About Dayak People

History

Common interpretations in anthropology agree that nearly all the Dayaks tribes came to Kalimantan as a larger more common Austronesian migration from Asia, regarded to have settled in the Southeast Asian Archipelago some 3,000 years ago.

There are nearly 200 Dayak tribes, but the main ones are the Bakumpai and Dayak Bukit of South Kalimantan; the Ngajus and Baritos of Central Kalimantan; the Benuaqs, Kayan and Kenyah of East Kalimantan; and the Ibans of West Kalimantan and Malaysian Borneo. Other populations are the nomadic Punan, which live nowadays along the border between Kalimantan and Sabah / Sarawak, Malaysia.


Traditionally, Dayak agriculture was based on swidden rice cultivation. Agricultural land in this sense was used and defined primarily in terms of hill rice farming, ladang (garden), and hutan (forest). Dayaks organized their labor in terms of traditionally based land holding groups which determined who owned rights to land and how it was to be used. The "Green Revolution" in the 1950s spurred on the planting of new varieties of wetland rice amongst Dayak tribes. The main dependence on subsistence and mid-scale agriculture by the Dayaks has made this group active in this industry. Nowadays, the Dayaks work in the mining industry, wood industry, and on the plantations of Kalimantan.



Religion

The Dayak indigenous religion is Kaharingan, a form of animism which is categorized as a part of Hinduism in Indonesia. The practice of Kaharingan differs from group to group. For example in some religious customary practices, when a noble (kamang) dies, it is believed that the spirit ascends to a mountain where the spirits of past ancestors of the tribe reside. On particular religious occasions, the spirit is believed to descend to partake in celebration, a mark of honor and respect to past ancestries and blessings for a prosperous future.


Over the last two centuries, most Dayaks converted to Christianity which was introduced by European and American missionaries, and created a social bulwark against the spread of Islam. Relations, however, in all religious groups are generally good. Despite the destruction of pagan religions in Europe by Christians, most of the people who try to conserve the Dayak's religion are missionaries.
Coastal populations are largely Muslim, however these groups (Ilanun, Melanau, Kutai) are generally considered to be Islamized Dayaks, native to Kalimantan, governed by the relatively high cultural influences of the Javanese Majapahit Kingdoms and the Islamic Malay Sultanates that appeared periodically throughout Southeast Asian history.




Society

The most salient feature of the Dayak social organization is the longhouse. This is a structure supported by hardwood posts that can be hundreds of meters long, usually located along a river bank. At one side is a long communal platform, from which the individual households can be reached. Longhouses have a door and an apartment for every family living within. For example, a longhouse of 200 doors is equivalent to a settlement of 200 families.

Headhunting was an important part of Dayak culture. At one time there was a tradition of retaliation for old headhunts that kept the practice alive. Reports describe Dayak war parties with captured enemy heads. At various times, there have been massive coordinated raids in the interior, and throughout coastal Kalimantan.


Metal-working is elaborately used for making mandaus (machetes). The blade is made of a softer iron to prevent breakage with a narrow strip of a harder iron wedged into a slot in the cutting edge for sharpness. Headhunting necessitated being able to draw the machete quickly. For this purpose, the mandau is fairly short, which also better serves the purpose of trail cutting in dense forest. It is holstered with the cutting edge facing upwards and at that side there is an upward protrusion on the handle, so it can be drawn very quickly with the side of the hand without having to reach over and grasp the handle first. The hand can then grasp the handle while it is being drawn. The combination of these three factors (short, cutting edge up and protrusion) makes for an extremely fast drawing action. The ceremonial mandaus used for dances are as beautifully adorned with feathers as the dresses are.


Source:www.borneotourgigant.com