for
many outsiders the name has been synonymous with a forbidding and isolated
wilderness, a steamy rain-soaked place, dangerous and forlorn. While it was
among the first lands in Asia to be visited by Europeans, it remained among the
last to be mapped.
Borneo
is the third largest island in the world. Six major, and numerous minor,
navigable rivers traverse the interior and function as trade and communication
routes for the indigenous peoples who live here, namely the Dayak. Dayak, meaning
"interior" or "inland" person, is the term used to describe
the variety of indigenous native tribes of Borneo, each of which has its own
language and separate culture. Approximately three million Dayak - Ibans,
Kayans, Kenyahs and others - live in Borneo. Most groups are settled
cultivating rice in shifting or rain-fed fields supplementing their incomes
with the sale of cash crops: ginger, pepper, cocoa, palm oil. However several
hundred Penan, nomadic hunter-gatherers, continue to follow a traditional
lifestyle in the jungle, one that is rapidly vanishing.
Aside
from a few scattered reports of missionaries, traders, and a handful of
explorers in the mid-19th century, almost nothing was known about the Dayak and
their customs. To these outsiders only one thing was for certain: that the
island was inhabited by "primitive" peoples who worshipped pagan gods
and spirits and whose knowledge and skills made this land their home.
By
1900, however, anthropological interest in Borneo peaked and became the focus
of several museum expeditions by the Dutch and British. With the many
ethnological accounts that followed, some of the most interesting material that
was generated focused upon the traditional tattooing practices of the Dayak.
Tattooing was believed to be a sacred activity that was connected to many
aspects of traditional Dayak culture, especially spirit worship and
headhunting.
The
most important symbol marking participation in the headhunt was tattoo (Iban:
pantang). Among the Kayan, anthropomorphic figures were tattooed onto the
fingers and were known as tegulun. Although they denoted having taken a head,
tegulun possibly represented a sacrifice to a helper spirit that in former
times was propitiated by killing a slave upon the construction of a new longhouse.
Other tattoos
covered the entire body. For example, this elder Dayak man photographed in 1896
(fig. 1 - click for larger image)
Possesses a style no longer seen in this era
of modernity. The central tattoo motif on his chest represents the trunk of the
Garing tree; adjoining it above are the two outstretched wings of the hornbill
- a messenger of the Iban war god, Lang Singalang Burong. Garing trees are believed
to be immortal and invulnerable while the hornbill, marking rank and prestige,
is believed to provide protection against the intrusion of evil spirits living
in the jungle. Interestingly, images of the hornbill (Iban: tenyalang) were
oftentimes carved and propitiated with sacrifices of pigs and human heads prior
to them being mounted on display poles, since the spirit of the tenyalang was
believed to leave its wooden body, fly to the longhouse of an enemy, and weaken
the spirit of the headhunters living there. The tattooing that appears down the
arms and over the shoulders represents the leaves of the areca palm, considered
as another effective weapon against malevolent spirits. In a sense, then, Dayak
men of this time were covered with a visual canopy of the creatures and plants
that lived within their jungle domain. However, and when combined together,
tattoos performed as an indelible form of camouflage acting upon the malevolent
forces encountered in the jungle - headhunters and evil spirits. In the past,
it seems that tattoo was one of the primary devices for completion - holding
the body and its constituent parts together in a dangerous world - and maybe
this is why the Ngaju Dayak say, "the tattooed man is the perfect and
sacred man, and only such may receive the perfect tattooing."
(fig. 1 - click for larger image)
Just
as a great warrior was tattooed to mark his achievements in the human hunt,
women were tattooed as proof of their accomplishments in weaving, dancing or
singing - as well as for protective purposes. Following ritual precautions,
weavers communicated with their spirit helpers before initiating a design. It
was thought that this action would prevent irritating other spirits represented
in a new weaving. Textile work, a hazardous undertaking recognized by the Iban
as "women's war" (kayau indu'), was both socially and ritually marked
by tattoo. Among the Kayan, tattoo (tedek) was handtapped onto the fingers of
women in various patterns
(fig. 2),
although black spikes running from the knuckles to mid-digits was a fairly common design
(fig. 2),
although black spikes running from the knuckles to mid-digits was a fairly common design
For
Borneo's Dayak peoples, spirits embody everything: animals, plants, and humans,
Krutak explained. Many groups have drawn on this power by using images from
nature in their tattoos, creating a composite of floral motifs using plants
with curative or protective powers and powerful animal images.
