An excerpt from looking for Borneo, images, words and music inspired by the book, Crazy Little Paradise.
Not far away, at the end of an incredibly potholed jungle trail, Bahau Dayak traditional ways are preserved in this developing region. The isolated village Eheng sports a rolled sprawling fine or longhouse where families live in the old and to continue to adopt the rituals that ensure respect is paid to ancestors and ancient spirits are appeased. On another occasion when Eheng visit with my family, I was welcomed by the evocative sounds of a village gamelan orchestra combines with the rhythm of mallet and chisel as a Whuge tree trunk was carved into a very symbolic totem. I watched for a while. Human figures with grotesquely exaggerated genitals and facial features emerged from the raw wood entwined with snakes, dragons and swirling classical motifs.
I climbed a wooden pole hacked to enter the longhouse raised. As my eyes adjusted to the dark interior, I took in a remarkable scene. A small group was huddled around playing the gamelan gongs of light inside grating. In a corner of the community space that ran the length of the structure, a group of old men sitting around a Dayak shaman singing in a local language unintelligible. A large area was separated from the hanging strips of dry leaves and floored with rattan mats. Beyond this, women squatting next to a pair of large jars of Chinese porcelain, busy in preparing a range of festive foods. The villagers wandered, smoking and chatting with a sidelong glance or sometimes an open look at our intrusion. In the center of the cordoned area hung a large wooden box and painted in bright colors, decorated with a profusion of colored cloths and woven reeds. Looking up to where this arrangement was attached to the ceiling above, I could see a group of cheap china plates and bowls hanging upside down in the middle of dust and cobwebs .
"What is all this for?" Asked my son, Oliver, then eleven years old and trying to make sense of it all.
at this stage, the economic opportunities that our visit were presented as assertive and a range of carved and woven items were distributed to our inspection. My attention was diverted to speculation about the meaning of all this, and I put company more pressing souvenir shopping. "Beats me," I replied, my Indonesian language not so good enough for me to know.
It was not until some time later that the significance of this scene became clear.
On a second visit to Eheng few months later, I met Tim and Michael Cope, an Australian anthropologist who had lived for two years on and off the village and the study of the religion of the people Bahau and change society. Michael looked a bit like a large version of the skinny bearded kampung chickens SCRABBLE about in the longhouse, this appearance may be the effect of a prolonged supply of Nasi Putih and local cigarettes. He was happy to have the opportunity of conversation in their native language with visitors interested in his research.
"Eheng," he explained, "is a general plain young Dayak town. It was created there about thirty, when the villagers migrated from inland. Since that time only three traditional funeral ceremonies were held. It simply costs too much. "
The complex three-week-long rituals are apparently a few families financial burdens can bear. To cover the expenses of the funeral we had stumbled in the previous visit, it is likely that the host family has sold a priceless antique ceramic jars that were negotiated in advance by the Chinese merchants for products the precious jungle, and have now become coveted collectibles by ancient traders from the coast.
The totem pole or sepunduq I observed being carved was to be erected in the clearing in front of the long house, where he would serve as a hitching post for a sacrificial beast in climax of the ceremony. In earlier times a human sacrifice would have been offered. After the funeral, the carved pole was probably sold to help offset costs. The suspended inside the longhouse colorful box contained the bones dug up and ritually cleansed of these family members whose minds were to be released for their trip on the boat dead in a Dayak heaven.
Glorious Mud 2014 pencil, pen and wash on paper by Khan Wilson
"Last night three weeks of rituals," Michael continued, " those bones were taken from the box and given a wild party before they are put into their sandung . "As he spoke, he took us to the village cemetery where sandung were. A row of five or six sarcophagi carved wood rested a few meters above the ground on weed carved posts.
This is the nature of traditional culture Dayak, where the spiritual and the temporal are never far apart. The presence of both a Catholic and a Protestant church in the village, next to the cabin, indicates flexibility of religious thought could perhaps be usefully replicated in other regions. "Parents and friends of the deceased sang beautiful songs to the dead that night. It is really very moving. The songs are amazing, very haunting. I was the last burial took place here. They sing songs that celebrate life in a very personal way. If the dead man liked to smoke, it is given lit cigarettes. They give them their favorite food and a share of grog too. They dance even with the skulls. the party would have continued all night. It is quite amazing. "
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Mark Heyward lived and worked in Indonesia for over twenty years. His 2013 book, Crazy Little Paradise Indonesian trip became a bestseller in that country. This story is an excerpt from a new coffee table book called Looking Borneo, images words and music inspired by the crazy sky book.
As Bill Dalton said in the preface: "Looking for Borneo is a celebration of the island of Borneo, its environment and its inhabitants at the same time [ it is a call to action, a plea to save this special place from the ravages of development. a collection of writings, drawings, photographs and music inspired by Kalimantan and acclaimed book of Mark Heyward crazy sky, an Indonesian travel this new volume is a unique artistic collaboration and a great contribution to the body of Indonesia Travel literature. "
looking Borneo will be published in an event Special to the Ubud readers and Writers Festival, the Ubud Botanical Gardens on the evening of Friday, October 3rd . the event will feature an exhibition of the work of Khan and photography David, live music of Mark album by Qisie and friends, readings accompanied by music and images - and Dayak traditional music and dance. All are welcome.