IDNO

DG.102038.PAO

Description

A large group of young male initiates into adat gawai (pre-Christian rituals) pose with a group of seven uniformed visitors from the British Navy in a longhouse apartment, watching a woman, Suku, winnowing rice with a tapan (bell-shaped woven rattan winnowing tray).
The boys all wear shorts and headscarves. From left to right: Mindak, Minjot, Rekut, Kubo, Nabon, Miwo, Pakar, Kadar, Seprit, Gowas, unknown (face torn out), Bambu. The naval personnel stand in a row behind them, looking at Suku. Written on the tally of their caps is “H.M.S. MARYTON”.
On the left of the boys is Otor anak Sunjam, the village’s chief tua gawai (ritual head); on the right is another tua gawai, Babai Nasia. Both men wear tua gawai vests with stars sewn onto them, stagan (leopard teeth necklaces) and ritual headgear.
A few more tapan and a raga (woven rattan basket), as well as a pile of firewood, are placed on the floor on the right. In the background can be seen other parts of the longhouse, including a sloping roof and split bamboo walls.

Place

SE Asia Borneo; Malaysia; Sarawak; Penrissen; Kampung Benuk [Kampung Segu Bunuk]

Cultural Affliation

Bidayuh [historically Land Dayak]

Named Person

Otor anak Sunjam; Mindak; Minjot; Rekut; Kubo; Nabon; Miwo; Pakar; Kadar; Seprit; Gowas; Bambu; Bai Nasia; Suku

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Paka anak Otor

Date

28 June 1966

Collection Name

Paka anak Otor Collection

Source

Paka anak OtorChua, Liana

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Source: A selection of 185 prints from Paka anak Otor’s larger collection of approximately 500 prints was made by Liana Chua during fieldwork in Kampung Benuk, Sarawak, Malaysia, in 2005. The purchase of non-exclusive reproduction rights [RM 1845, £250] by the Museum to the family of Paka anak Otor [82 Kampung Benuk, Jalan Puncak Borneo, Kuching 93250, Sarawak, Malaysia], and digital copy photographs of the collection [RM 869, £125] were paid for by the Museum Acquisition Fund [£250] and part of a Crowther-Beynon grant [£125] for the collecting of Sarawak objects. The digital scans were made by Fung Huang Colour Photo Centre [153 Padungan Road, Kuching, Sarawak] in 2005. [Liana Chua 2/8/2007]

Context: Kampung Benuk has been a small-scale tourist attraction since the 1960s, being particularly famous for its longhouse. Its first visitors were often members of the British, Australian and American armed forces stationed nearby during the Confrontation years between Indonesia and Malaysia (1963-1966); later visitors included civilian tourists, foreign dignitaries, UNESCO representatives, film crews, and government officials. Benuk’s visitor numbers appear to have peaked around the 1970s and 1980s, especially with increasing domestic and Asian tourism and the state government’s tourist promotion efforts. Today it remains a fairly popular attraction despite its much diminished longhouse. [Liana Chua 6/8/2007]

Event: This photograph was taken during the visit of several members of the British Navy to Kampung Benuk in 1966. According to Paka’s family (2004-2005), the photograph was probably taken just before or after Gawai Tamang, a major male-only ritual lasting eight nights and days, during which time the boys “entered” (marut) adat gawai. Most of their time would have been spent in the panggah (meeting and male ritual house), when they would have been cut off from contact with the rest of the world. [Liana Chua 10/9/2007]

Context: Adat gawai is a generic term for the complex of indigenous rituals practised in Bidayuh villages prior to widespread Christian conversion from the 1970s and 1980s. Today (2007) it is still observed by rapidly diminishing handfuls of elderly people in various villages. Most rituals revolved around the cultivation of rice, taking place throughout the year at major stages of the rice cycle. Other rituals were held, for example, to mark various life stages, such as adolescence, marriage and death, and to cure illnesses. Adat gawai is premised on the existence of a rather remote ‘Supreme Being’, Tapa, and more importantly, a variety of different spirits – the most important of which is the rice spirit – to whom offerings are made and invocations chanted. Such rituals entangle adat gawai practitioners and spirits alike in webs of obligations and strict protocols, including lengthy ‘taboo’ periods (pantang) which impose restrictions or demands on people’s movement and dietary habits. The key aim of adat gawai is to maintain a state of modud (‘coolness’) in the world: of stability, safety and wellness. [Liana Chua 10/9/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Liana Chua 10/9/2007]