LEST WE FORGET............Ancient Dayak Iban Customs

(This an observation made more than a hundred years ago of Dayak (mostly Iban) customs in dealing with the departed. Times have changed but it is very interesting to see the origins of our presents customs and restrictions).

DYAK BURIAL RITES

E. H. GOMES

Death to the Dyak does not mean the end of all. He has the belief in a life beyond the grave – a life differing indeed in few respects from the existence in the flesh, with all its cares and anxieties – a life with little of the spiritual about it – but still, for all that, life and not annihilation. The soul survives burial and in Hades lives anew watching his friends on earth, and invoked by them in times of need; and in the Sea Dyak Burial Rites there are seen glimpses of a belief in the communion between those on earth and those who have crossed the River of Death such as we would expect to find only among people of a higher civilization and a higher education than the Dyaks.

      From the distant unknown land of Death, the relatives and friends of the dying man come in a long boat, so the Dyaks say, to take his soul away with them.For a time there is a conflict between those on earth, trying to keep him back, and unseen spirits urging him to join them.Over and over again, whenever the man loses consciousness, there are distracted cries from those around of “Pulai! Pulai!” “Come back! Come back!”

      As soon as his spirit has departed, the professional mourner sits on a swing near the head of the corpse, and calls upon the different part of the house, beginning with the roof ridge and proceeding downwards, and blames them for not keeping back the soul of the dead man.The relstives crowd round and weep over him, and recount, in a loud pathetic monotone, all his good qualities.

      Rice is strewn on the dead man’s breast. This is a propitiation to the gods, for any wrong he may have committed. According to Dyak ideas, death is the punishment for  some sin, and for that sin some sacrifice must be made, or the living  may also suffer for it.By sin is meant either the doing of any of the thousand and one things which a Dyak considers forbidden(mali) or the disregarding of the warnings of birds or dreams. While this sin offering is being made, others collect his belongings – his clothes, his implements of work, his shield, his spear – which are to be buried with him and which he is supposed to make use of in Hades (Sabayan).This done, the corpse is carried out to the public part of the house (ruai). He is covered with a Dyak sheet (pua) and his belongings are placed beside him. While laid on the ruai, none may step over the corpse. There is no special reason against this except the general belief that if it were done, the soul of the dead man would not live happily in Hades, but would continually visit his former home and trouble the living.

      At sunset a fire is lit (nungkun api sabayan) by the side of the corpse.All through the long hours of the night, the sad watchers sit around, and the long-sustained loud wailing cry of the professional mourner mingles with the sobs and spasmodic utterances of those who feel most the loss of their dear one.

      Early on the following morning, food is given him (mri majoh) to strengthen him for that long journey to Hades, and a little cotton wool is placed as a pillow for his head.The food is given to the dead in a curious manner. Rice is dashed into his mouth, and the cooking pot is then broken in pieces, it may not be used for the living having once been used for the dead.The pillow of cotton wool is about the size of a pigeon’s egg and as far as can be gathered from the Dyaks, it in some way ensured the comfort of the dead man in the other world.

Then the body, wrapped in mats and secured with a light framework of wood, is carried on the shoulders of four men. As they descend the ladder the ashes from the fire which was burning near the corpse, are thrown after them by the people who are left in the house.This is done so that the dead man may not know his way back to the house, and be unable to trouble his friends afterwards.

      When they come to the spot where a tree is to be cut down for the coffin, a halt is made.A fowl is killed and its blood is collected in a cup, and mixed with a little water.Each person present is touched with this blood, to propitiate the gods of the infernal world, and to secure immunity from any evil consequences to the persons engaged in the funeral rites.They now set to work to make the coffin. A tree is felled and the required length cut off.This is split in two and each half is hollowed out. The corpse is then placed inside this crude coffin, the two parts of which are now firmly lashed together with cane (rotan).

      The procession then moves on; when they reach the spot where the grave is to be, some rice is scattered on the ground. This rice is the price of the land which is to be used for the grave (kena mli tanah ari Sabayan).Then a fowl is killed and the blood is sprinkled on the ground (ginselan tanah).This is to prevent the spirits from hurting any of those who take part in digging the grave.

      The coffin is lowered into the grave hurriedly and all present shout.They cry to the dead man, but why they do so and what advantage is gained by doing so, is not clear.The reason why the body is hurriedly buried is the fear lest some birds may be heard and the burial of the man become unpropitious (mali) - the less time they take in putting the corpse into the grave the less chance there is of this.

      Each person then cuts a hooked stick (pengait) fixes it in his belt or waist-cloth and starts to return. The pengait is supposed to hook his own soul so that it may not be left at the grave.

      Those who leave the grave last plant in the path a few sticks standing towards the grave so that no spirits from Hades may follow them - the sticks planted in the ground being supposed to prevent their doing so. All this is done in great haste, because if any bird is heard before the spot where the coffin was made is reached dreadful consequences may follow.When this spot is reached, a halt is made. The blood of the fowl killed is divided, and each man takes some of it home and touches with it those in the house who were not present at the funeral.

      At sunset a fire is lighted at the landing place (pengkalan) of the house of the dead man.

      On the third day after the death, a feast is given, all the families in the Dyak house helping to supply the food. A plate of rice and other eatables together with a chopper (duku), an axe (bliong) and a cup are taken by a large company to the room of the dead man. They go with much shouting and tell the mourners to weep no more (palit mata) and to give the dead man food. They enter the room, and one of them, generally an old man of some standing, pushes open the window (penjan) with the chopper (duku) and the offering of food (piring) is thrown out.As soon as this is done men and women busy themselves arranging food for the people. This observance is called pana. Up to this time the relatives of the dead live in strict seclusion, but after it they may come out to the open verandah (ruai) and return to their usual occupations of life.

      But the dead man is not forgotten. Periodical mournings (sabak) are held in honour of him and the professional mourner calls upon him and weeps over him.The Dyaks believe that the dead hear their cries and that a bond of sympathy unites them with those on earth.

      A year or more after the death, a feast (Begawai Antu) is held and small baskets, supposed to represent the different implements a man or a woman uses on earth, are made and placed on the grave.Thus they furnish the dead with the means of livelihood in Hades.The Begawai Antu ends all mourning for the dead and after it has been held there are no more sabak.

      But even after all mourning has ceased, the Dyak still believes that his dead friends and relatives live and visit the earth. Before going forth on an expedition against the enemy, the dead are invoked and are begged to help their friends on earth so that they may be successful against foes.In times of peril and of need, the dead are called upon. And on the hill tops or in the solitudes of the jungle a man often goes by himself and spends the night, in the hope that the spirit of some dead relation may visit him and in a dream tell of some charm (pengaroh) by means of which he may overcome difficulties and become rich and great.

(Extra notes from Jimmy Donald)

1. The funeral procession usually proceed from the longhouse to the cemetery at around 5.00 a.m. so that the people in the funeral procession would not hear the sound of bad omen birds.

2. After digging the grave, the diggers climbing out must climb a piece of hastily made wooden ladder which has been placed upside down. This is because in Sebayan, the paradise of the dead, everything is the opposite of what is happening in our normal world.

3. The last person to leave the graveyard area must find a thorny creeper and place it across the footpath so that the spirit of the dead cannot follow them back to the longhouse.