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Category: History

Christianity and the Kenyah

om’s Note: This article dealt with themes, theories, had diagrams and other manifestations of Christian thought. I have pulled out the basic reasons why Kenyah became Christian. The Kenyah lived along the Sarawak Indonesian border with most of the people residing in Indonesia. The border was very fluid with the

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July 1, 2021 No Comments

Melanau Beliefs and Crocodile Stories

Tom’s Note: This article was hard to read and decipher as well as being long. I read it over three times coming back to sections several times. Please remember these are old beliefs and do not reflect the Melanau of today. The earth is an egg riding on the horns

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June 23, 2021 No Comments

Selako Circumcision

Tom’s Note: When I announced my engagement to my Malay wife, most people wanted to know if was circumcised. I said yes I was, however, the question still kept coming. I finally asked if they wanted to see it. Nobody took me up on the offer. Even after the honeymoon,

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June 17, 2021 No Comments

Tarsier and Evolution

Early Sketch from Camel’s description Tom’s Note: The people of the Indo/Malay islands already knew about the Tarsier. However, when the white men came, they made the animal known to the western world of science.  The story of the Tarsier began in 1705 when a person named J. Camel described

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June 12, 2021 No Comments

Kelabit Harvest

The Kelabit Harvest The Kelabits are a small tribe inhabiting an isolated highland area of 1000 square miles in Sarawak known as the Kelabit highlands. Local oral history states they have been isolated for 500 years (from 1979). Their raiding and headhunting practices necessitated that they have only suspicious and

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June 5, 2021 No Comments

Head Ceremony Bidayuh

Bidayuh Head Ceremony-Katang Tom’s note: Probably the thing that strikes me is the amount of preparation it takes to please the spirits before the actual harvest begins.  These notes were made during 1963 in Kampong Sudoh, Singghai. Katang is a festival used to placate the spirits of the heads taken

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May 30, 2021 No Comments

Time and the Kadayans

How the Kadayan Tells Time Tom’s Note: This article describes, in the first four and a half pages, an incomprehensible (to me) discourse complete with mathematical equations about how the Kadayan tell time. I have elected to use the second half which shows how nature informs the Kadayan. Buna picula

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May 26, 2021 No Comments

Kenyah Farming Year

Toms note: The omen birds are a group of birds that figure prominently in the Kenyah culture. Traditional Kenyah Farming Year When the spider hunter bird (Isit) is seen flying to the right, the omen is favourable and when it is seen flying to the left they had to avoid

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May 24, 2021 No Comments

Former Bidayuh Customs

Tom’s Note: This piece was written in 1978 about the Gawai Mpijog Rantau Festival for the first clearing of the padi (rice) fields. It was supposed to be filmed by Professor Geddes who made a contribution of pigs, fish, eggs etc. worth RM1000 but the camera broke down. The article

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May 15, 2021 No Comments

Panay in the Philippines: A Sarawak Connection

Panay in the Philippines: A Sarawak Connection The island of Panay is the fourth largest island in the Philippine archipelago. The prehistory of the island, before the Spaniards is related in a document called the Maragatas. The Maragatas, written in 1221,  states the Datuks from Borneo purchased the island from the Negritoes. The negritoes then

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May 9, 2021 No Comments
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