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Headhunters of Borneo - ebook
Headhunters of Borneo - ebook
Describes the life and practises of the Borneo headhunters.
| Kategoria: | History |
| Język: | Angielski |
| Zabezpieczenie: |
Watermark
|
| ISBN: | 978-90-78900-11-5 |
| Rozmiar pliku: | 9,9 MB |
FRAGMENT KSIĄŻKI
Introduction
Although Borneo was discovered early in the 16th century few attempts were made to explore and conquer the entire island. Not only were the waters surrounding it infested with pirates, but the interior was an impenetrable region of swamps, rivers and jungles teeming with snakes, tigers, and hostile people whom the Europeans suspected of headhunting and cannibalism.
It was therefore only late in the 19th century that the first detailed descriptions of the indigenous tribes and their customs appeared. Carl Bock (1849-1932), who visited the island in 1878, wrote that all of the Dayak tribes performed the
barbarous practice of headhunting. He noted that at every religious event, whether a funeral, wedding or birth, it was customary to first harvest some heads before the ceremonies began.
Young warriors were expected to take a head to prove their masculinity, and young women urged them to participate in raids. The most successful headhunters were highly respected, as were their families and the tribe. Taking heads also had spiritual significance. The Iban believed heads possessed magical powers. Cutting off a head was the only guaranteed way to destroy the spirit of the enemy for good.
Even today skulls can be seen hanging from the rafters in some longhouses on Borneo as gruesome reminders of a practise outlawed not so long ago. The Dayak, the Iban, the Kayan and the Kenyah people all collected heads. Warriors who had taken a head or participated in a raid were allowed to wear a mark as proof of their prowess and success. This tattooed mark was placed on the fingers, but sometimes a special design was applied to the thigh.
headhunters of borneo
designs from the iban, dayak, kayan & kenyah
Warriors neatly separated the head from the body, removed the brains through the nostrils and then dried and shrunk the heads over a small fire (p. 10). Dayak warriors used the hair to decorate their shields. Together with a giant-head motif it gave warriors courage and at the same time had a deterrent effect on the enemy (pp. 17-21).
Warrior who had taken a head or participated in a raid were permitted to receive a specific tattoo, the pantang jari, for Iban warriors, and the entegulun for the Kayan. Only when a warrior had taken a head was he allowed to tattoo himself, either with circular patterns around all his fingers (but not the thumb) or with a design covering the entire back of the hand (pp. 60, 61). With the Kayan the most important part of the design was the tegulun, an abstract representation of a human figure or face (silong). Tegulun figures were carved into the posts of longhouses and were probably a relic of an old custom when great Kayan chiefs drove the first post of a new house through the body of a slave.
In the 19th century the Dutch rulers in Kalimantan and the Rajahs of Sarawak outlawed the headhunting, and it slowly disappeared. During the Second World War the custom was temporarily revived among the Iban in their guerrilla war against the Japanese.
After the headhunting days, Borneo men starting collecting tattoos on their arms and chests during their travels. Especially the stylised images of dogs, scorpions and shrimps were the most popular. The lines forming the motifs indicated the tribes they had visited.
Each type of design has its own specific usage and character, for example, to ward off evil spirits, as souvenirs, or as badges of honour. The elegant geometric patterns of the Kayan, and later the Iban, inspired the abstract monochrome shapes that characterise New Tribalism today.
Although Borneo was discovered early in the 16th century few attempts were made to explore and conquer the entire island. Not only were the waters surrounding it infested with pirates, but the interior was an impenetrable region of swamps, rivers and jungles teeming with snakes, tigers, and hostile people whom the Europeans suspected of headhunting and cannibalism.
It was therefore only late in the 19th century that the first detailed descriptions of the indigenous tribes and their customs appeared. Carl Bock (1849-1932), who visited the island in 1878, wrote that all of the Dayak tribes performed the
barbarous practice of headhunting. He noted that at every religious event, whether a funeral, wedding or birth, it was customary to first harvest some heads before the ceremonies began.
Young warriors were expected to take a head to prove their masculinity, and young women urged them to participate in raids. The most successful headhunters were highly respected, as were their families and the tribe. Taking heads also had spiritual significance. The Iban believed heads possessed magical powers. Cutting off a head was the only guaranteed way to destroy the spirit of the enemy for good.
Even today skulls can be seen hanging from the rafters in some longhouses on Borneo as gruesome reminders of a practise outlawed not so long ago. The Dayak, the Iban, the Kayan and the Kenyah people all collected heads. Warriors who had taken a head or participated in a raid were allowed to wear a mark as proof of their prowess and success. This tattooed mark was placed on the fingers, but sometimes a special design was applied to the thigh.
headhunters of borneo
designs from the iban, dayak, kayan & kenyah
Warriors neatly separated the head from the body, removed the brains through the nostrils and then dried and shrunk the heads over a small fire (p. 10). Dayak warriors used the hair to decorate their shields. Together with a giant-head motif it gave warriors courage and at the same time had a deterrent effect on the enemy (pp. 17-21).
Warrior who had taken a head or participated in a raid were permitted to receive a specific tattoo, the pantang jari, for Iban warriors, and the entegulun for the Kayan. Only when a warrior had taken a head was he allowed to tattoo himself, either with circular patterns around all his fingers (but not the thumb) or with a design covering the entire back of the hand (pp. 60, 61). With the Kayan the most important part of the design was the tegulun, an abstract representation of a human figure or face (silong). Tegulun figures were carved into the posts of longhouses and were probably a relic of an old custom when great Kayan chiefs drove the first post of a new house through the body of a slave.
In the 19th century the Dutch rulers in Kalimantan and the Rajahs of Sarawak outlawed the headhunting, and it slowly disappeared. During the Second World War the custom was temporarily revived among the Iban in their guerrilla war against the Japanese.
After the headhunting days, Borneo men starting collecting tattoos on their arms and chests during their travels. Especially the stylised images of dogs, scorpions and shrimps were the most popular. The lines forming the motifs indicated the tribes they had visited.
Each type of design has its own specific usage and character, for example, to ward off evil spirits, as souvenirs, or as badges of honour. The elegant geometric patterns of the Kayan, and later the Iban, inspired the abstract monochrome shapes that characterise New Tribalism today.
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