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Sep
2008

Tarubah Bansa Iban Nemu Bekalingai (Bepantang – Tattoo)

MENYA bisi kitai Iban siko ke benama Gendup. Kenyau ari agi biak iya endang penyumpit bendar. Iya suah bendar bemalam dalam kampong, ba lubang batu, di puchok kayu enggau sabelah endor bukai ke manah endor iya nat ka diri dalam babas leboh iya kelalu jaoh udah tapejoh nyumpit. Iya mega endang orang ke berani ngelaban malam, enda takut ka hari jai tau ka ular-embayar, jelu-antu ke tau nganu kitai dalam babas.

Nyadi sakali iya kelalu jaoh tapejoh nyumpit, nyau enda nemu pengelama diri ke udah bejalai. Kepuas bejalai dalam babas dia iya tak rembus ba pendai orang, lalu tepeda ka indu siko mandi. Apin Gendup sempat ngangau alai indu nya lalu nyapa.

“Lalu Gendup, lalu enggau aku mandi dulu,” ko indu nya.

“Nama kebuah enda lalu,” pia ko Gendup, ngengkah ka ma iya lalu sama mandi enggau indu nya. lya alit ati meda indu nya tak nemu nama iya. Udah tembu mandi indu nya lalu mai Gendup niki ka rumah.

“Niki meh Gendup nyereta aku, sida ke lelaki nadai mindah, bisi di rumah magang,” ko indu nya leboh ka mai iya niki.

“Manah endar enti sida bisi di rumah magang,” ko Gendup.

Nyau semak kaki tangga, dinga Gendup tak bakasetik-bakasetok munyi utai dalam rumah orang nya. Iya enda nemu belaba ka pengawa orang ke bengat bakasetik ngemalat nya.

“Nama pengawa orang di rumah dia?” Ko iya nanya indu ke disempulang iya ari pendai.

“Eh, orang ngaga kalingai, orang bepantang,” ko saut indu
nya.

Seduai pen lalu niki ka rumah. Nama agi meda temuai niki, orang lalu bakaraoh ngasoh dudok. Tang iya madah ka diri lalu enggau indu nya ka setak ka dulu. Datai ba tengah Rumah, indu nya lalu tama ka bilik. Gendup lalu ngait ka ma enggau duku iya ba tandok rusa ke ba tiang. Apai tuai orang ba ruai dia lalu nudok ka iya. Gendup pen lalu dudok nunga apai tuai orang nya. Peda iya nyau genarau tuboh apai-tuai orang nya penoh laban kalingai.

Udah badu makai lemai nya sampal bendar orang sarumah, enggau indu enggau anembiak, begulu ka Gendup. Udah nanya ka menoa, orang lalu nanya ka pejalai, laban iya bengat nadai kala udah rembus udah ngebus ba menoa nya. Gendup madah ka diri pejalai lantang. Ninga iya pejalai lantang, sida lalu bungah. Dia sida ke bujang madah ka diri deka ngaga kalingai ka Gendup, dikena ngingat ka iya ke baru rembus. Tang Gendup apin madah ka diri deka, nyangka tak pedis dipantang, ninga munyi orang ti bepantang nyau bakasetok leboh iya baru datai tadi. Malam nya sida ketuai lalu madah ka Gendup bagi kalingai ke diengkah ba tuboh, baka ba rekong, bau, lengan, pah, belakang enggau endor bukai. Orang mega lalu madah ka pasal tegulun ngagai iya.

Tegulun Design by Augustine Anggat Ganjing – Basic Iban Design

“Tegulun enda tau digaga ngapa enti kitai nadai dengah,” pia ko orang madah ngagai iya.

Nyau rindu ninga sida berandau ka pasal kalingai, hari siti baru iya madah ka diri deka dipantang sida. Nya alai sida ke bujang lalu berengkah ngaga kalingai ka Gendup. Tiga hari berunggu sida mantang baru tembu. Nama agi, nadai utai ngemanah nya kalingai ba sebelah tuboh Gendup, orang ga endang landik, bengat tak penatai kalingai. Bentara ka hari udah nya, kalingai iya pan udah ga gerai magang, dia iya madah ka diri bisi ati deka pulai ka menoa, tang iya enda nemu jalai pulai. Apin Gendup pulai, apai-tuai orang nya lalu madah ka nama diri ngagai iya.

“Nama aku Selang Pantang,” ko iya. “Bala kami tu Antu Pantang magang. Nya alai laban nuan, Gendup, terubah mensia datai ba rumah kami nuan mega dulu digaga ka kami kalingai. Lalu nadai orang bukai nemu ngaga pantang enti enda ari ajar nuan enggau peturun nuan jemah ila,” Pia ko jako Antu nya bejako enggau iya. Udah nya iya lalu madah ka jalai pulai ngagai Gendup.

Datai di rumah orang bela ngenong magang medah utai tak begenarau chelum sabelah tuboh Gendup. Iya lalu becherita ka diri ke diau ba rumah sida Antu Selang Pantang, kenyau ari iya ke rembus ba pendai lalu betemu enggau indu mandi. Ari ajar Gendup nya meh pun Iban nemu begaga ka kalingai ba tuboh.

Category: Iban, Iban Tattoo, Jerita Lama, Pantang Iban Leave a Comment

Aug
2008

Tattoo of an Iban (From Borneo)

By seth

For Borneo’s Dayak peoples, spirits embody everything: animals, plants, and humans. 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.

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

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.

Borneo Scorpion Tattoo

One of the great islands of the world, is part of the Malay Archipelago located southwest of the Philippines. It is also one of the few places today where tattooing continues to be practiced in a tradition that may stretch back thousands of years. Although it is but an island, it is home to several native subgroups: the Iban (also called the Sea Dayak), Kayan, Kenyah, and Land Dayak. Often times, though, these peoples are grouped under the single term Dayak, used to refer to any of the indigenous people of the interior of this lush and mountainous island. In the late 1800s, anthropologists started to become interested in the traditional cultures of the peoples of the region and several investigative expeditions were mounted. From these, as well as the work of modern researchers, we are provided a rare glimpse behind some of the symbols at work in tattooing and the meanings that they hold. As with many indigenous forms of tattooing around the globe, the art of tattooing was not simply art for arts sake. Instead, tattooing was an integral part of the culture, a ritual expression, specifically connected with spiritual beliefs. The scorpion symbol, also sometimes known as kala, was noted particularly in Iban tattoo designs by Charles Hose (a civil officer who worked in Borneo over twenty years) and William McDougall (an English anthropologist) in their 1912 publication The Pagan Tribes of Borneo. However, the authors note that the “scorpion” design is actually based on the highly stylized image of the aso, the mythical dog/dragon associated with protection from malevolent spirits. Hose and McDougall suggest that the Iban adopted their tattoo designs from other subgroups on the island and created their own interpretations afterwards. In the kala design, the claws of the scorpion were originally the back end of the dog while the hooked ends at the back of the scorpion design were originally the open jaws of the mouth of the dog. Although it has no particular significance in the scorpion design, even the rosette-like eye of the dog still persists in the center.