Dayak - The Native People of Borneo
Dayak are the native people of Borneo. It's a loose term for more than 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, located principally inside the interior of Borneo, each using its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily identifiable.
Dayak languages are categorized as section of the Austronesian languages in Asia. The Dayak were animist in belief; however many converted to Islam as the 19th century, mass conversion to Christianity.
The Dayak people of Borneo possess an indigenous account of the history, mostly in oral literature, partly on paper in PAPAN TURAI (wooden records), and partly in common cultural customary practices. Among prominent accounts from the origin from the Dayak people includes the mythical oral epic of TETEK TAHTUM from the Ngaju-Ot Danum Dayak of Central Borneo, it narrates the ancestors from the all Dayak people descended coming from the heavens before dispensing coming from the inland towards the downstream shores of Borneo.
Inside the southern Borneo flourished the independent state of Nansarunai established from the Ma'anyan Dayaks just before the 12th century. The kingdom suffered two major attacks coming from the Majapahit forces that caused the decline and fall from the kingdom by the year 1389, the attacks are referred to as Nansarunai Usak Jawa (meaning the destruction of the Nansarunai by the Javanese ) from the oral accounts from the Maanyan people.
This contributed towards the migration from the Maanyans towards the Central and South Borneo region. The colonial accounts and reports of Dayak activity in Borneo detail carefully cultivated economic and political relationships along with communities along with an ample body of research and study considering historical Dayak migrations.
In particular, the Iban as well as Sea Dayak exploits inside the South China Seas are documented, due to their ferocity and aggressive culture of war against sea dwelling groups and emerging Western trade interests inside the 18th and 19th centuries.
In 1824, due to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 e their commercial regional disputes by switching Java from British to Dutch in return for Malacca, the Malay Archipelago was permanently divided into formerly Dutch-colonized Indonesia and British-colonized Malaysia for this day. In 1838, British adventurer James Brooke arrived to locate the Sultan of Brunei fending off rebellion from warlike inland tribes.
Sarawak is at chaos. Brooke put through rebellion, and was made Governor of Sarawak in 1841, with it of Rajah. Brooke pacified the natives, including the Dayaks, who became a number of his most loyal followers. He suppressed headhunting and piracy. Brooke's most famous Iban enemy was Libau RENTAP ; Brooke led three expeditions against him and lastly defeated him at Sadok Hill. Brooke had many Dayaks in her forces at this battle, and famously said Only Dayaks can kill Dayaks. So he deployed Dayaks to kill Dayaks. Sharif Mashor, a Melanau from Mukah, was another enemy of Brooke.
During World War II, Japanese forces occupied Borneo and treated all the indigenous peoples poorly - massacres from the Malay and Dayak peoples were common, especially among the many Dayaks from the Kapit Division. In response, the Dayaks formed a special force to aid the Allied forces. Eleven US airmen and a couple of dozen Australian special operatives trained one thousand Dayaks coming from the Kapit Division in guerrilla warfare. This army of tribesmen killed or captured some 1,500 Japanese soldiers and provided the Allies with vital intelligence about Japanese-held oil fields.
Coastal populations in Borneo are largely Muslim in belief, however such groups (Tidung, Banjarnese, Bulungan, Paser, Melinau, Kutainese, Kedayan, Bakumpai, Bisayah) are usually considered to become Malayised and Islamised Dayaks, native to Borneo, and heavily amalgamated from the Malay people, culture and sultanate system. Other groups in coastal regions of Sabah and northeastern Borneo ; namely the Illanun, Tausūg, Sama and Bajau, although inhabiting and (inside the case from the Tausug group ) ruling the northern tip of Borneo for centuries, have their origins coming from the southern Philippines. Such groups though can be indigenous to Borneo, they‘re nonetheless not Dayak, but instead are categorized beneath the separate umbrella term of Moro.
The Indigenous people from the Heart of Borneo are commonly generally known as Dayak. The term was coined by Europeans referring towards the non-Malay inhabitants of Borneo. There will be seven main ethnic divisions of Dayaks consistent with their respective native languages which are :
Dayaks do not speak just one language, no matter if just those upon the island of Borneo (Kalimantan) are considered. Their indigenous languages belong inside the general classification of Malay-Polynesian languages in order to diverse groups of Bornean and Sabahan languages (including Land Dayak), and also the Ibanic languages from the Malayic branch. Most Dayaks today are bilingual, additionally of the native language, they are well-versed in Malay or Indonesian, counting on their country of origin.
