Dayak People
Dayak people or
Daya or Dyak are the indigenous peopleof Borneo Island, Indonesia. They live in
groups in mountains, outbacks and they are such a terrestrial group, a group
who live in land, not in marine zone.
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Photo by agusmunoraharjo blogspotcom |
Dayak people are divided into some
sub-ethnics that have different language and even different way of living.
Shortly, Dayak is referred to Ngaju People or Ot Danum tribe who stays in South
Borneo. While, in general, Dayak is referred to the 6 tribes of Dayak;
[Kenyah-Kayan-Bahau],[Ot Danum],[Iban],[Murut],[Klemantan] and [Punan]. Those
six clusters were subdivided into approximately 405 sub-clusters. Although
divided into hundreds of sub-clusters, Dayak groups have similar cultural
traits in particular ways. These characteristics become the deciding factor if
a sub-tribe in Borneo which can be incorporated into the group of Dayak.
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Photo by agusmunoraharjo blogspotcom |
Dates back to the history, in the
year 1977-1978, the Asian continent and the island of Borneo, which is part of
the archipelago are still together, allowing the Mongoloid races of the Asian
mainland to wander through and up through the mountains of Borneo to the
mountains which is now called “Muller-Schwaner mountain. Dayak people was true
the Borneo indigenous. However, after the Malays from Sumatra and the Malay
Peninsula came, they increasingly retreated back inside. Moreovheer, t arrival
of the Bugis, Makasar, and the Javanese in time of Majapahit Empire. Dayak people
was living scattered throughout the territory of Kalimantan in the span of
time, they have spread through the rivers to downstream and then inhabit the
coast of Borneo island.
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Photo by agusmunoraharjo blogspotcom |
It was analyzed that Dayak people had
to build an empire. In the oral tradition of Dayaks, often called “Nansarunai
U?ak Jawa” which means, A kingdom of Dayak Nansarunai was destroyed by
Majapahit. This was occur between the years 1309-1389. The incident resulted
the Dayaks get inurgency and dispersed, some of them was get into the
hinterland. The next big flows occur when the influenced of Islam that
originated from the kingdom of Demak, with the influx of traders Melayu around
1608.
In the past the Dayak people were the
tribe who practicing the ancient tradition of headhunting. After conversion to
Islam or Christianity and anti-headhunting legislation by the colonial powers,
the practice was banned and disappeared. Nevertheless, some said that Dayal
people practicing cannibalism only when the war is occur and their life is in danger.
In other word, practicing cannibalism is not the term of the way of living or
part of the culture, but it is just the consequences that Dayak people have for
someone’s disturbance within their groups.
Dayak people have various types of
weapons which commonly used for hunting and war in ancient time, or for
everyday use such as in the fields. For example blowpipe (sipet), saber, lonjo
(spear), shield (telawang), and spurs. Originally, the main icon from Dayak
weapon is Sumpitan, not Mandau. Mandau was being used to cup the enemies head
in ancient time, when the war was occur. While sumpitan is still exist until
present time, and there is no antidote from the poison in sumpitan. Sumpitan is
such a bamboo wooden stick along the 1.9 meters to 2.1 meters. Sumpitan should
be made of hard wood such as ironwood, tampang, lanan, berangbungkan, rasak, or
plepek wood.
More about Dayak people, they also
use tattoo in their culture. Tattoo for Dayak people is referred to religion,
social status in society, as well as the appreciation for a person. Therefore,
the tattoo can not be made arbitrarily. There are certain rules in making a
tattoo or Parung, good selection of pictures, the social structure of the
tattooed and the tattoo placement. The belief that the meaning of makin tattoo
is used to be a torch when the death occur. The more they have tattoo, the more
they are lighten when they die. Still, making a tattoo can not be made as much
in vain, because it must comply with customs rules.
The main religion of Dayak people in
ancient time was Kaharingan, such an animism but similar to Hindu in present
time. Over the last two centuries, some Dayaks converted to Islam, abandoning
certain cultural rites and practices. Christianity was introduced by European
missionaries in Borneo. Religious differences between Muslim and Christian
natives of Borneo has led, at various times, to communal tensions.
For everyday living, Dayak people
nowadays are depend their life in agricultural things like planting the rice
field, planting bananas or palm oil. Following the modernity that come up
nowadays, Dayak people are more to be a modern society, bust still hold the
heritage to be the real Dayak.