REcALLTNG THE DEAD, REvERtN(; THE ANcEsToRs

lt5
Crleprnn 2
Recalling the Dead, Revering the Ancestors:
Multiple Forms of Ancestorship
in Saribas Iban Society
CIffird Sather
HE SARIBAS IBAN EXpREss THErR reverence for the ancestors in
various ways, ranging from simple farming prayers to major ritual
festivals in which the spirits of the dead are recalled to the living
world. Lengthy genealogies connect the ancestors, not only to their living
descendants, but to the gods and spirit-heroes as well, while mlths credit
them, as a consequence, with the creation of major social institutions.
The purpose of this chapter is to consider the varied ways in which
ancestorship is manifested in Saribas Iban society. Much of this variation,
I argue here, is linked to the complex manner in which death is played out
in Saribas funerary rituals.l Within these rituals, as I have noted elsewhere
(Sather 2003b), death takes the form of a transformational process in
which different aspects of the self are said to experience the conditions
of death in different ways, and so, in practice, are made, sequentially, the
focus of separate rituals. As a process, death is also seen as ontologicirlly
inseparable from life. Hence the 'souls' (semengat)
of the dead undergo
an eventual transubstantiation through which they become re-embodied
as rice and so are associated, ultimately, with the gift of sustenance and
of human life itself. On the other hand, in death, an individual is also
said to become a'spirit (antu), which in time undergoes an eyen more
complex transformation. Identified at first with the corpse, this spirit
becomes increasingly invisible and withdrawn from the material world,
until, during the culminating rites ofthe funerary process, it is temporarily
recalled, together with the spirits of an entire generational cohort of the
dead, back to the principal site of its former existence, the longhouse
of its living descendants. Here, through a display of rnaterial ib.yecrs
evoking its former presence, these spirits of the most recent longhouse
dead participate in a ritual exchange by which they renew and streigthen
the lives of the living while they themselves un.l".go u final tra,rsitior,,
shedding the last traces oftheir former materialiry to become benevolent,
otherworldly ancestors. From what is now a realm of their own, removed
both spatially and visually from the living world, they henceforth play a
role in.the lives ofthe living analogous to and ultimately merging with that
of th.e'go d,s' (p e tara).
Iban society was in the past, arld remains today, at once both egalitarian
and intenseiy competitiye. Death in this connection reverses a basilpremise
of the Saribas Iban normative order, namely, that at birth each person is, by
basic entitlement, both tqual' (srzrza)
and hlike' (sebaka).
Deathrituals, by
contrast, instantiate social and spiritual differentiation. Those who fail in
lifebydyingprematurely,orbysuffering.ill_fateddeaths,(busongmati),are
precluded from ritual recall and so, in this sense, are debarred"after ieath
from achieving full ancestorship. Indeed, they may becone a tentporary
source of this,worldly danger. On the other hand, those who succejed in
life are memorialized with special honors and so secure fbr themselves a
place ofeminence both in the hereafter and in tltis world in the oral genealo_
gies preserved by their living descendants. Hence, their personal ichieve,
ments live on in both this world and the next. In addition, some persons,
in becon.ring ancestors, elect to return to the liying world as the
iersonal
spirit'guardians (taa')
of especially favored descendants. In doing so, they
are believed to act ilt rvays that serve to perpetuate
intergenerational
success
along particular family Iines. Finally, those who achieve-singular
renown in
lil'c n.ra1' be given funcrary rites rnodeled not on those of o"rdinary human
beings, but on those ofthe ancestral spirit_heroes. Their bodies, rather than
beingturied, are entombed above ground, and following the dissolution of
theirlleshly remains, they are said to undergo a direct, tliis_worldly apothe_
osis, becoming not otherworldly gods, but, rather, immanent rpirit ug"nt,
in the living world.
Finally, the nature of ancestorship
varies, too, with the particular social
capacities for which the ancestors are evoked by the living, whether as
named individuals, regional pioneers,
sources of political or spiritual
authority, family or community founders, or simply us epo ny^ou"'oki.ini,
( grandfathers- grandmothers).
Il6
Crtrrorp S,rrurp
The Saribas Iban
'l1te
Iban are the lnost populous Dayak group in western Borneo..fhe great
nirjority live in Sararvak, where, in 2001, they numbered 603,540, or just
over a qurrter of rhe state's population (Sather
2004: 623).2 The particulrr
collrn1urity I discuss in this chapter, the Saribas tban, historically inhabited
the Saribas ancl Krian river systems in what is now the Betong Division. Over
the last 40 years the region has experienced considerable out_migration
and Loday many Saribas lban are also present elsewhere, particulirrly in
towns and urban areas. Most of rny observations come from the upper
Paku tributary of the main Saribas River where I have carried out fielclwork
intermittently from 1977 to the present.3
In the past and continuing into the first decade ofthe twentieth century,
warfare was a central focus of rnuch of Saribas lban ritual life. The most
preeminent of all ritual festivals constituted a graduated cycle known as
l\e Gawai Burong (Sandin
1977). These festivals invoked the most powerful
of all Iban deities, Singalang Burong, the lban god of warfar" nr,,.l or.,g,,.y,
and were sponsored by men of prowess, accomplished warriors, ald war
leaders, in an ascending sequence, with each stage markiug an increirsrng
degree of honor and social recognition (see
Sather 1996: 95_96). Ar the
beginning of the twentieth ce[tury, the preeminence of warfare began to
tadc as organized resistarrce to I}rooke ruie gradually cante to an end- At
the same time, ambitious nen found new avenues of social aclvancement,
especially in sojourning abroad (bejalai). 'ftaveling
to the Malay
peninsulr
and beyond, Saribas men found prolitirble employment in the colonial
ccononries of the region, particularly as policemen and fbrest-produce
traders. Later, returnitrg sojourners introduced commercial agriculture :rncl
by the turn of the century rubber planting in particular brought about a
brief periocl of unpar.alleled economic prosperity (Cranb
2007: 173 ft.).
Financed by this lervfourcl wealth, Saribas ritual and artistic life undenvent
a spectacular, if briel llorescence.
As substzrntial amounts of money flowed into ritual celebrations, thc
nature of tltese rituals changed. The dominant gnwais of the past, which
centcrecl chicfly on rvarfare, hill-rice farming, healing, and traditional, lon_
nlonetary forms of rvealth, were gradually supplanted by a comparatively
new ritual that emerged sometime in the nineteenth century. This ritual rvas
called the Gawai Antu, or'spirit Festival: Like rhe Gapai Burorg, it, too,
gave, and continues to give, public recognition to personal achievement.
Rr:cAl.LrNc rHE DEAD, REVERING THE ANcEsroRs ll7
Mirle prowess continues to receive special honor, but now recognition is
rlso rrccordecl to rvonlen and to other aYenues of renown, including travel
irncl, today, financial success, government omce, and
Politics.
But in contrast
t(1 ll\e Gawai llltoflg, rhe Gawai Antu valorizes status retrosPectively, after
dcath, and not irdividually, but collectively, as the members of an entire
gcncrational colrort of dead are simultaneously recalled to this world,
fclsted, and through a ritual of both seParation and remembrance are
merged with the long-dead and so recreated as ancestors.
Drrring the 1920s, Iban in the lower Saribas took enthusiastically to
rnission schooling and many adopted Christianiry Initially, conversion had
littlc inpact on ritual, but following Malaysian independence the situation
changed dramatically, especially as the rural economy declined and many
younger families abandoned longhouse living and moved to urban arens.
Since the I970s, nearly all Saribas lban have become Christians and many
fcrtures of traditional religion have been abandoned. tt.e Gawqi Antu'
however, remains an exception, and today hundreds ofpersons continue to
glther in the Saribas, many now coming from outside the region, as each
year different longhouse communities carry out these costly rituals out of
obligntion to the dead and in honor of their more remote ancestors of the
prrst. ln doing so, the Gawoi Atltu has taken on new meaning, reaffirnting
throrrgh its ilvocation of local ancestors ties of place and kinship arrcl
the continuing value of the longhouse as a source of ethnic identity for
ivirat is now an increasingly dispersed and economically heterogeneous
communiry4
Arrcestors, Gods, Spirits, and Spirit-Heroes
'Ihe
Saribas lban, like n'rost Borneo people (cf. Sellato 2002:13), have no
tc !l thirt refers spccifically to ancestors. All genealogical forebears, whether
Iiving or dead, near or remote, are called collectively ati'-itli', meaning'
litcrrrlly,'grandfathers-grandmothers'.s The term thus refers, literally, to
grrnclparents, but also encompasses all genealogical forebears, whether liv-
ing or dead, and so makes no distinction between "forebears" and'deceased
ancestorsl'6 Distant forebears who are no longer alive can be distinguished
frorn living grandparents only by the addition of special terms, such as fte
dulu' kelio,'of former tirnes/long ago'.
At one level, this usage suggests a
PercePtion
ofcontinuity, and, indeed,
nlxny Ibxn say tlrat the same ties ofrespect and nurturance that exist between
Clrrrono Slrsut
the young and their living grandparents should apply as well to those
between the living and their deceased forebears. However, at another level,
death, aswe shall see, initiates a major transformation ofthese relationships.
Thus, as Wadley (1999:599) notes, in practical terms, when addressing
prayers or making offerings, the Iban refer to their dead ancestors not as
aki'-ini', but, rather, as either ctntu or petara (also pronounced befarc).
It is customary to translate the term antu as 'spirits' and pelara as gods'
(see Richards 1981: 13, 281, Sather 1994a: 30). However, when referring to
benevolent supernaturals, that is to say, those that are said to 'helpi (nulong)
human beings, the two terms are often used interchangeably (cfl Masing
i997: i8). Thus the petara, as'gods', may also be described as anfr (see also
Bguet in this volume). In reference to the human dead, the latter are called,
more specifically, antu Sebqyqn, or
'spirits
of the afterworldl In prayers
(sampi), the Iban regularly address their ancestors as petara, and in making
offerings they regularly include dead ancestors, sometimes referring"lo
them specifically as aki'-ini' petara,'grandfather-grandmother. gods' (Sather
2003b: 237). In these latter instances, the ancestors tfpically go unnamed.