Kaharingan is a folk religion professed by most Dayaks in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The term Kaharingan comes from the Ancient Dayak word HARING meaning Life or Alive. This concept is expressed inside the symbol of the faith depicting Batang Garing (the Tree of Life). This Tree of Life resembles a spear which has three branches on either-side, some facing up and a few down. In the bottom of the symbol are two receptacles, while at the very top are a hornbill bird and also the sun. Additionally,
It‘s ritual of praying called Basarah, place of worship called Balai Basarah or Balai Kaharingan and holy book called Panaturan, Talatah Basarah (number of prayers) and Tawar (a guide to seek God's help by giving rice).
Throughout the New Order within the Suharto regime in 1980, the Kaharingan was registered as part of Hinduism in Indonesia, since the Indonesian state only recognizes 5 forms of religion i.e. Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism respectively. The integration of Kaharingan with Hinduism was not due to similarities inside the theological system, but due to fact that Kaharingan is the oldest belief in Kalimantan.
Unlike in Indonesian Kalimantan, the Kaharingan is not recognized as a religion both in Malaysian Borneo and Brunei, thus the traditional Dayak belief system is known as a kind of folk animism or pagan belief on another side of the Indonesian border.
Kinship in Dayak society is traced in both lines of genealogy (tusut). Although, in Dayak Iban society, men and women possess equal rights in status and property ownership, political office has strictly been the occupation of the traditional Iban patriarch. There‘s a council of elders in each longhouse.
Overall, Dayak leadership in any given region, is marked by titles, a Penghulu as an example would have invested authority on behalf of the network of Tuai Rumah's and so forth to a Pemancha, Pengarah to Temenggung within the ascending order while Panglima or Orang Kaya (Rekaya) are titles given by Malays to some Dayaks. Individual Dayak groups have their social and hierarchy systems defined internally, and these differ widely from Ibans to Ngajus and Benuaqs to Kayans.
The Dayak life centres upon the paddy planting activity annually. The Iban Dayak has their own personal year-long calendar with 12 consecutive months which are one month later compared to the Roman calendar. The months are named in accordance towards the paddy farming activities and also the activities in between. Besides paddy, also planted inside the farm are vegetables like ensabi, pumpkin, round brinjal, cucumber, corn, lingkau along with other food sources lik tapioca, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and lastly following the paddy is harvested, cotton is planted which takes about two months to finish its cycle. The cotton is designed for weaving before commercial cotton is traded.
Fresh lands cleared by each Dayak family will belong to that family and also the longhouse community also can utilize the land with permission coming from the owning family. Usually, in one riverine system, a special tract of land is reserved to the use from the community itself to obtain natural supplies of wood, rattan along with other wild plants that necessary for building houses, boats, coffins along with other living purposes, and likewise to leave living space for wild animals which is really a supply of meat.
Beside farming, Dayaks plant fruit trees like rambutan, langsat, durian, isu and mangosteen near their longhouse or on the land plots to amrk their ownership from the land. Additionally they grow plants which produce dyes for colouring their cotton treads otherwise taken coming from the wild forest. Major fishing by using the tuba root is normally made by the entire longhouse like the river may take a bit of time to recover. Any wild meat obtained will distribute consistent with a particular customary law.
Headhunting was a crucial part of Dayak culture, in particular towards the Iban and Kenyah. The origin of headhunting in Iban Dayaks could be traced towards the story of the chief name Serapoh who had been asked using a spirit to acquire a fresh head to open a mourning jar but unfortunately he killed a Kantu boy which he got by exchanging with a jar for that purpose for which the Kantu retaliated and thus starting the headhunting practice. There used to become a tradition of retaliation for old headhunts, which kept the practice alive. External interference from the reign of the Brooke Rajahs in Sarawak via bebanchak babi (peacemaking) in Kapit and also the Dutch in Kalimantan Borneo via peacemaking at Tumbang Anoi curtailed and limited this tradition.
References:
Dayak languages are categorized as section of the Austronesian languages in Asia. The Dayak were animist in belief; however many converted to Islam as the 19th century, mass conversion to Christianity.
