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Daimohk is a Chechen word meaning ‘ancestral land’. Many of us feel a sense of belonging to the place we were born. This tie is strengthened when it is the birthplace of our ancestors and after time a sense of identity comes into balance with the plants, animals, seasons, and the earth underfoot. Stories in these settings develop, become folklore, and then myth, until the identity of the living human being is intertwined with the symbols, sights, sounds and smells of the land itself on a cellular level. Any threat to the land at this point becomes a threat to the people. So, when many generations have been committed and born to the earth, and if there is consensus among the people, some will leave to continue an identity that has become indistinguishable from the land, and some will remain. Those who remain are not fighting for the land, nor are they defending their identity, they are fighting for something much simpler. Home. People decide they are ready to die for this because they know if their blood spills it is simply a payment in thanks to a homeland that will exist forever; not just in the hearts of their kin but also in the hearts of any human being who knows or finds out. Peace is love.
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