The gods and ancestors are also closely linked in Iban mythology. Thus,
both the gods (petara) at\d. spirlf-heroes (Orang Panggaa) are said to have
once lived as one with human beings (nreasia)
in 'this world' (literally, dunia
fir). Like the historical Iban, both were travelers. In time, first the gods nnd
then the spirit-heroes quarreled among themselves and departed, the gocls
migrating to the tky' (langit),2 111, spirit-heroes to a raised world (called
Panggau-Libau) midway between this world and the upperworld of tbe
gods (see Sather 1994a: 3l-33). In migrating to the sk7, many of the gods
took on cosmic attributes and so became associated with particular spheres
of activity such as rice farming, healing, or the acquisition of material
wealth. As Bdguet (in this volume) notes, in doing so, they came to mediate
relations with the natural world and so, in appearing to human beings, often
rnlnifest themselves as animals or birds. Otherwise, however, they renain
hunan-like in form and personality, although they possess extra-human
powers, notably that of metamorphosis (Sather 2008:57-58).4 Although now
spatially separated from humankind, as anthropomorphic beings the gods
and spirit-heroes continue to communicate and in various ways influence
human affairs.'Ihe spirit-heroes act essentially as exemplary models of
human conduct and during major gawai festivals they intercede on behalf
ofthe human celebrants as fitual hosts of the gods (Sather 1994a: 31, 1996:
98-99). The gods, for their part, transmit to the ancestors major elenents
lllc.\t,LrNc rHrj DEAD, REYERTNG THE ANcEs.t.oRs
of adat (see
Sather 1994a: 34-41). Thus, for exanple, Endu, Dara Tinchin
1'emaga, the youngest daughter ofSingalang Burong, came to the earth and
married an Iban ancestor named Menggin by whom she bore a son, Sera
Gunting, the most famous of all Iban culture heroes. In coming of age, Sera
Gunting traveled to the sky where he met his grandfather,
Sing"iurrg iurong,
who instructed him in thc rules ofaugury and the arts ofwa.fur..
.li.r.s.
S.ru
Gunting then introduced to the Iban (Sandin
1980: 95_99). Signifrcantly,
rrany present-day Saribas Iban can trace their genealogies to Sera Gunting
and to other early ancestors and so, through them, to the gods themselves.
In the course of the Gawai Antu, the spirits of the rec,-ent dead, as antu
Sebayan,,joi,n those of the long-dead in Sebayan and so are merged in a
vaguely delrned category ofotherworldly petara (Sather
2003b: tg0ir In the
process they lose their individuating
attributes and so become, particularly
in the context ofprayers and offerings, what Kenneth Sillander (this
volume;
describes as an "anonymous
totality.,, In their capacity as
,hgencies
capable
of bestowing blessings and well-being on the livingi, they are addressed,
not individually, but simply as petara.t0
In other lontexis, however, the
ancestors.preservd
their individuality,
and, in the very process ofbecomrng
petara, thti dtffercntiating
attributes and this-worldly achievements
are, as
we shall see, both celebrated and inscribed in memory.
While the terms qntu
and. petara may be used interchangeabJy,
there
is also irrr important difference. All arfa, includin g tl"te aitu Seba4on,
have a porential for malevolence, that is to say, are clpabl", the Iban say,
of Uoing harm' (ngaau),
whereas the petara,
by contrast, tannot but be
good' (petaru
tadai enda' tnnah cl Masing 1997: 19). In this connection
it is significant to note that not all human dead are installed in Sebayan
proper. The spirits of those who were stillborn, who died in infancy,
or who suti'ered sudden or ill-fated deaths, by drowning, for example,
or in childbirth, warfare, or by suicide are confined to sf,ecial domains
located jusr
at the borders of Sebayan (cl
Sather 1978: 3;9 330), Here,
their spirits are beyond the rjtual recall of the living and ,o o." tho.rght
by many to be prech.rded from full ancestorship. During the brief period
that immediately follows death, their spirits, mu.h ,,rJr. so than those
of persons who died ordinary deaths, are said to become vengeful and
malevolent. Particularly feared, for example, are the spirits ofwo"men who
died in childbirth; kl own as antu koklir,they prey especially upon men, in
extreme instances killing them by castration (see
Sather l97g). Gradually,
however, like other spirits of the dead, those of the ill_fated dead vanish,
120
CLTTF9RD SATHER
too, to their alvn special dornaiDs irt the borders ofsebayan,.lnd so cease
to exist in the living world.ll
There are, however, two comparatively rare exceptions. The first of tiresc
are the spirits o[
Pg151yn5
who, rvhile alive, rllied themselves with forcst
clemons known ls rmtLt gerasi. Al tlighi the souls ofsuch persons are thclugirt
to join the antu gerdsi as they hunt down straying ltuman souls, rvhich the
spirits pursue as
llatle
atimlls.L2 In death, such persons may be transformed
directly iDk) antu gerasi themselves. Their spirits, rather th.l11 journeyilrg
to
Sebayan, remain in this rvorld, living generally solitary lives like other drt(
.gerasl,
deep in the forest or on mountain tops (Sather
2001:66_67).ll Tire
others are typically men of prowess who in death are said to return to the
living world as spirit-animals, for example, as crocodiles, oriurgr.rtlrrs, barking
rleer, snirkcs, or clonded leopalds, or. as powerful mythic beiugs such irs rrrrbzrii
water serpents. As such, these spirits sometimes enter into relationships with
living human beings by becorning their ta4', or personal guardian_spirit. In
some instances, {s rve shall see, ft-td'relations are specifically associated with
;rncestorship. In most cases, however, the relationship is ofa more generalizecl
kind and those aided, or who seek their aid, are not necess.arily descendlnts
or even kin,14
Life, Death, and the Regeneration of Life
'lhe
Slribas Iban, like other indigenous peoples of insular Soutl.least Asra,
share features ofa common Austronesian conceptual heritige inclucling, rn
this connection, "a beliefin the immanence oflife and in the interdepenclcnce
of life and cleath" (Fox
1987:523). As Fox stares, writing generally of this
lreritage, since lif'e is thoLrght to depend upon death,,,the ancestrirl <leld or
specihc deceased persons, whose lives were mirrked by notable iltt0inntcnts,
[are]
regarded as capable of bestowing lif'e-giving potency.
.l1lus
the deid
Iigure promiuently in the religious activities ofthe living', (1987:525).
And so it is tvith the tban. Moreover, the experiential conditions o[ life
irnd death arc bclievecl to interpenetrate. 'fhus,
an indiviclual, while still
alive, may directly cxpcrience aspects of death, such as soul loss (.rerrrcrryrrl
ugeluah), bodily unconsciousness (tuput),
or the withering of his or her
plant-inrage (bungai
layu\ (see
Sather 2O03b:179 lg2). Flence, there is a
lirndarrrent.rl sensc of colttinuity. Convelsely, the dead, too, Driry continLle
to comlnunicate, and in othcr ways involve themselves with the living. A
person wishing to make contact lvith a deceased parent may, for example,
RECALLTNG THE DEAD, REVERTNG rHE ANcEsroRs 121
wrap hinseltrin irn appropriately patterned ritual cloth before going to sleep
at night. In doing so, he makes himself 'visibl (nampak) to the dead, and
so, out of compirssion, they may appear and converse with him in dreams
(rrixpi). Sinilarly, the souls ofthose who are very old are said to pass much
of their time in the afterworld, where the conditions oflife closely resemble
those of this world. Such persons are often described as setengah antu,'half
spiritsl or setengah mensia, setengah antu,
'half
human-being, half spiritl
llcnce, fbr the Ibrrn, thc realities ofdeath are said to be close at hand and are
ncvcr entirely veiled fron the living.ls
In this regard, some say that the dead do not really depart from this
world at all, but that Sebayan is, in actuality, an inverted realm that exists
bcneath the floor ofthe longhouse (see
Sather 1993:111n.42). Thus, at night,
the spirits of the dead may sometimes be heard as they go about their daily
affairs, night in this world being day in Sebayan. For this reason, too, the
living, before eating, often drop small bits of food through the floor of the
longhouse as a share for the dead. Similarly, when asked by a host to drink
rice wine, it is customary for the drinker to first pronounce a formula,'Give
the ancestors drink (meri' petara ngirup), and then to pour a small amount
of wine through the floor slats, before drinking himself (see also Wndley
1999:599).
'fhis
sense ofthe interpenetration oflife and death is related, in turn, to a
conccption of thc selfas composed ofinterrelated but distinct components,
each participating in the colditions oflife and death in somewhat different
*,ays.'fhus, death, when it occurs, is characterizcd llot by a radical rupture,
but by a gradual dissolutron of these separable components and their
independent transforrration (see Sather 2003b).
'flrc
cessation of breathing (abis seput) signals the beginning of this
tlissolutiorr. Sorrre say that the breath (seput ot nyawa), as a source of life,
inhabits the Yeirs, together with the blood (Sather 2001:50-55). At dc th,
these and other elements of the body (tabo[), including the bones, arc
said to retum to earth (taflah), the medium from which they were created.
As elrth, thcse clements are said to be repeatedly remolded and reforged
Lry Sclanpardai
(AII-Clever'), the Iban god of human creation, who, as a
blacksmith, fashions bodies at his forge (Sather 2001:105-108). Hence, new
borlies are continually being refoshioned from those of the dead, as the
errthly substancc ofrvhich they are composed is constantly recycled.
'lhe'soul'
(senrergaf), on the other hand, in contrast to the body, is'not
extinguished' (enda' abis) when breathing ceases, but, rather, is said to
Cr.rFFoRD SATHER
'remain alive' (bedau idup). At death, however, it leaves the body, until tlrcn
its principal container, and journeys to Sebayan.16 Indeed, most say it begins
this journey three days before breathing stoPs. On the fourth day, as it enters
Sebayan, breathing ceases, the blood stops circulating, and the body begins
to decompose (Sather 2001: 55-58). In Sebayan, the human soul lives on
for a time, passing through additional deaths and rebirths. It does not live
in Sebayan forever, however, nor is it reborn back into this world, Instead,
aftet some say, seven rebirths, the semengat dissolves into a watery mist;
and in this.form it returns to the liying world where it condenses and lalls
to the earth as dew (ambun). As dew,particularly in the cool early morning
hours ofthe dry season when new rice shoots first begin to appear, it is said
to be absorbed into and to nourish the young rice plants, causing them to
grow and bear grain. As dew, the residual soul stuff of the ancestors ttlus
returns to the living world, where, re-incorporated as rice, it sustains the
living as the Iban's primary source ofsubsistence. In annual farming rituals
Saribas families thus describe their rice crop, literally and spiritually, as
bur ancestors' (padi aki'-id' kami) (Sather 1994b: U9).r7 Rice cultivation is
similarly described as jalai idup, our 'way of lifel or even, as pengidup,'Iife
itself: In cultivating rice, families say that'we follow our ancestors' (nu[,14
ke aki'-ini' kami), Hence, rice and its cultivation are ancestral gifts that,
together, make human life possible (Sather 1994b).
