The Dayak Ngayau

The Dayak ngayau

In his study of the Iban Dayak tribe, Freeman said that head hunting was merely symbolic of fertility. .the parallels between the human head and fertility are central to discussions of the practice of head hunting. .freeman says (1979: 234), the culmination of the extraordinary allegory which is central to the headhunting ceremony performed by the Ibans, which, when chanted by the spellcasting shamans, is performed by.prospective head hunters, is a ritual known as Ngelampang which literally means chopping or cutting into small pieces. .In this allegory section, a graphic description of the ritual of splitting an artificial head or antu nutmeg is presented by a Lang Singalang Burong, the Iban tribal god of war. .Lang performs this ritual (something that symbolizes the actual beheading of the enemy) with a single s***h of the sword (saber) which he does very quickly, and from the split head flows the seeds which, when sown.will emerge as a human body.Not all Dayak tribes in Kalimantan apply the Ngayau Tradition.like the Maanyan Dayak and Meratus Dayak tribes, in their custom there is no term Ngayau, but based on the stories of their traditional elders, when there was a war in the past, the Dayak Maanyan and Dayak Meratus knights at that timefight the head of the enemy leader who is their target.if they cut off the head of their leader, then the soldiers will immediately fall to their knees. ..the head of the enemy leader was not a complement to traditional rituals as did the Dayak Kenyah, Iban and Ngaju tribes, the head was still buried with his body. .Although the Dayak Meratus and Maanyan tribes do not apply the Ngayau tradition in their customs, they still think that the human head has an important meaning, namely the head of the top (high) part of the human body and has a symbolone's status.A Dayak who will go headhunting does not rely too much on the ability of his weapons, but on the strength of his soul to achieve his goals. The center of soul power is in the head of a rich man.