DYAK BABIES AND CHILDREN
A Dyak baby is much like any other baby in being a little helpless human
thing that spends most of his time in sleeping and feeding, worrying its
mother with its constant wants, but yet loved greatly by her, and as it
grows up, making its parents proud of it, and amusing them by its
cunning little ways. Its colour varies from a light brown with a tinge
of yellow to a dark chocolate, and it wears no clothing at all until it
is five or six years old.
Until a civilised government interfered to prevent such cruel murders,
there used to be a custom among the Dyaks that if the mother died when
her child was born, the poor babe should pay the penalty and be buried
with the mother. The reasons given for this cruel act was that the child
was the cause of the mother's death, and that there was no one to nurse
and care for it. No woman would dare to nurse such an orphan, lest it
should bring misfortune upon her own children. Therefore the poor child
was often placed alive in the coffin with the dead mother, and both
were buried together. That was the old cruel Dyak custom, but I am glad
to say it is a long time since it has been carried out. I have myself
known many cases among the Dyaks where the mother has died, and the
orphan has been adopted and brought up by some friend or relative.
When a child is born a fowl is waved over it as a kind of offering to
the gods and spirits. This fowl is then killed, cooked, and eaten by the
parents, and any friends that may be present.
During the first three days the child receives its bath in a wooden
vessel in the house, but on the fourth day it is taken to the river.
Some curious ceremonies attend its first bath in the river. An old man
of some standing, who has been successful in his undertakings, is asked
to bathe the child. He wades into the river holding the child in his
arms. A fowl is killed on the bank, a wing is cut off, and if the child
be a boy this wing is stuck upon a spear, and if a girl it is fixed to
the slip of wood used to pass between the threads in weaving, and this
is fixed on the bank, and the blood allowed to drop into the stream, as
an offering to propitiate the spirits supposed to inhabit the waters,
and to insure that, at any rate, no accident by water shall happen to
the child. The remainder of the fowl is taken back to the house and
cooked and eaten.
At some period after the child's birth--it may be within a few weeks or
it may be deferred for years--a ceremony is gone through in which the
gods and spirits are invoked to grant the child health and wealth and
success in all his undertakings. This ceremony is generally postponed
for some years if the parents are poor, in order to enable them to save
a little to pay for the entertainment of their friends and relations on
the occasion. Where the parents are better off, the ceremony is held a
few weeks after the birth of the child. Several witch doctors are asked
to take part in this performance. A portion of the long open hall of the
Dyak house is screened off by large hand-woven Dyak sheets, and within
these the mother sits with the child in her arms. The witch doctors walk
round and round singing an incantation. Generally there is a leader who
sings by himself for a few minutes, then he pauses, and turns round to
his followers, and they all sing in chorus. Then the leader sings by
himself again, and so on. They all walk round, first turning their feet
to the right, and stamping on the floor, then pausing a moment, and
turning their feet to the left, still stamping. This ceremony begins in
the evening and goes on for several hours. When it is over, food is
brought out to the assembled guests, and all partake of the provided
feast.
The proceedings differ very much according to the wealth and standing of
the parents. Among the poor, it is a very quiet affair--two or three
witch doctors attend, and only the near relatives of the child are
present. On the other hand, among those who are rich, this ceremony is
made the occasion of holding a great feast, and inviting people from all
parts to attend. Pigs and fowls are killed for food. Jars of _tuak_ (a
spirit obtained from rice) are brought forth for the guests to drink,
and all are invited to rejoice with the parents.
The naming of the child is not made the occasion for any ceremonies, and
it is not unusual to meet children of seven or eight years old who have
not yet received a name. They are known by some pet name, or are called
_endun_ (little girl) or _igat_ or _anggat_ (little boy).
Even when a name is given to a child, it is often changed for some
reason or other. The Dyaks have a great objection to uttering the name
of a dead person, so, if the namesake of a child dies, at once a new
name is chosen. Again, if the child be liable to frequent attacks of
illness, it is no uncommon thing for the parents to change the name two
or three times in the course of a year. The reason for this is that all
sickness and death are supposed to be caused by evil spirits, who are
put off the scent by this means. When they come to take the child's soul
away, they do not hear the old name uttered any more, and so they
conclude he no longer exists, and return without him!
Dyak children do not have many toys. Little girls are sometimes seen
with rudely-carved wooden dolls, and little boys play with models of
boats. The boys are fond of spinning tops, which they make for
themselves.
The Dyaks are very fond of children, and treat them very kindly. They
rarely if ever punish them. The children have a great deal of liberty,
but are not often unruly, disobedient or disrespectful. They are
generally very fond of their parents, and when they grow older, do as
they are told from a desire to please them.
Dyak children have very soon to make themselves useful. A little boy of
ten or eleven accompanies his father to his work and helps him as best
he can. A boy is very proud when he has succeeded in making his first
dug-out canoe, which he sometimes does at fifteen. I have often, when on
a visit to a Dyak village, been asked by some boy to see the first boat
he has made, and I have been shown, not a toy boat, but a canoe in which
three men could sit comfortably.
The girls like to help their mothers and learn to become useful at an
early age, and to do the different kinds of work a woman is expected to
do. When a woman is plaiting a mat of split cane, or of reeds, she often
gives the short ends, which she has cut off, to her little girl, who
sits by her and tries to make a little mat with them. I have often seen
little girls of ten and eleven being taught by their mothers how to
weave cloth.
It is sad to think of these Dyak children in Borneo living in constant
fear of evil spirits, and not knowing anything about God. The
missionaries try to teach the little ones, and at each up-country
Mission Station there is a small school for Dyak boys. Here they are
taught about God, and are cut away from all the superstitious customs
which they would constantly see in their Dyak homes. Many of these boys,
after being at school for a few years, return to their own people,
taking back with them the good lessons they have learnt, and in many
cases influencing their friends and relatives for good, and leading some
of them to become Christians. A few of these schoolboys are sent on to
the larger school at the capital to be taught English. These are the
boys who, one hopes, will in after years become teachers and catechists
among their own people. There are so few Dyak books that it is
necessary that a Dyak teacher should learn English in order to be able
to educate himself by reading English books.