Besides the soul, each individual is also comprised of a'plant-image'
(bungai, also bunga or ayu).r8 This image is said to exist separately fronr
the body in the form of a bamboo or banana plant that grows in a clump
from a common rootstock (pulr bungai) together with the brrgai of other
family members, In the literature, lhe bungai is sometimes described irs a
"secondary soul" or "soul-counterpart" (cf Freeman 1970: 21), However,
in contrast to the semengat, which I have here glossed as'soul', the bungai
mirrors an individualt outward state ofbodily health and rrortality. In goocl
health the bungai grows and flourishes, while in ill health it withers (r),adt
layu), and in death, dies (parai). As an encompassing life image, the brlrg,ri
thus reflects the state ofboth the body and the soul. For example, if the soul
is absent from the body, one'feels withered' (berasai nyadi lala). Sirnilarly,
if the bargai is ill, scorched by heat, or overgrown with weeds, the body and
soul suffer. With bodily death, the bungai perishes. However, unless this
death results in a family's extinction (Prras), something greatly dreaded by
thc lban, the family's collective rootstocklives on, capable ofgenerating new
bari.r;rrl (Sather 2001: 61, 2003b: 218).
RECALLTNG.THE
DEAD, REVERING THE ANcEsToRs
J2:-a
Finally, at the time of death, an individual
is said
,to
become a spirit,
(nyudi
antu). This spirit is identified at first with the decea*,
""*lU.**
body. T1rus, burial is described,
literally, as
,burying
the spirit; (n-urn'io*
to
antu.) or as 'sending
the spirit to the cemetery, (nginiong'
antu'ke pei,rlomy
(Sather
2003b: i80, fn.). But the arra also has an immntJrial ,"irt.nc. tt
"t
persists aller burial. For a time, the newly deceasedi
spirit is said to linger
in this,world. Here its presence is perceived in negative terms, as a menace
to the living and a continuing
drain upon its family,s rice stores and other
resources, Reflecting
this change, its appearance
during this time is said
to become increasingly
demon_like
1r.e satt
".
zoo:Ui rs9
j.
iu.;"ily,
l:::*"
*," spirirs of rhe grear majority of the dead leave this world and,
]rl(e rhe souls, journey
to Sebayan.
Shamans
as Ancestors
In this there is. however, one maior
,
.
exception.
While the souls and spirits of
Lre orornary dead are believed to travel downrivcr (kili,)
to Sebaya;, those
of dead shamins (nr
anang) travel, by corrrasr,
"o;,;;;
(;;;;,
;::;0"r",.
afterworld of their own located on the summit of Morr, O"U..,
fi",}r_
1993 91,
.2.001:37).
In Sebayan, the ordinary dead ur. U.li"u.a to ii'u" olong
an invisible river known as the Mandai
, or Mandai Mati,,thu Vurrloi niu".
of the Deadl Like a number of other Borneo peoples,
the lban belleve that
l1O
r]t.r n":
"
visible counterpart
in the Iiving world, also tnortn
^
,fr.
Marrdai, or Mandai ldup,.the Mandai River oithe fi"i"gl;i.h,'i;
tl,i"
case, is a southern tributary of the Kapuas in Vl"rt Koli_urrton.
Mourrt
Rabong, too, has a visible counterpart,
but its location is less certain.ie
From their abode at the summit of Mount Rabong, the ,0,r,,, ,f
""..r,r"
shamans pJay a notably different role than the spiris of"rai"".i
"r..rr"rr.
While rhe latter are concerned with
th e J ivi n g, rhe rorm e r are _",",0
".:;::;;T;:l*Tii:.1,,,Ti1,:ilxt
iritiation
of Iiving shamans. Thus during curing ,itr"fr, ,fr.f
"."
."grfr.fy
invoked by the nan4rg as spirjt companions.
Many shamans take the Dame
of an ancestral shaman as their shamanic t\tle (iutok), ancl some of these
sPirits act as personal
spirit-helpers (yang).zo
7a' top.of fvfouninJ*g
t,
said to be directly accessible to the upperworld,
p"rti.ulurly
to th; home
of.the shamanic gods Menjaya and his sister, Ini.Ula".
O*",a,"g'to
_yan,
Ini' Inda initiated the first human shamans on ,n" aO
"ir"r"i
*i"rr.
Since then, unseen, she carries out these same rites there as novice shamans
124 CLIFFoRD SATHER
simultaneously undergo initiation (bebangun) in this world (Sather 2001:
29-32). ln the process, the ancestral shamans assist as sPirit companions and
bestow upon the newly initiated novices charms and ritual paraphernalia.
The Ritual Passage from Death to Ancestorhood
The passage to ancestorhood is, as I have stressed, closely linked to the
Saribas funerary process. Unlike some Borneo societies (Hertz 1960, Met-
calf1982), the dissotution of the body is without ritual elaboration and takes
place independently of the transformations that affect other elements of
the sell Once death occurs, the body is buried within two or three days at
most, and is never, as a rule, exhumed or re-interred (Sather 2003b: 186).
Nonetheless, Saribas funerary rituals are
Protracted
and unfold in stages,
with each stage centering on a different component of the self - the soul,
plant-image, and spirit.
During the initial rites of death called rabat (or nyetrggai' autu),lhe
primary focus is on the se engat.During a nightlong vigil, family mernbers
and other mourners gather around an enclosure containing the deceased's
body. Seated within this enclosure, a female dirge-singet (tukang sabrtk)
siDgs the sabak, ir long narrative lament that describes the soul's journey
to Sebayan.?l As described in the words of the sabak, before this journey
begins, spirits of the deceased's dead ancestors gather
just
outside the
longhouse and, logether with the tukang sabak's soul, accompany the soul
of the newly deceased to its place on the Mandai River of the Dead
(Sather
2003b:187-l9l).
As soon as the sribal< concludes, the body is removed from the lorrghouse
and buried. Burial is followed by a period ofmourning (ulir) (Sather 2003b:
192-205), ending with a second ritual that now focuses on the rrln8ar or
'plant-imagel This is called the beserara' bungai (or bunga) and is performed
by a manang
(Sather 2003a, 2003b: 205-218). Beserara' means, literally,
'to
sever' 'separate', or'cut awayl What is cut away in this case is the now dead
,lrflgai represented in the ritual by the branch of a freshly-cut plant stalk,
usually bamboo. At the climax of the ritual, the nararg severs this branch
and casts it away with offerings for the dead. Simultaneously, the deceasedt
now dead &rngai is said to be severed from its invisible rootstockby the god
Selampandai. Witir this act ofseParation, the vitality ofthe surviving family
is safeguarded. At the same time, room is made on the still-living rootstock
for the appearance of r'ew bungai (Sather 200L 326). In the accomPanying
RECALLING THE DEAD, REVERING THE ANcEsToRs
nxrrative songi the manang d,escrlbes how various foodstuffs and objects
of family wealth are divided with the deceased, whose share the antu Se-
bayan carry backwith them when they return to Sebayan (see Sather 2001:
334-349, 2003b: 212-214). The effect ofthis division and ofthe removal of
these objects is to efface the deceased's former social self and to undo the
various material bonds that once connected him or her to other persons in
the living world, including, in particulat other family rnembers-22
Tlte Gawai Antu, as the final rite ofthe funerary process, focuses on the
dead as anta or'spirits'; hence its name. In contrast to the rrbat and beserara'
bungai, the Gawai Antu is a major community ceremony and performing
it is an enornous economic burden. Hence, ideally, it is held only once
in each generation, although, in actuality, it may be deferred even longer.
Consequently, not only does thegawai memorialize the achievements ofthe
recent dead, it rlso demonstrates the material success of their descendants
and so, in performing it, reflects upon an ntire communitft reputation.
T\e Gawai Antu is described by Saribas elders as a rite of'house building
(berumah) (cf. Sather 1993: 94 ff.). The house constructed is located, however,
not in this worid, but in Sebayan. Its construction is signified at the beginning
o[ the gawai by tl.re collection and fashioning of building materials and,
irt its conclusion, by the use of these materials to erect wooden tomb huts
(xrrgkup\ over the graves ofeach of the newly memorialized dead. During
the 6rst stage of the gawai, men prepare these materials, while women cut
bamboo, which they split and peel into weaving materials. During the next
stage, the women weave these materials into special cylindrical baskets
called garong, while men erect altars (rugan) wh\ch are attached to the
main passageway posts outside each family's apartment (ci Sather 1993:
100). From these posts are also hung items of remembrance that formerly
belonged to the dead, and each evening until the conclusion of Ihe gawai,
fanrily members present food offerings at the rugan for the spirits of the
clerd.
The main gawai opens at dawn with a ceremonial reception of guests,
bcginning with the specially invited men ofprowess, who, taking the role of
warriors, will drink one or the other of two sacred rice wines at the climax
ofthe ceremony. Invited guests are called pengabang,The same term is also
used for the visiting spirits of the dead and the gods of Sebayan who come
to attend the gara,ai. ln marked contrast to the informality that otherwise
characterizes ever/day longhouse sociality, the reception ofvisitors and the
major ceremonial events that follow are carefully structured according to
CLt!FoRD SATHER
status, age, and gender. As in all traditional g4r,ais, human hosts and guests
assume the ceremonial roles ofthe spirit-heroes and gods, thus recreating in
their seating and outward behavior a numinous world ofidealized hierarchy
that characterizes not only the realms ofthe gods and spirit-heroes, but also
the Sebayan afterworld (cf. Sather 1996: 98-99). Accordingly, a major task
ofeach family head is to ,edi8rr,'to line ut' or'array in order' the visitors he
seats at his family's section of the gallery. At major ritual junctures before
feasting, oratory, or ritual processions, the tuai gawai, or principal festival
leader, walks the length ofthe longhouse, notifting each family head to begin
arranging his or her visitors in order of precedence. At other times, guests
ar free to move about and mingle intbrmally with their kin and neighbors.