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| Dayak people with armor 1913 |
History
The Dayak people of Borneo possess an indigenous account of the history, mostly in oral literature, partly on paper in PAPAN TURAI (wooden records), and partly in common cultural customary practices. Among prominent accounts from the origin from the Dayak people includes the mythical oral epic of TETEK TAHTUM from the Ngaju-Ot Danum Dayak of Central Borneo, it narrates the ancestors from the all Dayak people descended coming from the heavens before dispensing coming from the inland towards the downstream shores of Borneo.
Inside the southern Borneo flourished the independent state of Nansarunai established from the Ma'anyan Dayaks just before the 12th century. The kingdom suffered two major attacks coming from the Majapahit forces that caused the decline and fall from the kingdom by the year 1389, the attacks are referred to as Nansarunai Usak Jawa (meaning the destruction of the Nansarunai by the Javanese ) from the oral accounts from the Maanyan people.
This contributed towards the migration from the Maanyans towards the Central and South Borneo region. The colonial accounts and reports of Dayak activity in Borneo detail carefully cultivated economic and political relationships along with communities along with an ample body of research and study considering historical Dayak migrations.
In particular, the Iban as well as Sea Dayak exploits inside the South China Seas are documented, due to their ferocity and aggressive culture of war against sea dwelling groups and emerging Western trade interests inside the 18th and 19th centuries.
In 1824, due to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 e their commercial regional disputes by switching Java from British to Dutch in return for Malacca, the Malay Archipelago was permanently divided into formerly Dutch-colonized Indonesia and British-colonized Malaysia for this day. In 1838, British adventurer James Brooke arrived to locate the Sultan of Brunei fending off rebellion from warlike inland tribes.
Sarawak is at chaos. Brooke put through rebellion, and was made Governor of Sarawak in 1841, with it of Rajah. Brooke pacified the natives, including the Dayaks, who became a number of his most loyal followers. He suppressed headhunting and piracy. Brooke's most famous Iban enemy was Libau RENTAP ; Brooke led three expeditions against him and lastly defeated him at Sadok Hill. Brooke had many Dayaks in her forces at this battle, and famously said Only Dayaks can kill Dayaks. So he deployed Dayaks to kill Dayaks. Sharif Mashor, a Melanau from Mukah, was another enemy of Brooke.
During World War II, Japanese forces occupied Borneo and treated all the indigenous peoples poorly - massacres from the Malay and Dayak peoples were common, especially among the many Dayaks from the Kapit Division. In response, the Dayaks formed a special force to aid the Allied forces. Eleven US airmen and a couple of dozen Australian special operatives trained one thousand Dayaks coming from the Kapit Division in guerrilla warfare. This army of tribesmen killed or captured some 1,500 Japanese soldiers and provided the Allies with vital intelligence about Japanese-held oil fields.
Coastal populations in Borneo are largely Muslim in belief, however such groups (Tidung, Banjarnese, Bulungan, Paser, Melinau, Kutainese, Kedayan, Bakumpai, Bisayah) are usually considered to become Malayised and Islamised Dayaks, native to Borneo, and heavily amalgamated from the Malay people, culture and sultanate system. Other groups in coastal regions of Sabah and northeastern Borneo ; namely the Illanun, Tausūg, Sama and Bajau, although inhabiting and (inside the case from the Tausug group ) ruling the northern tip of Borneo for centuries, have their origins coming from the southern Philippines. Such groups though can be indigenous to Borneo, they‘re nonetheless not Dayak, but instead are categorized beneath the separate umbrella term of Moro.
Ethnicity
The Indigenous people from the Heart of Borneo are commonly generally known as Dayak. The term was coined by Europeans referring towards the non-Malay inhabitants of Borneo. There will be seven main ethnic divisions of Dayaks consistent with their respective native languages which are :
- the Ngaju,
- Apau Kayan (known as Orang Ulu in Malaysia),
- Iban or Hiban (Sea Dayak),
- Klemantan (Land Dayak),
- Murut (with Kadazan-Dusun, Murut, Rungus subgroups are being classified as a separate ethnic groups in Malaysia.),
- Punan and
- Ot Danum groups.
Languages
Dayaks do not speak just one language, no matter if just those upon the island of Borneo (Kalimantan) are considered. Their indigenous languages belong inside the general classification of Malay-Polynesian languages in order to diverse groups of Bornean and Sabahan languages (including Land Dayak), and also the Ibanic languages from the Malayic branch. Most Dayaks today are bilingual, additionally of the native language, they are well-versed in Malay or Indonesian, counting on their country of origin.
