Gosh, this was a hard one.  A 50-page paper, the names in parentheses in the body of the paper are the sources of the material and not related to the author. A bibliography of the mentioned sources follows.

Bidayuh Headhunting

The Bidayuh are the fourth-largest ethnic group in Sarawak and live mainly in Lundu, Bau, Kuching and Serian. Sarawak’s’ Bidayuh are usually divided into three groups: Bau Bidayuh, Biatah Bidayuh and Serian Bidayuh.

From Bornean world views, bringing back a head benefited the head takers own and the community’s fertility and well-being. What is fertility? Kruijt(1906) called it life fluid, then he called it soul substance and then magical power. Hutton (1938) introduced the term life “fertilizer”. Izikowitz (1941) termed it life energy, while Bloch (1982) explained it as some alienable stock of life.

Freeman(1979) said trophy heads had a penal significance. In both, human heads and the penis are considered containers of the seed. La Barre(1984) where says “The oldest manifestation of religion traces back to the Palaeolithic age where the skull is attached to the spinal column which is attached to the penis.

Needham isolated two actions: taking of heads and acquiring prosperity. (he then goes into an unintelligible argument with classical physics thrown in)

What do the Basingi have to say about headhunting?

The most important reason for headhunting was when a village community experienced hardships, such as epidemics or famines. The village has run out of luck or “turned hot”. At times of the crisis, the current collection of skulls was not enough to change the bad luck. For the village to return from “hot” or bad luck to “cool” or to become lucky, a freshly severed head had to be installed into the head house. (the term luck is mine)

John Walker calls this life force semangat. Semangat is like the battery in a torch.(flashlight to the Americans.) As the battery powers down, the light beam gets dimmer until it finally goes out. A fresh head is like a source of power that will add more power to the battery (semangat), which in turn causes the light beam to brighten. Shining the light beam on Rajah Brooke brings Rajah Brooke into society, and he becomes part of the religion.(at least I think this is what he means)

The soul is part of each individual Bidayuh. They have seven of them, one in each eye, one off the tip of each shoulder, one in each knee cap and one at the base of the spine. A soul may leave the body where the soft spot in the skull used to be. (Geddes)The soul can then fly around in dreams, visit the other worlds and frolic with some of the animals.

In visiting the other worlds, they could ask for powers from Komang and Tiriu.(more about them later) to exorcise men or be given stones or other items. They could also meet their spirit families.(Noab and Noab) Interestingly, Lindell (2000) states that other living beings have a soul. This includes humans, animals, plants and a variety of inanimate objects.

What happens when the human body dies? The soul then wanders the earth for a while before finding their way to an appropriate village or community. The soul then enters the afterworld. They are then referred to as ancestors. (Blust, Tussel, Nais and Roth)

Ju’uh

A term dealing with fertility, but not with heads and skulls, is called Ju’uh. There are several villages in Padawan that used to practice this ritual. They would hold large-scale rituals which would unify all the villages. It is a word that applies to the juice of the fruit, and the sap of trees and can imply essence.(Harris)

Min(d)o ~Munuo

Hantu or spirits are divided into two classes: Umoi are demons, while mino are the ghosts of the departed. Buau are ghosts of men killed in war or have lost their heads. They reside in the old forest jungle. Pujabun are ghosts who have met with an accidental death. They spend their time trying to injure the living. The kokanak are the ghosts of women who die in childbirth. They live in the jungle and frequently mount high trees. They make hideous noises to frighten belated Dayaks. Pontianak are vampires, women who died in childbirth. They can change into sikukuok birds and prey on men and newborn children.(Chalmers)

Manuk munuo is an insect believed to bring bad luck. It can also mean devil bird. It is not really a bird but a cricket. Furthermore, it is believed to be the ghost of the enemy’s soul. Bu’uou is a supernatural being. Munuo buwou’ is a spirit of the rocks.