The welcoming ofguests ends at sundown. After serving rice wine and an
evening meal, the fi.r ai gawai announces the beginning of the main rituals.
These open with processions by the guests alound the longhouse galleries
accompanied by welcoming music (ngalu petara) played for the gods and
spirits ofSebayan. Next, the men ofprowess, in ceremonial dress with drawn
swords, dance along the gallelies to bp ei (berandang) and'fer'c (ngelalau)
a'pathwat'
Ualai)
for the priest bards (lemambang), who, once this is done,
begin their invocation ofthe dead.
From this point onward, the bards sing throughout the remainder of the
night. As they sing, they move slowly forward in a continuously rotating
motion, circumambulating, as they do so, the entire longhouse gallery.
Their movements are said to mimic those of the traveling gods and spirits
(cf. Sather 1993: 97-101),23 Starting first in the tuai gawai's apartment, the
priest bards begin to sing of the coming of the gods and spirits, led by the
principal gods and goddesses of Sebayan, who travel as married pails, frrst
Raja Niram and his wife Ini'Inan, and then their daughtcr Dara Rambai
Geruda and her husband Buiang Langgah Lenggan.za They are followed by
others, and then by the spirits ofthe ancestors down through the most recent
longhouse dead. The song relates that before the spirits of the dead take
leave of Sebayan, they fir$t pick charms to take for their gareai hosts. These
charms are described as fruits that hang from the branches ofa miraculous
palm tree called the Ranyai.2s Likenedby some (see Heppell et al'.2005:26)
to the Iban 'Tree of Lifel' the Ranyai grows, paradoxically, not in the liviDg
worl4 but in Sebayan, where its fruits can only be collected by the dead. Left
behind for their hosts, these fruits, as gifts from the dead, become a font ol
material prosperity, healing, and life-renewal, reaffirmirrg, once agai[, the
interdependence oflife and death.
RECALI,ING
THE DEAD,
REVERINc
THE ANcEsToRs
With the departure
of th dead from Sebayan,
rhe bards, still singing,
Ieave rhe tuai gawai's
apartmenr
and enter ,h;';;ily.
;";":'":,il;,.rr.
trom one family's section
to the n
as rhey traver,",n,,
*",rj
aJfi :llfillT,li l:::"^:1 "r,n.,.l,''o
carries a drjnking
c"p
0.,/",;;; ;;;;,,"
"?r1li;f,i
ll."r.:ilf,
,Tlrii::
wire (see
Figure 2.t). During rhis singing, ,h. ,h; ;;:;;;;';il":"*
and acquire
a magical potencv
so stro-ng
lra ,.,1,;l
,h",.i;;;r:;
,n",
drink ir. Shortly before dawn, as the invocation
draws to a close, the dead
arrive in the living world. rn the words
of the ,nu*;;;;,
;;;;.
.1...,".0
with oRbrings,
rice wine, cockfights,
and r."g, of pr",r".'o,
,i,.
0","i .*n
bard, as he finishes singing,
hands his c np of ai,jalong
ro an elderly woman
who sits facing one ofthewarriors
a
rhen presents
her cup, which ,n. *:tjT-t::]:ltlthe
longhou-se
gallerv.
she
with ihe tip of his s#;, ;;il;:t'tor
receives'
and' after first clearing
it
The next set of drinkers
,h"n o,"n
*ttn u toud war cry.26
is a po i
8rr
a,t _o.*n,'",
li ;illl'J[r:il|ff
::iflX,:":,T:
ii:;
ll
,t .,:?
"
time of heightenej
danger. By inviting
rhe dead direc{ly into
the pubtic areas of the tonghouse,
ihe Ga*ai orl?
',.ro".rr'o',1]","..
tirure 2.1 C1-,.i
^^,,.
6-,--.,
r;; ; ;ff
,,,;ili;liJiill1lij- l.tll8
rtlP timans
iatons. Li,crins
as,hev move
modern dress I
busine.,
J,|',r'""J'uJr'"
tn" nexl. ulu Bayor, saribar, isge. N'ot" thu
128 CLTFFoRD SaTHER
Figurc 2.2. At the climax of the Cawai Antu, warriors are served sacred wine (ai'
garong) by each participating farnily head from bamboo tubes inserted inside the
garong baskets, one for each ancestor being memorialized. Ulu Bayor, 1988.
RECALLTNG THE DEAD, REVERTNG THE ANcEsroRs
the boundaries that otherwise separate the living from the dead. As a
consequence, the potential for calamity is enormous.2T Thus,v,rhile the gawai
enioins a massive amount of feasting and drinking, the greater part of this
occurs within a highly regulated setting, with publicly announced rules and
carefully scheduled events in proper sequence, each signaled beforehand by
the tuai gav,/ai. Potential danger is thus managed through an explicit display
oforder, as events unfold in patterned sequence within a structured physical
setting, consisting of ordefed seating arrangements, processions, drinking
ceremonies, chants, and organized feasting. It ends, if all goes well, with
the return of the spirits of the dead to Sebayan and their merging with the
Iong-dead in a separate otherworldly community ofancestors.
This display oforder reaches its climax as contact with the dead intensi-
fies, concluding with their arrival in the longhouse and the drinking ofthe
sacred wines. Before the departure of the guests, both living and dead, a
final morning meal is served of meat and rice wine. For the living, this is
characteristically a joyous feast, with heavy drinking. Typically, many who
have had little sleep since the gawai first began now become intoxicated.zs
Widows and widowers are released from mourning restrictions, and the
dramatic climax of the gawai then follows: the drinking of the ai' garcng
wines. The hosts now form a series of processions to 'present the garongl
(nganjong garong) to the most honored group of warriors. The first is led
by the tuai gawai, who carries his familyb garong baskets, each containing
a bamboo tube filled with rice wine. After a series of mock combats, the
drinkers receive the wine and drink it down with war cries (see Figure 2.2).
'I7te
ai' gorong is believed to be even more poisonous (bisa') than the 4i'
falorrg.
Some bards, indeed, compare it to the ai' Iimban (or bera), the fluids
that flow from a decomposing corpse (Sather 2003b: 236). After drinking
repeatedly, the warriors vomit.
Peter Mtcalt, in an essay entitled "The wine of the corpse" (1987), has
drawn attention to the similarities that exist between the fermentation ofrice
wine and the process of bodily decomposition. In societies in Borneo that
practice, or formerly practiced, secondary treatment of the dead, the decom-
posing corpse is typically placed, like cooked rice during wine fermentation,
inside a
.jar
from which fluids are drained through bamboo tubes. By analogy
Metcalf likens the ritual use of these fluids to a figurative 'drinking of the
dead" (1987: 99), and in support ofhis argument, he points to the ritual wine-
drinking of the Gawai Antu which he sees as a variant "Feast of the Deadl'
Here, however, wine-drinking appears to be less about "endocannibalisml as
CLIFFoRD
SATHER
he terms it, than it is about the transformation
ofthe dead into future
pef0l4'
ff;;;;t;;;;;;o
rice wines that are consumed
during the Gawai Atttu'
"",
.t-ttt
.".,
"t
*"tcalf
irnplies'
and both are closely associirted
rvith the
O."i. tiJO*,,
tnt
"i'jalong'
is carried by lhe bards as they enrct tlte
journey
;; ;;;;;
il *o,ra,
"*r"r"
the second'
the ai' garons' is placed inside
ffi ili':":';:l
:1l:)l
fi['*,11ll].-ll'lilllilillill;
ment of the dead. During
the
84lv4i
corDse, corruPted
and poisonous'
Rice itsell as we have seen' is a material
#;;;;'J;t
"nce'tors
As dew it constitutcs
a transformation
of the
ancestors'
soul stufi,
iust
as rice wine' it might be said' constirutes
a liquid
transformationofrice.Thereturnofthespiritsofthedead.enactedduriltg
,u.'')-r, *t.rr., their original
deParture
from this world and their cor-
:ffffi;;'it"tt
t"iottjtrtt -aterialitv
to an essentiallv
immrrterial
";t"."*;:.';#
ebayan
iheir return thus reverses
this
Passage'
reintro-
ducing a corpse-like
materiality
to the rice wine carried by the bards'
which
il.i;;il;;;nd
displavs
of prowess' Iike the
'eatins ill-omens'
(rzaA'ti
ffi;;il4;':t
*'"' *t-*ti)'
"'ut
to tteutralize
and so obliterate
2e
)ourneys
of Achievement
and Remembering
the Dead
Fox
(1987: 526) argues
that in the traditional
religions
of insular
South-
east Asia, "there is no
PresumPtion
of identity
attached
to anY of lhe
manifestationsoflife.Creationproducedmyriadformsofbeingand-..not
even mankind
is credited
with a singte origin
or source
of beingl'-Ihe
result
ir:"."*ir"*Il
ttspiritoal
differeniiation"'
the premiscs
of rvhich' socially'
:"t"
.""i".*"
to totions
of precedence
and hierarchyi'
Drawing
on FoX,s argument'
Dimitri
Tsintjilonis
(2004) has shown how,
in Sadan Toraja
society' hierarchically
ranked
"F Ot
:l^t]::l.tt"
(""0'-t'
.""t-.".tt
"ii
ttavesj are each believed
to have been created itr a differenl
manner
and that thttt difft"nf"'
ut"
"actuated' in funerary
rituals througlr
"*t""i*".*"t'
nese rituals'
moreover'
much like the lba\ Gawai
A tlt'
il;;il;"
.xperiential
distance
that separates
the living.fronr
the
ctead so that, the Toraja say' the livine can
"think and feel the desires
o[ the
:i;:iiGil.i,
20'04'
j81)
In sa'ibas
sociery'
funerarv
rituats similarlv
:;;;;;:;l
and spiritual
differentiatio.
