Hinduism

Some of the earliest kingdoms and states in Borneo established by the Dayaks were known to practice Hinduism, including Wijayapura,^[14] Kutai,^[15] and Bangkule Sultanate.^[16] Archeologists and historians have been arguing about whether Dayaks established the oldest kingdom known to date in the Indonesian archipelago, the Nan Sarunai Kingdom.^[17][18] The existence of this kingdom was based on several carved tombstones and the Dayak folk song Usak Jawa which is thought to refer to the Majapahit conquest of Nan Sarunai in the 13th to 14th centuries.^[19] It was suspected by archeologists from radiocarbon dating to exist since as early as 200 BC, several centuries earlier than the verified oldest kingdom in the archipelago, Kutai Kingdom.^[19] This is however disputed by historians, citing another result which yields date in the 8th century and that Candi Agung, one of the archeological sites where Nan Sarunai's age was derived, was not built by Nan Sarunai according to Hikayat Banjar and was instead built by the polity established by the invader, (Negara Dipa) in the 14th century. If the radiocarbon results are correct, the ownership of the older site of which Candi Agung was built by Nan Sarunai is also debatable as they did not leave written records.^[20]

Kaharingan

Panaturan scripture from 1992 edition.

In Indonesia, the Dayak indigenous religion has been given the name Kaharingan and may be said to be a form of animism. In 1945, during the Japanese occupation, the Japanese referred to Kaharingan as the religion of the Dayak people. During the New Order in the Suharto regime in 1980, the Kaharingan is registered as a form of Hinduism in Indonesia, as the Indonesian state only recognises 6 forms of religion i.e. Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism respectively. The integration of Kaharingan with Hinduism is not due to the similarities in the theological system, but because Kaharingan is the oldest belief in Kalimantan. Unlike the development in Indonesian Kalimantan, Kaharingan is not used as a religious designation in Malaysia and Brunei, thus the traditional Dayak belief system is categorized as a form of folk animism or paganism outside of the Indonesian border.^[21]

The practice of Kaharingan differs from group to group, but shamans, specialists in ecstatic flight to other spheres, are central to Dayak religion and serve to bring together the various realms of Heaven (Upper-world) and earth, and even Under-world, for example healing the sick by retrieving their souls which are journeying on their way to the Upper-world land of the dead, accompanying and protecting the soul of a dead person on the way to their proper place in the Upper-world, presiding over annual renewal and agricultural regeneration festivals, etc.^[22] Death rituals are most elaborate when a noble (kamang) dies.^[23] Due to the institutionalization of Kaharingan beliefs in Indonesia, Kaharingan practices in Kalimantan have been recently codified and remolded into more organized religion, such as with codification of Panaturan as scripture of Kaharingan in 1971,^[24][25] creation of official Kaharingan body Hindu Kaharingan Religion Council (Majelis Agama Hindu Kaharingan) in 1980, and standarization of its house of worship buildings called Balai Basarah .^[26][27]

Christianity

Over the last two centuries, many Dayaks have converted to Christianity, making them the majority of Christians in Borneo, abandoning certain cultural rites and traditional practices in the process. Christianity was introduced by European missionaries in Borneo by Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft (later followed up by the Basler Mission).^[28] Religious differences between Muslim and Christian natives of Borneo have led, at various times, to communal tensions.^[29] Relations, however between all religious groups are generally good.

Islam

Traditionally, in many parts of Borneo, embracing the Muslim faith is equated with Malayisation (Indonesian/Malay: masuk Melayu), i.e. assimilation into the broader Malay ethnicity. There are, however, several Dayak sub-ethnicities (mainly in Central Kalimantan) that predominantly adhere to Islam, but self-identify as Dayaks. These include e.g. the Bakumpai people, who converted to Islam in the 19th century, but still have strong linguistic and cultural ties to the Ngaju people. They have adopted a positive attitude towards the label "Dayak" and self-identify as Muslim Dayaks.^[30]

Economic activities

Historically, most of the Dayak people are swidden cultivators who supplement their incomes by seeking forest products, both for subsistence (ferns, medicinal plants, fibers, and timber) and for sale; by fishing and hunting and by periodic wage labor.^[31] Presently, many modern-day Dayaks are also actively engaged in many contemporary economic activities, especially in the urban areas of Borneo.^[32]

Toplessness

In the Indonesian archipelago, toplessness was the norm among the Dayak people, Javanese, and Balinese people of Indonesia before the introduction of Islam and contact with Western cultures. In Javanese and Balinese societies, women worked or rested comfortably topless. Among the Dayak, only big-breasted women or married women with sagging breasts covered their breasts because they interfered with their work. With the availability of shirts, toplessness was abandoned.^[33]

Tattoo

A Dayak tattoo design in Kalimantan, c. 1880.

