid world, one where identity is inseparable from the ocean's pulse. 135 00:15:02,987.91965958 --> 00:15:20,267.91965958 Now religion among the Baja is a blend of Islam introduced through trade and animus beliefs that predated while most paja identify as Sunni Muslims and observe Islamic practices, many still perform rituals rooted in ancestral sea warship. 136 00:15:20,732.91965958 --> 00:15:27,812.91965958 Before long voyages or important ceremonies, offerings like rice, beetle leaves, or diet cloth may be made. 137 00:15:27,812.91965958 --> 00:15:32,762.91965958 T the Lord of the sea and other spirits of the sea. 138 00:15:33,362.91965958 --> 00:15:41,252.91965958 Shamans known as are sometimes called to heal illnesses, believed to be caused by angry spirits or broken taboos. 139 00:15:41,702.91965958 --> 00:15:47,192.91965958 In these moments, spiritual practice becomes survival and tradition becomes protection. 140 00:15:48,632.91965958 --> 00:15:51,482.91965958 They believe in sea spirits and ancestral guardians. 141 00:15:51,692.91965958 --> 00:15:53,732.91965958 These spirits aren't just folklore. 142 00:15:54,92.91965958 --> 00:15:58,802.91965958 They're considered very real presences embedded into the fabric of daily life. 143 00:15:59,222.91965958 --> 00:16:10,562.91965958 A sudden storm, an illness after a dive or a poor fishing catch might all be interpreted as signs that a spirit has been offended or balance has been broken. 144 00:16:11,342.91965958 --> 00:16:16,712.91965958 When the sea gets angry, the Baja don't just think it up to, oh, it's bad weather. 145 00:16:17,192.91965958 --> 00:16:19,472.91965958 No, they read it as a message. 146 00:16:19,892.91965958 --> 00:16:22,202.91965958 In these moments, offerings are made. 147 00:16:22,772.91965958 --> 00:16:33,992.91965958 These offerings like the ones discussed earlier, such as bele leaves are gently floated on the waves or left near mangroves and reef outcrops where the spirits are believed to dwell. 148 00:16:34,52.91965958 --> 00:16:39,417.91965958 Some families may even burn incense or recite chance passed down orally through generations. 149 00:16:40,457.9196596 --> 00:16:47,927.9196596 At the center of the spiritual practices is the HUN or Sea Shaman, a figure of immense respect and authority. 150 00:16:48,227.9196596 --> 00:17:00,677.9196596 The D is a spiritual mediator who can diagnose spirit caused illnesses, perform healing rituals, burlesque, voyages, and even interpret os from the tides, stars or dreams. 151 00:17:01,577.9196596 --> 00:17:09,287.9196596 Their knowledge is part inherited and part initiated, usually passed down from master to apprentice over many years. 152 00:17:09,902.9196596 --> 00:17:18,752.9196596 In some cases, Aun may go into a trance-like state to speak with the spirit world offering messages or warnings to the community. 153 00:17:19,682.9196596 --> 00:17:26,102.9196596 In some cases, a ceremonial dance is performed not for entertainment, but to appease the spirits of the sea. 154 00:17:26,402.9196596 --> 00:17:34,382.9196596 During this ritual, the shaman may wear symbolic attire and use specific instruments like drums and chants to call the spirits. 155 00:17:35,862.9196596 --> 00:17:39,762.9196596 In the end for the Baja, the Sea is not just water. 156 00:17:40,212.9196596 --> 00:17:41,142.9196596 It is alive. 157 00:17:41,202.9196596 --> 00:17:48,132.9196596 It listens, and if you know how to read its moods and respect its spirits, it will provide. 158 00:17:49,647.9196596 --> 00:17:54,147.9196596 Hey, if you made it this far, thanks for diving deep with me into the world of the Baja. 159 00:17:54,927.9196596 --> 00:17:56,37.9196596 Don't sign off just yet. 160 00:17:56,37.9196596 --> 00:18:09,957.9196596 There is much more to discuss, but if you learn something new, felt inspired, or want to support stories like this getting told, do me a favor, please, like, follow, subscribe, share, or whatever your platform lets you do, hit that button. 161 00:18:10,197.9196596 --> 00:18:12,687.9196596 Smash it like you're diving for sea cucumbers. 162 00:18:13,137.9196596 --> 00:18:16,977.9196596 Rate the show, leave a review and tag us if you're sharing it on social media. 