However'
the differentirtion
thev celbrate
arises not fto- liff""nt"'
of origin' but from
those of
il;;;;;;
(t982: s2o) notes' the same spiritual
premises
that ['rv..rr
hierarchy
may equally
well ptomott
"otions
of cchievenrcrrt
ln this rcgird'
llEcAl,LrNc rHE DDAD, REVERTNG THri ANcEstons l3l
o recurrent AustronesiaD image of hunan life, Fox observes, is that of a
rnetiphoricirl
"journey
of achievementi' "Literally and spiritually, individuals
Ire distinguished by their journeys. Ratk, prowess, and the attainment of
wealth can be taken as evident signs of individual enhancement in a lif'es
odyssey" (1987:526). Moreover, thi/s enhancement is typically celebrated
nt death in mortuary rituals and feasting, which not only deline a person's
social and spiritual position, but serve as well
"to
translate this position into
a similarly enhanced position in the afterlife" (1987: 526).
ln contrast to the Sadan Toraja, a basic premise of Saribas lban society
is that eacl, individual is alike at birth. But Saribas society is also intensely
competitive. Personal achievement is highly valued and is judged to be
a sign of both merit and spiritual favor.
'Ihe
outcome of competition is
differentiation, a process likened by the lban to the art of weaving (Sather
1996t 74).
Just
as each thread begins alike, in the end, after dyeing and
weaviug, it assumes a distinctive color and place within the resulting fabric.
While some persons die prematurely, before they have had a chance to gain
social recognition, or suffer ill-fated deaths and so achieve no enduring
place as ancestors; for the great ma'lorily, gawais, most notably the Ga,i/ai
Ant!, constitute the principal occasions when differences of achievement
are displayed, while death itself marks the point at which each person's
"journey
of achievement" concludes. Thus, during rabat, the deceased's life
history is related and whatever success he or she achieved in life is publicly
noted. On the basis of these achievements, the elders then 6x
(he
amount
of the deceased's adat pemqtL Narrowly defrned, adat pemafi stipulates the
ljnes to bc levied on those who break mourning taboos. More generally,
however, the amount represents a summatiolr ofthe deceased's accumulated
social and spiritual worth, and the greater this worth, the larger the amount
ol adat pemati (Sather 1996: 100, 2003b: 193).
More significantly yet, this amount is remenrbered and, years latet de-
termines the type ofgarong basket that is woven for the deceased during
Gawai Antu. Qnebasket is woven for each person who was old enough at
the tinre ofdeath to have been given a personal name (orang ke benama).
lnfants who die before being named receive only woven 'playthings'
(nyanr). Seven diffetent garong designs are recognized, including one
(called gckryan) to which everyone who bore a name, male, fenrale, mar-
ried, or unmarried, is entitled. The other six denote ascending levels of
nttilinment. In the past, the highest status designs were reserved for male
rvar leirclers, w:rrriors, regional chiefs, and, in the case ofwomen, especially
132 CLTFFORD SATHER
accomplished weayers. The special importance of each g4roflg basket is
that its design directly expresses the deceasedt personal achievements. ln
this regard, each basket, the Iban say, is a'sl,gi (tanda) or material em-
bodiment of the person for whom it was woven. It is not, in other words,
a
"symbol"
-
sornething standing for something else
-
but is, rather, a
'toncrete thing-in-itself" (cl Cell i975: 2ll), which similarly, as in this
case of Sailan sacrificial offerings, "actualizes the signifrcant attributes of
particular persons in the context of their death" (Tsintjilonis 2004: 380).
By actuating these attributes, ayam and. garong baskets, together with
grave furnishings and the display of personal objects belonging to the
dead, make it possible for those who participate in the Gawai Antu to reclll
the newly-absent dead and return them for a time to a renewed state of
intimacy with the living. As Merleau-Ponty (1962: 18) observes, absence is
signified, not so much by a sense of"nothingness" as by acts ofseeing. The
possibility of reproducing an absent obiect or person in memory requires
more than simply coniuring up a mental image. The ability to recall relies
on some aspect of present perception to be patterned in such a way as
to sustain a resemblance to the absent object or person. In this case, tlre
singular quality of these visible objects, most notably the garong baskets,
and their unique association with the dead, allows memory to replace them
with a perception of the dead themselves. As a consequence, those who
gather to mourn a dead ancestor may, for a brief time at least, "relive" his
or her past presence.
By reliving this presence, the Iban say that the gawai hosts are able to
show that they share the grief that a dead person experienced in departiDg
from this world. At the same time, they are also able to provide for the needs
ofthe newly dead in Sebayan, thus helping to make possible their eyentu l
transformation into ancestors.
'fhe
gawai guests, who are often afhnes or
more distant kin, are similarly able to show, through their prrticipation, thot
they, too, share in the grief of their.gawai hosts. Thus, both grief arrd the
celebration of personal achievement are collectivized and, by recalling the
personal fate of individual family mernbers, wider societal relationships are
similarly brought alive and revitalized.
After the conclusion of lhe Gawai Antu, the glrongbaskets are carried
to the cemetery where they are hung inside the tomb huts together with
offerings and other objects meant for the use of the ancestors in Sebayan.
The spirits of the dead are said to take the galong back with them to the
afterworld, where they not only denote but "actuate" their othcrworldly
REcALI-tNc rHE DEAD, REVERTNG THE ANcEsroRs 133
status. Hence, inequalities ofachievement are replicated beyond this world.
Horvever, the:rncestors, in departing, take their honors and achievements
rvith them to lhe otherworld, and so leave their living descendants in this
rvorld fiee to enrbark on personal, status-enhancing life-journeys oftheir
own devising (Sather 1996: 100-101). Hence, inequality in the afterworld
helps sr.Lstain equality in this world. At the same time, the erection of tomb
huts reconstitutes the spirits ofthe most recent cohort oflonghouse dead
as part of a permanent community of ancestors, now spatially differen-
tiated and sufficiently independent from the living to be safely recalled
in luture garla/s as temporary ritual visitors, precisely like the gods and
spirit-heroes, or, among human beings, the members of a neighboring
longhouse.
Like the mortuary sacrifices of the Toraja, the provision ofgarongbaskets
arld tomb huts is described by the Iban as a way of 'remembering' (ngingat)
the dead and sharing their feelings of grief. In the course of being provi-
sioDed, the ancestral dead are feasted and invited into the public areas ofthe
longhouse to mingle with the living. In this way, for a briefwhile experiential
distance is obviated and the living are made to feel that their dead forebears
are present among them, not anonymously, but intimately, as individual
visitors. Moreoyet this presence is made tangible through the words and
actions ofthe priest bards, warriors, and human guests. Arnong the dead, it
is the most recent, whose former presence is still freshest in the memories
oftheirgawai hosts, who are especially honored andwhose presence is most
intimitely felt. By the time the sponsoring community holds another Gawai
^rf!,
its present Itosts will have traded places, becoming the next cohort of
dead, dependent now upon a new generation ofdescendants to remember,
a[d so to assure them a place among their ancestors appropriate to their
this-worldly accomplishments. As Tsintiilonis says ofToraja mortuary dtu-
als, eltcacy iu this cxse resides in remembering. Similarly, too, memories
are enrbodied in objects, and by being remembered, the spirits of the dead
are, in tlre end, empowered, and so become, for the Iban, as futlute petara,
benevolent beings capable of answering prayers and so, in Fox's terms, "of
returning benefits to the living"
0987:256).
Until this takes place, the dead
as spirits remain capable ofdoing harm and so, iftheir needs are unmet by
the living, may beckon their souls to join them in Sebayan.
134 CLTFsoRD SATHER
Oral Genealogies, Memory Specialists,
Graves, and the Ancestors
The ancestors arE remembered not only in lhe Gqwqi Anfa, but also, in a
more direct way, in oral genealogies. Persons who marry and bear children,
that is to say, those who become potential ancestors, are seldom addressed by
personal names (nana). Instead teknonyms are customarily used. Personal
names are of utmost importance, however, and, following death, it is largely
by means ofthese names that deceased forebears are remembered, with oral
genea.logies providing the primary point of access to these memories.30
The Saribas Iban keep lengthy oral genealogies, called fasaf, of upwards
to 30 or more generations (Sather 1994a: 47
-57).
Since the beginning o[
the twentieth century many of these genealogies have been written down
in Romanized Iban and are often preserved today in family notebooks and
even on websites. Except for early ancestors, most tusut consist primarily of
personal names connectedby bebini dianbi' ('took a wife') or belaki diamb|
('took a husband
)
followed,by beranak ka ('bore a child') (see Sather 1994a:
48). A distinctive feature oflban t4suts is that ancestors are generally named
in married pafus (hki-bini) and that genealogies are traced cognaticillly,
through both men and women.
Lengthy mainline genealogies are desctibed, as batang tusu t. Irrom these,
shorter branching or collateral lines are said to 'break off'
( mechah ari). By
using these shorter'fragments'
Qsechah
fasaf), collateral kin and affines may
connect themselves to one or several mainline genealogies. Consequently,
tnsrt tend to be highly ramif ing and, by analogy, are often likened by the
Iban to a tast-net' (i414). Indeed, a second meaning of frslf is 'krotted'
or'entangled (Richards l98l:405). Every tusut, whatever its length, is
traced to a founding ancestor, described as its p,lr, or 'source'. ln practice,
genealogies are closely bound up with processes ofsocial reproduction and
the acquisition and transmission of farmland and other valued resources.
Thus, the terms "source" and "breaking off" apply also to family and
longhouse succession, hiving-off, and to the acquisition and transmission
of property (see Sather L994a: 49-51). Within families and longhouses
tontinuity' (nmpong) is traced through a succession ofpan (Sather
1993:
68-70), and in tracing these and other connections, individual ancestors
are remembered not only by name, but also by the social roles they played
in life, as community or family founders, pioneer settlers, or as sources of
family heirloom wealth and reputation.