Religion
Kaharingan is a folk religion professed by most Dayaks in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The term Kaharingan comes from the Ancient Dayak word HARING meaning Life or Alive. This concept is expressed inside the symbol of the faith depicting Batang Garing (the Tree of Life). This Tree of Life resembles a spear which has three branches on either-side, some facing up and a few down. In the bottom of the symbol are two receptacles, while at the very top are a hornbill bird and also the sun. Additionally,
It‘s ritual of praying called Basarah, place of worship called Balai Basarah or Balai Kaharingan and holy book called Panaturan, Talatah Basarah (number of prayers) and Tawar (a guide to seek God's help by giving rice).
Throughout the New Order within the Suharto regime in 1980, the Kaharingan was registered as part of Hinduism in Indonesia, since the Indonesian state only recognizes 5 forms of religion i.e. Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism respectively. The integration of Kaharingan with Hinduism was not due to similarities inside the theological system, but due to fact that Kaharingan is the oldest belief in Kalimantan.
Unlike in Indonesian Kalimantan, the Kaharingan is not recognized as a religion both in Malaysian Borneo and Brunei, thus the traditional Dayak belief system is known as a kind of folk animism or pagan belief on another side of the Indonesian border.
Society and customs
Kinship in Dayak society is traced in both lines of genealogy (tusut). Although, in Dayak Iban society, men and women possess equal rights in status and property ownership, political office has strictly been the occupation of the traditional Iban patriarch. There‘s a council of elders in each longhouse.
Overall, Dayak leadership in any given region, is marked by titles, a Penghulu as an example would have invested authority on behalf of the network of Tuai Rumah's and so forth to a Pemancha, Pengarah to Temenggung within the ascending order while Panglima or Orang Kaya (Rekaya) are titles given by Malays to some Dayaks. Individual Dayak groups have their social and hierarchy systems defined internally, and these differ widely from Ibans to Ngajus and Benuaqs to Kayans.
The Dayak life centres upon the paddy planting activity annually. The Iban Dayak has their own personal year-long calendar with 12 consecutive months which are one month later compared to the Roman calendar. The months are named in accordance towards the paddy farming activities and also the activities in between. Besides paddy, also planted inside the farm are vegetables like ensabi, pumpkin, round brinjal, cucumber, corn, lingkau along with other food sources lik tapioca, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and lastly following the paddy is harvested, cotton is planted which takes about two months to finish its cycle. The cotton is designed for weaving before commercial cotton is traded.
Fresh lands cleared by each Dayak family will belong to that family and also the longhouse community also can utilize the land with permission coming from the owning family. Usually, in one riverine system, a special tract of land is reserved to the use from the community itself to obtain natural supplies of wood, rattan along with other wild plants that necessary for building houses, boats, coffins along with other living purposes, and likewise to leave living space for wild animals which is really a supply of meat.
Beside farming, Dayaks plant fruit trees like rambutan, langsat, durian, isu and mangosteen near their longhouse or on the land plots to amrk their ownership from the land. Additionally they grow plants which produce dyes for colouring their cotton treads otherwise taken coming from the wild forest. Major fishing by using the tuba root is normally made by the entire longhouse like the river may take a bit of time to recover. Any wild meat obtained will distribute consistent with a particular customary law.
Headhunting was a crucial part of Dayak culture, in particular towards the Iban and Kenyah. The origin of headhunting in Iban Dayaks could be traced towards the story of the chief name Serapoh who had been asked using a spirit to acquire a fresh head to open a mourning jar but unfortunately he killed a Kantu boy which he got by exchanging with a jar for that purpose for which the Kantu retaliated and thus starting the headhunting practice. There used to become a tradition of retaliation for old headhunts, which kept the practice alive. External interference from the reign of the Brooke Rajahs in Sarawak via bebanchak babi (peacemaking) in Kapit and also the Dutch in Kalimantan Borneo via peacemaking at Tumbang Anoi curtailed and limited this tradition.
References:
- "Dayak people." Wikipedia. Accessed June 28, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dayak_people&oldid=724697731.
- Museum Volkenkunde. "14. Dajaks in oorlogskleeding. (Borneo)". Uit Gefotografeerd voor de wetenschap; exotische volken tussen 1860 en 1920 van Museum Volkenkunde.
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