DYAK FEASTS
The Dyak religious feasts may be divided into the four following
classes:--
Those connected with--
1. Head-taking.
2. Farming.
3. The Dead.
4. Dreams, etc.
Though the Dyak feasts differ in their aims, there is a great deal which
is common to them all. In these feasts the religious aspect does not
seem of great importance. There is little real, reverential worship of
gods or spirits. It is true that food is offered to some higher powers,
but this is done as the mere observance of an ancient custom. There are
also long incantations made by men chosen for that purpose, who have
good memories and can recite in a monotonous chant the special hymns of
great length connected with each feast. But the guests do not share in
this as an act of religious worship. They are generally sitting round,
talking, and laughing, and eating. While these incantations are sung,
topics of common interest are discussed, and plans formed, and in all
Dyak feasts, sociability and the partaking of food and drink seem to
take a more prominent place than any religious worship.
The preparations for all these feasts are much alike. They extend over a
length of time, and consist for the most part in the procuring of food
for the guests. The young men go to their friends, far and near, and
obtain from them presents of pigs or fowls for the feast, and as
cock-fighting is loved by the Dyaks, they at the same time procure as
many fighting cocks as possible. The women busy themselves with pounding
out an extra amount of rice, both for the consumption of the guests, and
also for the making of _tuak_ or native spirit.
The special characteristics and religious aspects of these different
feasts must now be noticed.
1. _Feasts connected with Head-taking._ All these are given in honour of
Singalang Burong, who is the ruler of the spirit-world, and the god of
war. These feasts are not held as frequently as those connected with
farming, but when any of them take place, a great deal is made of the
event. The most important is the _Bird Feast_.
The _Bird Feast_. This feast is also called the _Head Feast_, because
part of the ceremony connected with it is the giving of food to some
human heads taken in war, or the _Horn-bill Feast_, because carved
figures of the horn-bill are used. It lasts three days whereas other
feasts only last one day. In the old days it was only held on the return
from a successful war expedition, when the heads of the enemy were
brought home in triumph. But in the present day this feast is organized
when they get a good harvest, and when the people of the Dyak house seem
so inclined, and if no new heads have been lately brought home as
trophies, some old smoked heads that have been in the house for years
are used.
Among the preparations for this feast is the making of the carved wooden
figure of the rhinoceros' horn-bill. This wooden figure is set on a high
pole, which is fixed into the ground in front of the house. An offering
of Dyak delicacies is hung up under it for food. Sometimes several of
these figures are used.
Some human heads are placed in large brass dishes in the public hall of
the Dyak house, and to these offerings of food and drink are made. Some
of the food is stuffed into the mouths of these heads, and the rest is
placed before them.
There are also certain erections called _pandong_ put up at regular
intervals in the long public hall, and to these are hung war-charms,
swords and spears, etc. The men who are chosen to make the incantations
walk up and down, going round the _pandong_ and the heads in the brass
dishes, singing the particular incantation that is used at this feast.
This singing lasts the whole night, beginning at 8 P.M. and continuing
till the following morning. Except for a short interval for rest in the
middle of the night, the performers are marching and singing all the
time. The killing of a pig, and examining the liver to find out whether
good or bad fortune is in store for them, is the last act of the
ceremony.
2. The principal feast connected with _Farming_ is the _Gawai Batu_ (the
"Stone Feast"). It takes place before the farming operations begin, and
is held in honour of Pulang Gana, the god of the land, who lives in the
bowels of the earth, and has power to make the land fruitful or
unfruitful. In this feast invocations are made to this god, and he is
asked to give them a good harvest. The whetstones and farming implements
are placed in a heap in the public part of the Dyak house. Offerings are
made to the whetstones with a request that they may sharpen the tools
and thus lighten the labours of their owners. After the feast is over,
the whetstones are taken to the different farms, and the work of cutting
down the jungle for planting begins.
3. The _Great Feast connected with the Dead_ is the _Gawai Antu_ (the
"Spirit Feast"). No definite time is fixed for the celebration of this,
and it may be held one or two years after the death of a person. All
those that have died since the last time the feast was held, are
honoured at the same time, so that the number of departed spirits
remembered at this feast is sometimes great.