RECALLING
THE DEAD, REVERING
THE ANcEsToRs
Figure 2.3. Betusul. Sdribas qenealos;sr
..i,pr" au.ing ;.'oi;;;;il'n.j;:il iYjans-rusuo
re( irins the
senearogips or a
i,,dic.,k'cacr,
scner.ri"" ,".;"j;;;;";;H#"'"'::,ij::
rc'rvcs
'/'un
,,pons) ro
In the Saribas, persons
who are recognized
for their powers
of memory
and skill ir reciting genealogies
are called-rrt ong rr*r. Co:;pr;;;;;:"1.;.r,
of what Chambert-Loir
and Reid (2002:
xix) ia "ln"rn*,
,oi.ljo,.l
,n.
tukang lusut xrc expectd
to know not only their own genealogies,
but also
those of other families.
They should also b. f"_nu, *ii, to.ui:;;;;;rn"
t36
CLTFFoRD SATHER
Figure 2.4. Visitin8 the cemetery (at
Batu Anchau, Ulu hku, Saribas) .rnd making
offerings to the dead during Cawai D)yak,I
June 1q93,
past (cherita
lamq) and be able to relate these stories to the ancestors whose
names appear in the tajrts (Sather
1994a: 52). The service s of a tukang tusut
are called upon in particular during marriage negotiations,
when geneilogies
are often recited to determine the suitability
of marriage partn"rrl.".
Figur"
2.3). Skilled genealogists
are often the descendants of community founders,
and in transmitting
the tasrts they help maintain an import"nt ro*." .f
local authority and a form of community memory by which others may
connect themselves to their ancestral origins. A knowledge ofgenealogies is
also used.at times to establish possible kinship connectio"n, *iit., .,run"g".r.
In addition to genealogical ancestry, some ancestor,
"r"
rem"mbe."d n"
past 'elders'
or 'leaders' (tuai) (see
also Sillander in this volume). The tban
tetm tuai means both 'elder,
as rvell as thief, or
.leader,
(Richards
l98l:
384-385). Here the relationship
is not genealogical,
but, rather, elders are
evoked, often by name, as sources oflocal authoriry exemplars
oftradition,
or persons ofunusual prowess. Aside from public oratory, past Inai are often
invoked in rituals..ln opening maior gawai ceremonies, the priest bards,
tor example, often begin by first
.arranging
the elders in order, (ngerintai
raai), that is, calling them by name and inviiing their attendon." ro ,'hu, ,h"
proceedings
may benefit from their presence (Sather
1994a; 62_63). As with
REcALLING THE DEAD, RtsvERINc THE ANcEsToRs
the Biday.rh (Geddes 1954: 26), these invocations are addressed widely, well
beyond the local longhouse, and may include not only former lban leatlcrs
(ttui lban\ of the Saribas, but also Saribas Malay leaders (tuai Laut), and
even spirit-heroes ( tuai antu) (Salher 19942: 63).
Finally, the ancestors are also remembered through their graves. At
the time ofburial, objects belonging to the dead or meant for their use are
often left on the grave, and later additional offerings may be placed there
in response to dreams. In the past, the graves of prominent warriors often
became vigil sites where ambitious men might spend the night to seek an
encounte! with the dead and so invite their possible spirit-guardianship.
Trtrditionally, however, cemeteries were left covered in forest and even tomb
huts were allowed to disintegrate. In recent years, however, efforts have been
made to transform individual graves into permanent monuments, Today,
grave sites are regularly cleared, often marked with wooden or concrete
crosses, many bearing the names of the dead, and are frequently covered
in cement, following a minor ritual, begun a half century ago, called the
Gawai Simen, or'Cement Festival: In parts ofthe Saribas, these monuments
have become increasingly elaborate and are now visited at least once a yeaB
dvrir,g Gawai Dayak, a state holiday that takes place in Sarawak on the first
offune (see Figure 2.4).
The Ancestors as Guardian-Spirits
The funerary process ends in most cases, as we have seen, with the in-
corporation of the recent dead in a separate otherworldly community of
ancestors. To achieve this end, the dead must first be remembered by being
recalled to this world and feasted. But, by the same token, the dea4 too,
must remember the living. With bodily death and the departure of the soul,
the deceased's spirit must first be persuaded to leave the lMng world. Thus,
dtTing beserara' bu,?gai, special attention is given to seyering the material
connections that once bound the deceased to this world. But, at the same
time, the deceased's spirit is asked not to forget the living. In a version of the
pelian beserara' bungai that I recorded in 1977, the rnanang addressed the
deceased in his song as follows (Sather 2001: 369):
We are parted like logs once
ioined
to form a footbridge.
But you must colrtinue to send us charms that cause us to be rich,
That bring us contentment and good health
138 Cllrtolp Sarnen
So that we who continue this family may prosper in this world.
Shortly before this, after the severing of the plant-image, the deceased's
spirit addresses the mourners through the manang's song, telling them
(Sather 2001: 363):
When I am called for, I will appear in the fcrm ofa snake, part cobra,
part dmgon.
Even though I have died and gone to the afterworld,
From there I will continue to watch over you, my precious children,
To help you become rich and successful, so that your natue will be
famous,
What this last stanza refers to is an even more direct form of remembering.
In this case, the spirit, aithough no longer present in this world, promises
to return whenever its help is needed to act as a guardian-sPirit or frd'.
In entering this world, the trd'aPPears, literally, in the toncealment' or
'container' (karong) of a snake
(alar), here described by the manang as"parl
cobra, part dragonl' but, in the Saribas at least, usually as a python (snwa) or,
less often, a cobra ( tedong)- Hence, such sPirits are also known, in addition
to tua', as antu ngarong, meaning, literally, 'hidden or 'concealed spiritsl
from Ihe root karong (cover) .31
A number of Cifferent types of guardian-spirits are recognized by the
Slribas lban of which only a small minority are associated with ancestors.
ln lhe past, as noted earlier, t44'were associated in particular with men of
prowess and even now at the beginning of the Gawai Anfa, offerings are
customarily made lo the tuq' of the men who will drink the ritual wilrcs.
Ihese tua', howevet are only rarely identified with the sPirits of ancestors
and generally appear not as plthons, but in otller sPirit-animal forms.
When I began fieldwork in the Saribas, my longhouse host was the
Iban ethnohistorian, Benedict Sandin. When I recorded his Iife history,
Sandin stressed in our conversations that his life had been shaped at crucial
junctures by the guidance he had received from the spirit of his deceased
paternal grandmother a redoubtable Paku elder known as Umang. The
daughter of the last and greatest Paku Iban war chief, Linggir Mali Lebu
("the Invincible"), Unang married Linggir's successor, Penghulu Garran,
who served the Brooke government as a war leader and later as the hrst
government-appointed native chiefofthe Paku region
(see Figure 2.5). San-
din's father, Attat, was the youngest son of Garran and Umang, and Sandin,
RECALLING
THE DEAD, REVERING
THE ANcEsToRs
139
when he was born, became Umang,s favorite grandchild.
Umang died when
Sandin was l0 years old. When he was 19 and still a bachelo r (bujang),
San_
din joined
a group of friends in cockfighting
"i "r"*.i,I"*i
j"r"i
on*
wards, while playing football, he sprainea
ll, urrt te ona ,ra, ll.r,.alra
,n.
longhouse
wlrere a famous daftrn then liu.d. H.r., h.';p;;;*.
"*n,
_"0*
lTj.:11i: ::.:.
r"ck at.hjs parentat rongl,ou...
r,ir-rn;.,".i'*."f0rn",n",
srra'rcu
urar sne was vsrted by Umang, who asked,
*Where
is Bujang?,,
and then disappeared.
..Bujang;,
was the affectionat
"
A^:ty-
^iiJ
lrrrn
gaga) by which Sandin was known at.the time. The nex, .":-",rr,
.i rrb,",
into the loft, members of the family found a python w;;O;;;:;;
rr,""
lengths of rattan stored there. Thi
li-,T,:i:*:
ancr signaring,n",
;;:il;:;":;li:ffi*Tl.l,:':l
ner sprntual
care. The snake was given_offerings.
The next time thaiUmang
.rppeared was several years after this. followirig
Sandint w"Jil"r.
*i"" n.
and his new wife paid their firsr format visit ; ;;;;;;;i'i;;;"rr"
A well-known
priest bard in the I
lady, with g*y' r,"i,. h"i
",;i,;;
::ni:'i
T::":T:
,iiili:::
l:;HT
galJery Ag'rin, r pyrhon appeared
in sandin's family lon
".a'arr,r'i.",*rr*
he returned,
Sandin himself made olierings
to it. After this, over the next
20 years, Umang's spirit intermittently
app"eared
in a*"^r,1"*
arr.i ,y a
sandin himselr
always before some deciriu.
*.rt in rri. iir". i"..i-.,
,n"
also appeared
tfterwards
as a
pvtl
S",raii'*".iral"
,ffi;ffi
,^ll"t,
but not always. During these years
fi rsr Maraysian
"".",",.;;;
;;',;'.'.::'
["::;H."f:J
;:j"Tffi:::i:
:-Tl"l"l
0". n:g
:ne
opportuniry
hemade
offerings to heib;;;i;";;."".
anct
jn
his famiJys loft. By rhe rime I came to sta! at the ar*lrrr",
in*.
dreams had ceased.
Orrly a few ancestors are said to become
antu ngarong, Like Umang,
those who do are generally persons
of p.o_ir,"n...
noir, u_".*i,i..,ro
husband
similarly
became well_know n tua, a\d, are said to have provided
guidance to several later longhouse
head-""
*a ,"itr"
"rrnC
l"
"i'o"n
.r,
In this sense, by guiding
especialh
.,, rh^,,^r., ,. r -, ,.
favyred descendanrs,
guardia n
.spirits
lo nelp perpeluate
poljlical succession,
m.lreri.tl ,ua.ars, ond
tame within particular
families. Some secrecy,
however,
usually attaches to
these relationships,
partly due to fear rhar ,,rA, _"y
"i_p,'l"n"r_
".
;::i*':*:::l:'n
the raa,appears.
rrvriting of t'he ,i,tl",r*
"
..,,".y
dgo, rne cotonjal
ofhcer-eth n oeranher_Charles
Hose (Hose
and McDougall
1966
[t9t2]. tl: 90) reported
tha-"t he had lived among lban for fourteen years
140
CLTFFoRD SATHER
Figur 2.5. Craves of the last two war chiefs of the Paku lban, Linggir Mrll tebu ("The
tniincible") aod Penghulu Carran Note tlle termite mounds
(with candles on top)
over each grave indic-ating the ascending wealth and influence io be enioyed in future
generationi by their desc;ndants. Both men also became well known
Suardian
spirits
(tua'). Batu Anchau cemetery, Ulu Paku, June
I9ZB.
before he became aware of this form of ancestral spirit-guardianshiP' Even
then, at the beginning ofthe twentieth century, he estimated that only about
one lban in a hundred was aided by what he called, translatiegafltu ngarong'
a "secret helper"
(1966,11:92).