Umot~muot

Triu and Komang live on the summit of high hills and delight in war, bloodshed and death. When traps and bamboos are set to kill pigs and deer, an invocation is sent to them to beg for their help. They are said to descend from their lofty dwellings to attend head feasts. They are disgustingly ugly as they are barbarous and cruel and their bodies are covered with hair like an orangutan. Their favourite food is the blood of humans. The komang of the Bisingai is said to live on Mount Serapi and can take the form of a wild boar. Among other peoples, i.e. Malayic they are considered the spirits of bachelors who did not come back from either warfare or headhunting.(Chalmers)

Chalmers’ subgroups 3-6 are related to food and rice. The umot sise are said to sneak under the house and eat the fragments of food after a feast. Nais says the sise are hide-and-seek spirits who have long nails, wear ragged clothes and carry back a basket full of leaves.

Chalmers’s fourth group comprises the umot perusong and tibong who come to devour the padi (rice) after it’s been stored away. Chalmers’s fifth group also belongs here. It is considered an umot with an enormous appetite.

Chambler’s sixth group, and probably identical to Nais’s, is an umot who lives on Mount Peninjauh and who lives among clefts and holes of the rocks. In wet weather, they may be heard to continually shiver like a man with a fever.

Gam

This ceremony substitutes an old head with a freshly severed one. (Noeb and Noeb) The headman and the village elders led the headhunters to their hut (baruk) to pick the skull. The Headman then talks to the spirit of the skull residing in the skull. He advised the spirit not to feel sad but to go happily with the visitors because the visitors need to protect themselves and defend the village. During the later stage of the ritual, a pig is slaughtered and part of its blood is mixed with the water of a young coconut. The ritual specialists then bathe the skull. The first skull they bathe is the old one from the baruk. Then they bathe the other skulls according to rank. Finally, they take a brush and swipe it with the concoction on everyone in the village to get rid of sickness and evil spirits inhabiting the body. All the amulets are discharged from the people and are then burned. The heads are then replaced in the baruk. The new skull is also bathed.(not much else is written after that)(Noeb and Noeb)

Why did the Bidayuh need newly severed heads?  Noeb and Noeb answer “Because the people believed that only the indwelling spirits of the newly severed skull possessed powerful magic.”(Noeb and Noeb)

Lindell offered the following:

“Overall, I think it’s best to view headhunting as a ritual of transformation-transformation of young boys into warriors, of heat into coolness and of enemies into protectors.”

Noeb and Noeb describe headhunting as “the panacea of lifes ills” while King said “it needs to be understood as a sacrificial act”

From: Oliver Venz From Enemy Skulls to Welfare and the Missing Nexus-A Review of Bidayuh Headhunting Sarawak Museum Journal,  December 2019

Bibliography of sources mentioned in the paper in order of appearance

Kruijit, A.C. Het Animisme in den Indischen Archipel Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff 1906

Ibid: Indonesians in James Hastings (ed) Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics: Edinburgh, 1914

Hutton, J.H. A primitive Philiosophy of Life Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1938

Izikowitz, K.G. Fastening the Soul in Goran Aijmer Compass for Fields Afar:Acta University, 1941

Bloch, M Death, Women and Power in M. Bloch and . Perry eds Death and Regeneration of Life Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982

Freeman, J.D. Iban Agriculture Colonial Office Research Study #19 London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1955

Ibid Severed Heads that Germinate in R.H. Hook Fantasy and Symbol London: Academic Press, 1979

La Barre, W.  Muelos: A Stone Age Superstition about Sexuality New York: Columbia University Press,1984

Needham R Skulls and Causality Man 11

Walker, John James Brooke and the Bidayuh Modern Asian Studies(32) 1 1998

Ibid Power and Prowess Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002

Geddes, W. The Land Dyaks of Sarawak London: HM Staionary Office for the Colonial Office 1954

Chalmers, Rev W. Vocabulary of English and Sarawak Dyaks  in H.L. Roth The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, London: Trueslove &Hanson, 1861

Noeb Leo and Noeb J Gawia Katang Kuching: Redeems, 2012

Lindell,P.The Longhouse and the Legacy of History. The University of Nevada Ph.D. thesis 2000

King, V.T. The Peoples Borneo Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell, 1993