In many Dayak societies, a tattoo is regarded as a sacred creation that consolidates together the images of humans, flora, and fauna into a single body art.^[34] The tattoo is used as a spiritual expression of life, to unify the living, the spiritual powers, and the universe.^[35]

Traditionally, there are various reasons why a Dayak man or woman would choose body art. For some, it was used to mark a person's ethnic origin and rank the society. For others, the tattoo served as an act of devotion, as a demonstration of skills, to commemorate a special occasion in life, or as a symbol for the rite of passage.^[36]

Elongated earlobes

Amongst several Dayak groups in the past, long female earlobes are regarded as a symbol of beauty. The elongation process usually begins when the child is about 4 years old. During the initial stage, her ears will be pierced by an earring, so that the hisang (a special heavy silver or bronze earring) can be worn on her ears.

A new hisang will gradually added with age. After a woman is married, her hisang potentially be up to 20 pieces per-ear. As the hisang was sourced from precious and expansive metals like silver and bronze, it can signify her status, wealth, and social standing within the society. Thus, the longer her earlobes, the more important she is to the community. Presently, the practice of having stretched earlobes is almost limited to the elderly, as the practice of applying hisang amongst newborn babies has been rare since the 1960s.^[37]

Longhouses

The gallery of a Kayan Dayak longhouse with skulls and weapons along the wall, exhibiting their headhunter culture

In the traditional Dayak society, the long house is regarded as the heart of the community, it functions as the village, as well as the societal architectural expression. This large building, sometimes exceeding 200 meters in length, may be divided into independent household apartments. The building is also equipped with communal areas for cooking, ceremonies, socializing, and blacksmithing.

The superstructure is not solely about architecture and design. It is a part of the Dayak traditional political entity and administrative system. Thus, culturally the people residing in the longhouse are governed by the customs and traditions of the longhouse.^[38]

Beadworks

A traditional Dayak beaded baby carrier

Based on the archeological records in Borneo, it was discovered that the early inhabitants of the island had used organic materials to make simple beads. The beads were originally sourced from stones, bones, teeth, and shells. When the foreign traders arrived between the 8th-9th century, they further enhanced the ancient bead cultures of Borneo with the introduction of colourful glass beads. These early beads are usually small, in basic colours of red, yellow, white, turquoise, and black. These were followed by multicolored beads around the 1500s-1600s.^[39]

Traditional beadworks have occupied a pivotal status in various Dayak communities. In many Dayak cultures, beads are not solely regarded as ornamental objects, but they are a major cultural influence.^[40] Some of the beads only being used for ritualistic practices and are worn during such ceremonies. While heirloom beads (known as pesaka) are regarded as an important family heirloom and oftentimes being inherited from one generation to another.

Metal-working

Metalworking is elaborately developed in making mandaus (machetes – parang in Malay and Indonesian). The blade is made of softer iron, to prevent breakage, with a narrow strip of a harder iron wedged into a slot in the cutting edge for sharpness in a process called ngamboh (iron-smithing).

In headhunting, it was necessary to be able to draw the parang quickly. For this purpose, the mandau is fairly short, which also better serves the purpose of trail cutting in dense forests. It is holstered with the cutting edge facing upwards and at that side, there is an upward protrusion on the handle, so it can be drawn very quickly with the side of the hand without having to reach over and grasp the handle first. The hand can then grasp the handle while it is being drawn. The combination of these three factors (short, cutting edge up, and protrusion) makes for an extremely fast drawing-action.

Headhunting and peacemaking

The Dayak longhouses along the Kahayan River taken in Tumbang Anoi village (c. 1894).

In the past, the Dayaks were feared for their ancient tradition of headhunting practices (the ritual is also known as Ngayau by the Dayaks).

Among the most prominent legacies during the colonial rule in the Dutch Borneo (present-day Kalimantan) is the Tumbang Anoi Agreement held in 1874 in Damang Batu, Central Kalimantan (the seat of the Kahayan Dayaks). It is a formal meeting that gathered all the Dayak tribes in Kalimantan for a peace resolution. In the meeting that is reputed to take several months, the Dayak people throughout the Kalimantan agreed to end the headhunting tradition as it believed the tradition caused conflict and tension between various Dayak groups. The meeting ended with a peace resolution by the Dayak people.^[41]

Subsequently, the headhunting began to surface again in the mid-1940s, when the Allied powers encouraged the practice against the Japanese occupation of Borneo.^[42] It also slightly surged in the late 1960s when the Indonesian government encouraged Dayaks to purge the Chinese from interior Kalimantan who were suspected of supporting communism in mainland China, and in a period of high tension between Madurese emigrants and Dayak during the Sambas and Sampit conflicts around the turn of the century.^[43]

Military

The Dayak soldiers or trackers are regarded as equivalent in bravery to the Royal Scots or the Gurkha soldiers. The Sarawak Rangers were absorbed into the British Army as the Far East Land Forces which could be deployed anywhere in the world but upon the formation of Malaysia in 1963, it formed the basis of the present-day Royal Ranger Regiment.^[44]

While in Indonesia, Tjilik Riwut was remembered as he led the first airborne operation by the Indonesian National Armed Forces on 17 October 1947. The team was known as MN 1001, with 17 October celebrated annually as the anniversary date for the Indonesian Air Force Paskhas, which traces its origins to that pioneer paratroop operation in Borneo.^[45]