Entombment and the Ancestors as SPirit-Heroes
One final and extremely infrequent form of ancestorshiP must be noted'
This involves singular individuals of exceptional renown who, at death,
become the object, not of the ordinary death rituals described earlier, but'
rather, ofan alternative ritual
Practice
c alled ngelumbong or ?ntombment:
ln this case the body is not buried, but, instead, is placed inside a coffin
(rarong) which is set on a raised
Platform
above ground and covered rvith a
tombhut-like roof
(see Sather 2003b: 238-239, Uchibori 1978: 263-89)-
'nris
RPCALLTNG THE DBAD, REVERING THE ANcEsToRs
whole structure is called. a lumbong,'tomli or 'mausoleurri Fluids are drained
from the coffin and after the fleshy parts ofthe corpse have decomposed, the
bones are removed, cleaned, bundled together, and placed inside a perma-
nent container, ither a jar or a hardwood coffin.33 In the Saribas, almost all
entombments occurred during the first generations of pioneer settlement,
som 13 to 15 generations ago. Those entombed included early migr tion
leaders or their children, founding settlers, and warriors. One ofthe last rrnd
most famous entombrnents in the region was that ofLibau'Rentapi an Ulu
Skrang rebel leader who resisted Brooke rule to the end of his life. Follow-
ing his defeat at Bukit Sadok in 1861, "Rentap'and his remaining followers
retreated into the mountainous headwaters ofthe Skrang River (Pringle 1970:
129). Here, several years later, exhausted by his struggles, "Rentap' died and
was entombed by his followers at a site, still visited today, on the mountaintop
headwaters ofthe Skrang, Kanowit, and Katibas Rivers.
While the spirits of the ordinary dead are ritually installed in an after-
rvorld separate from that of the living, entombment has ihe opposite effect,
rrtaking possible their continued presence in the living world. In this case,
the deceased's fate after death is modeled, not on that ofordinary human be-
ings, but, rather, on that ofthe spirit-heroes. Keling, as the principal leader
of the Orang Pangga!, is said to have performed the first entombment for his
father, Gila Gundi, by erecting a mausoleum for his remains on the summit
of Bukit Santubong (literally, 'Mount Coffirf) in western Sarawak, thereby
assuring his immortality. Since then, entombment has been practiced for
lhe same purpos, namely, to effect a direct apotheosis of the most potent of
all ancestors, merging them not with the ancestral dead, but, rather, tetutn-
ing thenr as spirit-heroJike immortals to this world, so that they may act
as regional guardians and sources of inspiration, invisible, yet immanently
present to the living.
Conclusion
Relations between the living and the dead constitute crucially imporant
social bonds in Saribas Iban society. As expressed in ritual and everyday life
these bonds are characterized at once by both continuity and transformation.
Life and death, on the one hand, interpenetrate, so that the ancestral
dead remain intimately involved in the affairs of the living. On the other
hand, death initiates maior changes in these relationships. Thus, at death,
the various components of the self disaggregate and each begins a separate
142
CLIFFoRD
SATIiER
',J::T',,",'J',"ilT::::",:r',T:f,:,;,i[l
1,':::J]#*j;1i{,
*:[
its constituent
elements'
includrng
H;;"il;
aissolution
is there[ort
are said ro be refashione
d tll",
iil,;;;"; oth.,
Austron.ri"n
.o.i"ti"t
without
ritual
elaboration
:.li'i;:
;;-;;;ih"s
no perceivcd
corrnc'tiol
(see, lor example'-
OiiP*'.,':-"i":;r,.
iU*l
,r''o connection
is with the
with
agricultural.fert
*t:i."jlll:
'."irili*";'ur.
.nto to undergo.an
ev'tt-
smetgdr
or'soul''
Th*'":::,:.'il;;,"iio
*"rt. * O.*, nourish
and are
tual transubstantiaiion
and',retunrtr'6;;;;"
persist
in lhis world
i|l I
reincorporated
as rice' In this wa'
r
'L^ ^i6 ^f
h,,man lrre ltself
By
for,n
din..tty
oso.iated
with.sustenancfu:';i;"il;;;.
rerishes
at cleatlr
contrast,
the burgai'
as a botanrcal
.lmaEc.l^]""r-..llt" .*iJl continuity'
and so must
be severed
from itsramily
rootstock
to insurc
sociJl
con
il;lil;'"'1"'"',?
:TJ:'I;:lirt; becomes
an an'' or'spiritr
At death,
as we hav" **'
"":,tn;r".;,i
,r^ttt
rn"Ot
its mrterialit)"
lnitially
identified
wt* tlj":::Pil:
;;;ili,r.",r'.
,oui,
;o",neys
to Seb'rvnrt
Attlrispoint,formostPersons't"'-!--- .,,,,",^" frev o..rrr. rlepe'dittB
orr
Ho*"u"r,
a number
of alterni:5ff:"i::.':,'.;.*i
ot *n"n giu"'
'i'"
ro
r persons
sPiritual
favorlandF:,"::.i
;;;;;:.,heir
spirits iournev
at this
ottrer tbrms
of ancestorsnrP
"":
;;;;';;*
,he spirir,
of the ordin.rry
noint to a seParate
afterworld
'.ll'1, li", l t"" o .
":,::
j,;
:f
"'llTi
jiil}]]
:Tfi
il',llllJ
ill lll,
Others,
by contrast' Particularly
rnosc
:l':":,i
j;"
rlrev choose
to favor
il', i.-,1",*"'
d*
l:"*
lllllll,
:"il:":H
?l:1.'l;i;'"pp"",
", '
,riro'
o' personal
guardian-tiili
;;;,
;a in some
instances
ihev cicl
snakes,
animals
or in mythic
sPtrtt
r:rl'f
'::r:u;-l]''"i,i.,nr.
hol^/.u"t,
"t"
;:il;i;,il.-, *.;.11ff;:.j:,,i i::$;:ll:l:illno
*"no
ryPicallv
ePisodic
* tn:ti.tl:H;;;"uni*ro^u
o"r..ner)r
transfor!rr'tri"r')
Occasionallv'
howe"il:
t"i-iTll'.1*,'i",
?*,"0t.,
oI those
who beco*re
into this-worldly
spttttt:
"t
tl-l;;;"
-rrl0""*
of all ancestors'
there
atiu
Serasi
Finally'
in the pas''-*,t."
tinrtr*
of entombment
')
this
existed
an alternative
mortuary Praqt:"
l" .-:,,::;t" e raised mausolctttrt
:;il;;;;;'
;"er
than h"ine
buried'
was kept in a raised'r
above
ground'
maki"
n
o"i'il'iffii:l:*n'main
the ancestor's
spirir
as an invisible
ttl-lt^tffIt""T:;Jt"""'
^ri,
'"-"s
the finirl iD'tal'
For rhe
sreat
maior'o
"t;:;:;:;:;;*.u.,, d"",n.
by irseu,
is insuri-
lation
of their sPirits
in Sebayan
tt*:
fl:]-'-*^." *h.'
jie
oremrtur'ly
or
1"", t"
"tt"t
tittt nnal
form of ancestorsh
iP Those
who
'lte
Pr(
RECALLtNc rHE DEAD, REvtrRrNc rHE ANcEsloRs
who suffer ill-fated deaths are precluded and so are unable to be recalled to
this world durirrg the Gawai Antu. For virtually all others, the gawai marks a
crucial transformation in their recognition as ancestors. At its culntination,
the spirits of the most recent generation of dead are recalled to the long-
house of their living descendants, where they are feasted and provisioned
with tomb huts and garorg baskets. All of this is described as an act of
remembering and so of responding to the needs ofthe dead. Performing it is
a duty which thc living owe to their recently dead family members. Through
this act of remembering, the living and the dead temporarily resume a rela-
tionship of intimacy. The spirits of the dead are welcomed directly into the
longhouse where they are invited to mingle with the living nnd to share with
them, in a stirte of co-presence, food and entertainment. Memories are on
visible tlisplay in the forru of objects formerly belonging to the dead and, lor
a time, the past is made present in garozg baskets that, for each individual,
personally embody his or her individuatirrg life-journey.
r\s Tsintjilonis (2004: 376) has observed, nruch current anthropological
theorizing attenpts to link the elicacy of death rituals with forgetting
or, for thc livitrg, with erasing their menories of the dead. But such
theorizing, as he notes, may well, as here, run couuter to indigenous
urrdcrstandings and so obscure the way in which intimacy and memory
are seen as conferring agency upon the dead. For the Ibal, this agency
is critical, as the Gawai Arta is centrally about memory and the social
and spiritual diflerentiation of the dead and how botlr, in turn, give the
dead continuing eflicacy in the living world. For the Iban, the spirits ofthe
ancestors may at times be evoked as an anonymous totality. However, in
otl'Ier irDportant ways, the ancestors are individualized, and, in this world,
their names and personal achievements are recalled in oral genealogies
and are alixed to graves, fruit trees, and other tangible obiects identified
rvith lhe past. Tbrougl\ the Gawai Anta, the spirits ofthe recent dead, as a
result of being remembered by their living descendants, are reconstituted
as an otherworlclly community where their this-worldly achievernerlts are
acknowledged. In return, the ancestors, now as ritualvisitors to this world,
bring with them from the afterworld return-gifts that not only strengtllen
and enhance the lives of the living, but assist them, too, in their own self-
dili-erentiating lif-e journeys.
CLrrrono S,q.rlren
Notes
I
'lhere
are also other ways in which this variation may be understood. llr tlris
volume, Vronique Bguet, for example, approaches Iban ancestrality through
cosnology, arguing that the ancestors in their various transfornrations medittc
relations between the lban and the natural world. In this regard, her discusslon
usefully complements the argumel1ts presented here.