163 00:18:17,712.9196596 --> 00:18:19,932.9196596 I'd love to see where you're listening from. 164 00:18:20,52.9196596 --> 00:18:36,552.9196596 Remember to follow advocates of Heritage on Instagram and TikTok, and if you have ideas for future episodes, questions, or just wanna share ideas over indigenous cultures and languages, please share with me, slide into the dms, or shoot me an email at advocates of heritage@gmail.com. 165 00:18:37,2.9196596 --> 00:18:44,532.9196596 Your support helps keep these voices alive and this project afloat literally, let's keep preserving the past one story at a time. 166 00:18:44,802.9196596 --> 00:18:46,302.9196596 Now, back to the episode. 167 00:18:49,242.9196596 --> 00:18:54,432.9196596 Sadly, the Baja are facing a lot of pressure, especially with modern struggles. 168 00:18:54,732.9196596 --> 00:18:59,592.9196596 The truth is many Baja are completely invisible on paper. 169 00:18:59,862.9196596 --> 00:19:07,692.9196596 Entire generations have lived and died without a birth certificate, passport, or any form of official citizenship. 170 00:19:07,782.9196596 --> 00:19:12,192.9196596 In the eyes of modern nation states, they quite literally don't exist. 171 00:19:12,522.9196596 --> 00:19:15,282.9196596 That means no healthcare, no education. 172 00:19:16,32.9196596 --> 00:19:18,972.9196596 No legal protections and no political voice. 173 00:19:19,92.9196596 --> 00:19:31,512.9196596 They are stateless at sea, caught in bureaucratic limbo between countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, none of which fully claim or protect them, but the pressure isn't just legal. 174 00:19:31,782.9196596 --> 00:19:42,432.9196596 Their way of life is' under siege from a cascade of modern challenges, one being overfishing by large commercial fleets, which has completely devastated fish stocks in coastal waters. 175 00:19:42,987.9196596 --> 00:19:47,217.9196596 Making traditional spearfishing a lot less fruitful. 176 00:19:47,277.9196596 --> 00:19:55,161.6606596 The Baja who fish sustainably and take only what they need now find themselves competing with industries dragging up everything in their path. 177 00:19:55,971.6606596 --> 00:19:59,241.6606596 Coral reefs are also the heart of Baja fishing grounds. 178 00:20:00,261.6606596 --> 00:20:03,561.6606596 And thanks to coral bleaching, a lot of them are dying. 179 00:20:03,861.6606596 --> 00:20:14,751.6606596 In addition, thanks to rising sea temperatures, ocean in acidification and pollution, these very fragile ecosystems home to the fish they depend on are collapsing in real time. 180 00:20:15,591.6606596 --> 00:20:27,921.6606596 Also, government bans on tradition fixing methods such as dynamite fishing, which were once common among a lot of Baja communities have cut access to what they have historically relied on to survive. 181 00:20:28,611.6606596 --> 00:20:33,711.6606596 While, yes, dynamite fishing can be harmful to the environment and it is rightfully banned. 182 00:20:34,521.6606596 --> 00:20:42,231.6606596 Many of these bands come without offering alternatives or support, which leaves entire communities without a way to fish. 183 00:20:43,341.6606596 --> 00:20:47,61.6606596 And perhaps the most destructive of all is forest resettlement. 184 00:20:47,991.6606596 --> 00:20:54,231.6606596 In places like Saba, Malaysia, the government has forced the Baja to push them into land-based housing projects. 185 00:20:54,501.6606596 --> 00:20:56,271.6606596 And when they did this without consent. 186 00:20:56,871.6606596 --> 00:21:03,411.6606596 Adequate preparation or cultural understanding for a people whose identity is tied to the tides, boats, and sea breeze. 187 00:21:03,831.6606596 --> 00:21:07,71.6606596 Being forced onto land is very distorting. 188 00:21:08,31.6606596 --> 00:21:13,941.6606596 The result is a loss of language, loss of tradition, and loss of identity. 189 00:21:14,541.6606596 --> 00:21:15,861.6606596 And here's the harshest truth. 190 00:21:16,401.6606596 --> 00:21:22,405.5608863 UN recognition equals silence, and silence equals cultural extinction. 191 00:21:22,635.5608863 --> 00:21:32,64.0416596 Without official Documentation, the Baja remain excluded from national census records, history, books, and policy decisions. 192 00:21:32,484.0416596 --> 00:21:46,854.0416596 It's as if they were never there, and if we don't listen, really listen to the stories, the songs to spirit of the scene, nomads, they could be gone before the next generation even knows that they were there. 193 00:21:48,459.0416596 --> 00:22:01,29.0416596 Now, here's where you come in by donating to our mission, subscribing to our podcast, following the podcast, or sharing our podcast or following on any of our platforms, you're opening a doorway. 