Counting years Backwards

Somewhere in South America there is an Indian tribe whose idea of the past and future

seems to be exactly opposite to ours. We refer to the past as behind us, and to the future as ahead of us.

To this particular tribe however, the past is thought of as being ahead of them, and the future as being behind them.

At first, this may seem very strange to us, and many will undoubtedly wonder how anyone could possibly think that way. 

The reasoning of these Indians is quite logical. It goes like this: All that they have experienced: their mistakes and failures and lessons learned and so on is considered as being in front of them. And it is there for their contemplation and betterment. The future, on the other hand, is behind them because it has not been experienced.

We have this same idea in Tok Pisin, where we refer to the future as taim bihain, that is, the time that is coming somewhat later. 

The only negative expression is the lot, is to say the someone’s future is behind them!

-after W. Brawand, SIL