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Saturday, July 26, 2008

Iban Values, Beliefs and Rituals


Hi all

This is Lie Wen,

and I'm going to tell you all about...

IBAN VALUES, BELIEFS AND RITUALS

Let's start of with a brief introduction...

The Iban tradionally lived in a forested world replete with beast, myraid insects and thousands of other living organisms. By sharing this dynamic environment, The Iban have interpreted their existence as a state of continuos balance with other beings, whether natural or supernatuaral. This forms the basis of their philosophy: all objects have souls. However, many of traditional beliefs and customs associated with longhouse living and rice cultivation have been affected by mordernisation as well as changing religious and social influences.

SOCIAL VALUES

EGALITARIANISM is one of the most important central values of the Iban and is ardently practised at all levels of their social organisation, be it within a family or longhouse community. A spirit of cooperation exists in all aspects of life collective and in endeavours such as house building, rice cultivation and ritual festivals.
AS the Iban expended their teritory, primarily to acquire land to cultivate rice, their spiritual beliefs provided the rationale and psychological support to subdue their adversaries. In their mythology and sacred texts, such as behaviour was accepted as the right way to ensure the continuity of the group. The past practice of taking heads as trophies or as symbols of courageous achievements arose from this. Iban soldiers in the Malaysian armed forces have exhibited their legendary courage during incursions and have been awarded medals for bravery.


--An Iban in his warrior costume complete with a feathered headdress and ceremonial sword. IMPRESSIVE!


--The Ibans take heads as trophies or symbols of courage, OOH SPOOKY!


--Someone getting a tattoo for his achivement, a nail dipped in ink is hammered into his skin to get the colour in. COOL, YET "OUCH-ish"

GAWAI

Gawai mark important times in the life of the Iban. The main ones are Gawai Batu and Gawai Memali Umai; Gawai Ngintu Orang Sakit; Gawai Kenyalang; and Gawai Antu. The gawai follows a genaral pattern of rituals, beginning with miring, followed by biau, and ending with timang by lemambang. The timang, which are chanted in polyphonic prose and imageries, narrate the journey of the lemambang's soul as he invites the gods to attend the celebrations. The rituals may go on all night, and include dances to welcome the spirits.

The following translator is to... TRANSLATE? (of course, for the Italic-ised words) It could sharpen your BI, or at least thats what I think the language is... or is it?
Translation:
Gawai - Festivals
Gawai Batu and Gawai Memali - Cultivation of rice
Gawai Ngitu Orang Sakit - Health and longevity
Gawai Kenyalang - Warfare and bravery
Gawai Antu - Death
Miring - Offering of food
Biau - Invocations and chanting
Timang - Ritual incantations
Lemambang - Ritualists


--Someone performing the gawai. Is he the lemambang?

The Ibans actually have what you can call a "complex" way of life. Besides what I mentioned above, they also have souls and beliefs, customs and adat, etc.

Reading this article, I actually found the Ibans really interesting, with all the rituals, social values...

MAYBE WE COULD PAY THEM A VISIT... HAHAHA...
ANY TAKERS???
wouldn't that be nice?


I wanted to end off with a video... but my computer can't go to YOUtube... *sniffle*

In our next post, I'll inroduce to you A Cambodian Prison Portrait
Vann Nath, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge's S-21, writes about his experience of one year of pain and suffering... Poor Vann...

And also, I'll show you that video I promised. It is about the Ibans and their heads they keep as trophies. ( remind me if I forget )
Till then, I'LL SEE YOU!!!



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