194 00:22:01,599.0416596 --> 00:22:07,329.0416596 Your support helps us travel directly and hear the voices of the Baja, not just talk to them. 195 00:22:08,289.0416596 --> 00:22:15,249.0416596 It allows us to sit beside their boat builders, dive with our fishermen, and learn hand to hand. 196 00:22:15,849.0416596 --> 00:22:17,529.0416596 And heart to heart. 197 00:22:18,279.0416596 --> 00:22:31,389.0416596 We're here to listen, document to be taught, and to share, to understand the rhythms of the le, the pulse of the, and the sacred bond between a people and their sea. 198 00:22:31,779.0416596 --> 00:22:44,649.0416596 Then we bring back that knowledge, not to keep, but to share through podcast episodes such as this films, exhibitions, and workshops that help amplify indigenous voices, not replace them. 199 00:22:45,264.0416596 --> 00:22:50,544.0416596 So if this story moved you, please like, share, subscribe, and follow. 200 00:22:50,634.0416596 --> 00:22:56,334.0416596 But more than that, support because preserving a culture doesn't happen from a distance. 201 00:22:56,424.0416596 --> 00:23:00,294.0416596 It happens when we show up, ask questions, and honor the answers. 202 00:23:00,744.0416596 --> 00:23:02,964.0416596 Let's make sure that Baja aren't a scene. 203 00:23:02,994.0416596 --> 00:23:04,254.0416596 But truly heard. 204 00:23:04,914.0416596 --> 00:23:07,884.0416596 This movement isn't about freezing the past in Amber. 205 00:23:08,124.0416596 --> 00:23:14,604.0416596 It's about steering the future with one hand on the rudder of tradition, it's about ensuring that the next generation. 206 00:23:15,159.0416596 --> 00:23:19,539.0416596 Doesn't just inherit memories, but tools, stories, and purpose. 207 00:23:20,139.0416596 --> 00:23:28,149.0416596 Now, you might be wondering, why should I even do this? Well, the Baja are extremely knowledgeable and can teach us multitude of things. 208 00:23:28,749.0416596 --> 00:23:35,349.0416596 One being free diving techniques, breathing control, pressure, adaptation, and underwater hunting without modern gear. 209 00:23:35,889.0416596 --> 00:23:42,399.0416596 They spear fish with precision, patience, and reading underwater currents to catch fish sustainably. 210 00:23:43,359.0416596 --> 00:23:50,649.0416596 Also, they're boat building, crafting lepa bolts by hand, using traditional tools and no blueprints, just memory and skill. 211 00:23:51,309.0416596 --> 00:24:04,539.0416596 In addition, their navigation and marine stewardship by using wave patterns, stars and winds to travel across open sea without instruments they can understand reef systems, fishing seasons, and respectful harvesting. 212 00:24:05,199.0416596 --> 00:24:27,129.0416596 Another thing being their healing practices, such as natural remedies and spiritual rituals but most of all, to prevent the world from losing another culture and another language, one language dies every two weeks, meaning by the end of this century, half of the world, 7,000 languages are predicted to be gone. 213 00:24:28,509.0416596 --> 00:24:35,649.0416596 I would like you to imagine the world as a mosaic, a sort of painting, and when one of these indigenous communities. 214 00:24:36,159.0416596 --> 00:24:41,109.0416596 Dies when one of these languages dies, one of these cultures dies. 215 00:24:41,679.0416596 --> 00:24:54,39.0416596 A piece of the human mosaic is falling with it, and therefore, we are losing a point of view, a perspective, and a people that we can learn from. 216 00:24:55,629.0416596 --> 00:24:58,779.0416596 I would like to remind you that the Baja aren't lost. 217 00:24:58,989.0416596 --> 00:25:02,319.0416596 They're just drifting in a world that no longer values the tide. 218 00:25:02,964.0416596 --> 00:25:09,84.0416596 But if we can pause, if we can dive in and hear their song, maybe we'll find ourselves a little closer to the truth. 219 00:25:09,474.0416596 --> 00:25:18,654.0416596 So next time you hear the ocean, imagine it Carrying stories of freedom, of survival, and of a people who never needed maps only stars. 220 00:25:19,104.0416596 --> 00:25:21,744.0416596 Thank you for joining me on this journey across the waves. 221 00:25:22,89.0416596 --> 00:25:32,859.0416596 Next episode we'll travel to the snow covered lands to meet a people who sing with a throat of the wind and ride reindeer through the Arctic desk. 222 00:25:33,489.0416596 --> 00:25:38,109.0416596 Until then, stay curious, stay kind, and keep the stories alive.
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