Tattoos
are created by artists who consult spirit guides to reveal a design. Among
Borneo's Kayan people, women are the artists, a hereditary position passed from
mother to daughter. Among the Iban, the largest and most feared indigenous
group in Borneo, men apply the tattoos.
These
tattoos are blue-black, made of soot or powdered charcoal, substances thought
to ward off malevolent spirits. Some groups spike their pigment with charms—a
ground-up piece of a meteorite or shard of animal bone—to make their tattoos
even more powerful.
For
the outline, the artist attaches up to five bamboo splinters or European
needles to a stick. After dipping them in pigment, he or she taps them into the
skin with a mallet. Solid areas are filled in with a circular configuration of
15 to 20 needles.
A Spiritual Artform
Dayak tattoo is a spiritual artform that merges images of humans, animals, and plants into one unit, expressing the proliferation of life and the integration of living and spiritual beings in the cosmos. Death and fertility were the primary axes around which tattoo creativity spiraled. Tattooing offered visual testimony to the refusal of Dayak individuals to accept the finality of death and assert the indestructibility of their being. By emulating the life of the gods in everyday ritual, the Dayak procured their own form of divine power that ensured the perpetuation of human life in a continuum of eternity. Therefore, tattoos were articulating symbols inscribing implicit Dayak ideologies of existence upon the living canvas of human flesh.
Ritual
Tattooing
Traditionally,
Dayak tattooing was performed in a sacred ritual among gathered tribe members.
Among the Ngaju Dayak, Krutak said, the tattoo artist began with a sacrifice to
ancestor spirits, killing a chicken or other fowl and spilling its blood.
After
a period of chanting, the artist started an extremely painful tattooing process
that often lasted six or eight hours. Some tattoos were applied over many
weeks.
For
coming-of-age tattoo rituals, the village men dressed in bark-cloth. This
cloth, made from the paper mulberry tree, also draped corpses and was worn by
widows.
Tattooing,
like other initiation rites, symbolized both a passing away and a new
beginning, a death and a life.
Head-hunting Tattoos
Head-hunting Tattoos
One
Dayak group, the Iban, believe that the soul inhabits the head. Therefore,
taking the head of one's enemy gives you their soul. Taking the head also
conferred your victim's status, skill and power, which helped ensure farming
success and fertility among the tribe.
Upon
return from a successful head-hunting raid, participants were promptly
recognized with tattoos inked on their fingers, usually images of
anthropomorphic animals.
Head-hunting
was made illegal over a century ago—but even today, an occasional head is still
taken.
Tattooed
Women
In past times, just as Iban men were tattooed to recognize their prowess in hunting or warfare, Iban women were adorned for accomplishments in weaving, dancing, or singing. Adolescent Kayan girls were tattooed at puberty to render status as an adult, to attract men, and to provide protection against evil spirits.
As
they grew older, women were often covered by a weave of inked images spreading
around their legs, across the tops of their feet, forearms, and fingers.
But
only very wealthy Kayan women sported these intricate tattoos, Krutak
said—"only aristocracy who could pay with a sword, a gong, pigs, or old
trading beads." Only aristocratic women were allowed to use particular
designs, because only these women were powerful enough to resist any negative
magic associated with the designs themselves, he said. Slaves were forbidden to
tattoo.
Marking Perfection
"But
later in life, perhaps at the age of 40, only 'perfect' men would be allowed to
receive the complete form of Ngaju tattoo," Krutak said. These were men
who had distinguished themselves by living their lives according to ceremonial
law, participating in head-hunting expeditions and the offering of a human sacrifice—and
who had acquired wealth.
This
"complete" tattoo was applied over many days. The man's arms were
covered with images of areca palm fronds that were said to protect him from
malevolent jungle spirits. Then his torso was tattooed with a design of the
Tree of Life, an everlasting symbol of strength and divinity that protected him
from his flesh-and-blood enemies. He was then considered godlike, perfect and
sacred, and it was believed that in the next world he would receive a golden
body.
Among
the Iban, the chests and backs of older, venerated warriors were completely
decorated with a collage of powerful images. The hornbill was a favored motif
because the bird was seen as a messenger of the war god Lang and also marked
rank and prestige. Other favorites were the scorpion and the water serpent,
which protected the wearer from evil spirits lurking in the jungle.
