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. The design elements vary among these ethnic groups, with the greatest refinement being found among the Maranao.
Detail of a panolong with a naga motif, from the National Museum of Anthropology
A Maranao kubing jaw harp handle made from horn and brass with an S-shaped naga design and a fish
A Maranao kulintang ensemble
Detail of okil carvings on a Sama-Bajau vinta
The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro. As Muslim-majority ethnic groups, they form the largest non-Christian population in the Philippines, and comprise about 5% of the country's total population, or 5 million people.
Moro people of Mindanao playing a traditional Maguindanaon pair of agung (large hanging gongs in the kulintang ensemble) using "balu" (rubber-tipped wooden beaters).
Three Moro men from the Sulu Archipelago in the 1900s.
The kalis, a traditional sword among Moro cultures
The state boat, a dapang, of Sultan Harun Ar-Rashid of Sulu (c. 1898)