The preparation for this feast is carried on for many weeks. Distant
friends and relatives are visited, and asked to help with gifts of food
or money. Hard wood memorial monuments for the graves are got ready by
the men. The women weave, with finely-split bamboo, small imitations of
various articles of personal and domestic use, and those are hung over
the graves, and in this way given to the dead for their use in the other
world. If the dead person be a man, a bamboo gun, a shield, a war-cap
and such things are woven; if a woman, a loom, a fish-basket, a
winnowing fan, etc.; if a child, bamboo toys of various kinds.
Before the feasting begins in the evening, there takes place the formal
putting off of mourning. The nearest male relative of the dead person in
whose honour the feast is held, comes dressed in an old and shabby waist
cloth. This is cut through by some chief, and the man puts on a better
garment. In the case of female relatives, also, their old shabby
garments are cut through and thrown aside, and they resume the use of
bright clothing and personal ornaments. The bundles containing finery,
that were put away at the death of their relative, are brought forth,
and the string tying them cut through, and the owners put on their
bright garments again. As the feast is in honour of several who have
died since the feast was last held, this kind of thing goes on in
several of the rooms at the same time.
The professional wailer sits on a swing in the verandah outside the
rooms, and in a monotonous voice invites all the spirits of the dead to
attend this feast given in their honour.
The morning after the feast, the last duty to the dead is performed. The
wooden monuments, the bamboo imitation articles, and food of all kinds
are arranged upon the different graves. Having received these gifts, the
dead relinquish all claim upon the living, and depend on their own
resources.
4. A superstitious people like the Dyaks, living in constant dread of
unseen powers, naturally hold a feast when anything unusual takes place.
As the gods and spirits are supposed to communicate their wishes to
human beings by means of dreams, it naturally follows that if a man
dreams that some spirit is hungry and asks for food, at once a feast is
held, and offerings are made to that spirit. As the omens of birds are
observed and obeyed by the Dyaks, and the omen birds are looked upon as
messengers of the great god Singalang Burong, when a bird of ill omen
comes into a Dyak house, a feast is held, and offerings are made to the
gods and spirits. When a man has recovered from a long and dangerous
illness, very often a feast is held to thank the spirit of disease for
leaving them, and to beg him to stay away a long time.
To all these feasts the whole neighbourhood for miles around are
invited. Some weeks before the day appointed for the feast, small
parties of three or four are despatched in different directions, and
these go from house to house and invite people to the feast.
The men and women come to a feast dressed in the brightest colours and
wearing many ornaments, and the whole assembly has a very gay
appearance. For amusements they have dancing, cock-fighting, and trials
of strength among the young men.
The Dyaks have two dances--the _Mencha_ or Sword Dance, and the _Ajat_
or War Dance. In the former, two swords are placed on a mat, and two men
begin slowly from the opposite ends turning their bodies about,
extending the arms, and lifting their feet and planting them down in
grotesque but not ungraceful attitudes. After moving about for some
minutes, they seize the swords and pass and repass each other, now
cutting, now crossing swords, retiring and advancing. The main idea of
this Sword Dance seems to be the posturing in different attitudes, and
not so much the skill displayed in fencing. I have often watched a Dyak
Sword Dance, where neither has touched the other with his sword, the
movements having been so leisurely that there has been plenty of time to
ward off each attack.
[Illustration: A DYAK GIRL IN GALA COSTUME]
The _Ajat_ or War Dance is danced by one man. He is generally fully
armed with sword, spear and shield. He acts in pantomime what is done
when on the war-path. The dancer begins by imitating the creeping
through the jungle in cautious manner, looking to the right and to the
left, before and behind, for the foe. The lurking enemy is suddenly
discovered, and after some rapid attack and defence, a sudden plunge is
made upon him, and he lies dead on the ground. The taking of the head of
this invisible enemy ends the dance. Both kinds of dancing are
accompanied by the striking of brass gongs and drums.
Cock-fighting is a favourite sport, and there is a great deal of it at
all Dyak forests. The cocks have artificial steel spurs which are very
sharp.