2 The Iban are also present in West Kalimantan, where they number an estimated
14,000, the maiority inhabiting a region along the Sarawak border knorvn (in lbin)
as the Emperan (see Wadley 1999:597). In addition, some 10,000 Iban are prescnt in
Brunei Darus$alnm and a further 6-7,000 in Sabrh (Srther 2004: 623).
3 For a more detailed account of my lieldwork and additional background infitt-
mation on the Snribrs region, see Sather (200t: 13-19).
()vcr
the last tweuty ycilIli,
Christianity, urban migratio[, and other factors have brought about massive clrangc
and it is important to note that much ofwhat is described herc pertains to obscrva,
tions made in an upland rural area in the late t970s and early 1980s.
4'lhe Gcrwui Arf! is perfbrrned tod.ry only in the Betong, Saratok, Pal(an, nltd
Skrang Districts of Sarawak (Sather 2003b: 226). According to Uchibori (1978:
169-U0), it was once performed by the Batang Ai lban as well, but e/as latcr pro-
scribed (see also Heppell et al. 2005: 139). In the face of Christixn conversion dld
radical religious change, like the Sa'<lln'lbraja (Waterson 2009:373), two kinds
of rituals havc retained a place of special importance among the Saribrs lbanr l)
house ceremonies and 2) funerary rituals associated with thc ancestors.
'[he
C.llt4ti
Attrl, significantly, combines both. For a more detailed discussion of the factors
contributing to the Cdryai Arfr! resilience, see Sather (n.d.).
5 Aki'-ini'is similar in this regard to the Toraja term for ancestors, nene', also
meanilrg 'grandpnrents' (see Waterson 1984,2009). The p0iring of'grindlathcr,
grandmother' additionally reflects the fact that the lban, like, for example, the
Balinese (Giambelli 2002: 65), customarily think of ancestors as married couplcs,
This is how they are most often recalled, for instance, in oral genealogies (Sirthcr
1994^t 48-49).
6 Anthropologists have defined the term
'ancestor"
in a variety of ways. In the
most inclusive sense, Metcalfand Huntington (199t) use the term to refer sinrply to
dead forebears. Most, however, apply the term in a more restricted way. Thus, Rloch
(1996: 43), for example, uses the term "ancestor" to refer to those forebears who are
remembered and made the object of ritual actions such as sacrifices or libations.
More relevant to our discussion here, ChamberfLoir and Reid (2002i xix) oll'er
two meanings based on their reading of the insular Southeast Asian ethnography:
l) "all genealogical forebears, however distant," and 2) a "lirnited category of fore,
llecar-uNc rHe DEID, REVERTNG THE ANcEsToRs
145
bc'ars regardcd as nlore potent than others, whose prominence
the living society
acknorvledges."
As we shall see, both meanings are relevant to the Iban.
7 A few, notably Anda Mara, the lban god ofwealth, crossed the sea, while others
came to live in the afterworld of the dead (menoa
Sebayan). Frorn here, these lat-
ter gocis and goddesses lead the human antu Sebayan whe\ever they are ritually
recalled to the living world.
I Except in a shortlrand manner of speaking, it is highly debatable whether the
Iban acrually believe that the gods, spirit-heroes, and ;nc;stors
.become,,
animals
is Bdguet suggests. They may certainly assume an animal form through acts of
metamorphosis,
but the Iban relate to them in essentially humrn terms, ;s anthro-
pornorphic beings, not Irs animals.
9 Among the Sddong Land Dayaks (or Bida).uh), ceddes (1954:
26) notes lhnt thc
spirits of the {ncesbrs are also said to eventually become,gods, (aampa).In
colrtrast
to the Saribas lban, this occurs, however, only after they have passed througtr ,r
scries ofafterworlds,
the first ofwhich is also called Sebayan. The notion of multiple
afterworlds, each exerting a.,purgatorial quality" _
purifrng
the spirits ofthe dead
rs thcy prss frou one to rhe next
- differs from the Iiariand sirongly .ugg"sts
lvlalay inl'luence, as, irrdeed, some of Geddes's own informants observ"i
itssa, zO).
l0
'lliis
is not to say that al) petara, and even less, all drf!, originate as humao
nncestors. While the lban may legitimately be said to worship thJr ancestors
{see
\Vadley 1999), such worslrip is not an isolated practice, but coexists with otherprac_
tices, many of thenl addressed to other, non-ancestral agencies, such, for example,
irs rice souls. In this scnse, Iban religious life is frrlly consistent with Chambert_Loir
nnd Reidt (2002:
xviii) view that nowhere in the Austronesian world is the worship
ofancestors d religion in itseli
ll llreir afterlifb existence, while unenviable, and certainly not a desirable fate, is
nonetheless a socially engaged one. Their spirits live, as a community, with those
of others who died a similar death, and here, in their special domains, thel are
visited during the singing of the rara& by the souls ofthe ordinary dead as the latter
journey to Sebayan,
12
'll're
human//animnl opposition is thus reversed in this instance, and from the
perspective oftlre 4ht4geraJi, human souls are perceived as animals.
13 Antu gerusi ancestors are, however, regularly attracted to the longhouses of
their descendants dqring ritual celebrations, and ifofferings are rrot p.oid"d, they
may dlsturb the proceedings (for
an example, see Sather 2001: 44C).
^They
may also
become the spirit-helpers ofcurers (rraratg
and. dukun).
14 Ihese relatioDs olien have a,,totemic" quality (see
Hose and McDougall 1966,
Il: 96 iI) in that the family ofa person who is aided by a fira,, or the des"cendants
of an individual who is thought to have become a spirit_animal,
-ay
,rot kil or
CLTTFoRD
SATHER
lLricaLLING tHE DEAD, REVERTNG THE ANcESToRs 147
Kalinrantln as Gunung Lialg Sunan and is located on the left bank of thc Mandai
Illver.'lhc Iban term rdbonS means, literally,'apexl'sunrmiltionl'zenith', or'high
est point' (S.ther 2001: l16). ln Saribas charlts, llukit Rabong is described as ns lB
inrnecliatcly beneath the 'zenith of the sky' (pcribokg
klngil\.lD contrast to some
Borneo peoples (e.g., Wcinstock 1987), the Mandai River is not considered by
prcsent day Iban to be an origjn
flace
from which thc ancestors !rigr-rred, nor docs
il lie within an ilrea ofcurrent Iban settlement. Instead, as Reecl Wadley (personal
communication) observed, both it and Bukit Rabotlg exist, for rrost lban, at the
'visiblc pcripherics of everyday geogrnphical awnrcness.
20
ydrg
refers speci6cally to the spi.it-guides ofritual specialists, i.e., shamaDs
(rrarrarrg) and priest bards (lemambang) and is distingr,rished frorn tun', the
Sucrdiiln'spirits
that assist others in the pursuit ofthis worlclly success.
2l Since lny initial fieidwork in the 1970s, nlany Christilrn t'a ilies have replaced
the singilrg ofthe rrrrdl< with a simple Christian service.
22 Without performing the ,eserrra' bungai, the d.ead, it is said, may coutinue to
exert an unhealllry hold ovcr their living kin, causing theD illness or wastiDg family
resources. Consequently, should survivors fall ill or suffer a reverse offortunes, the
besercro' bungai rnay also be held, separate from the funerary cycle, as a curing
ritual (see Sather 1978l.317 ,200|. 325-326\.
23 Note that during the Gawai Antu, the spirits of the dead begin their nightly
visits lo the longhouse well before thjs formal iDvocatjorl occurs,
24 The latter is said to lrave taught the ancestors how to perform the Ga )ai A tu.
25 There is, in fact, sotne ambiguity about the nature and precise locirtion of the
Rarldi (see Sathcr 2003b:189), as it is also represented materially in a variety of
riturl shriDes. In sonl contexts its fruits take the form of trophy heads (r'rtu pala)
severed from slain enemies.'Ihus, the Rdrrlai is also associated with headhunting
nn(l so lvith the former ritual cult ofwarfare.
26
'lhe
role of these drinkers clearly highlights the continuing significance of
nrnlc prowess in Saribns society. f)uring thc 1970s and l980s, most of those who
were asked to pcrfbrm the part of warriors were either policenren or soldiers in
thc Malnysi:l| arrny. When I lirst begal fieldrvork in Sxrawak, there was still an
rative ConrInunist insurgency iD which n number crfyounger Iban nlen were tben
lighting. Others had seen lnilitary action in the 1960s during Korf;onrasi, or earlier
yet, as trackers rvith tire lJritish Army during the Mrlayan Emergency. ]b be eligible
to clrink these ritualwincs, a man should have either received ir drealn conmand or
takcn ir humdrr life ilr combat (bedaqah) (Sather 1993r I0l).
27 lliis is dramatically brought home by numerous cautionary stories that descrjbe
past disxsters occasioned by ritual mistakes. Similarly, care is taken to prevent the
dead from intruding into more intimate living spaces, fbr example by erecting
146
eat the animal in whose form the sPirit apPears'
lnteresrirrg\.,
nrirlty'oi
j'"::::s.l:
['# ;"*;;
;; Ji'"'n'r'"
r"";i,:l]i"1]:::'i:
:'J#i:ii:i'li:';:illi
wadrey
(2004: 625) t: d:",iT
:h":"-l;i:'i:;;i:
";;J;;;i."Jer
.r'd iurpra, rr'rc
ofresistancel
ln the Saribas' one examj
i""
"irr".Llr,",
*ho, afrer being killed by Brookc
forces trr 1858
(sd'Ji.
It') l:
;;'-;;;;;;1"
lle
sklanc
Riv::*
i,'"".',:i5,?;;:[:,ff
l.',:,""lilli]l:
animal-spirit
reputedly
took a great.m
, ,. r^ L:^ r,,h i- rh"
p.rrleh
lor l,rrri.rl.
Rrooke allies, had severed
Ajis head'
::X ifil'.il,,,,n.
*i,, ,"",.,*' u""n.
Another examPle
is the Ulu Ai' rebel
rule. on and off, until lq08
(Wadley 2004' Pringle tl70: 210-246l
DurrrrgliswnA
:?:#;::;;;"ng
was aided bv both the sPiiit heroes and a r'd in thrc L'tsc
l'jjil,
J:;::';;;;;"frh"n
Ngor"b"nn
"uenturllv
died' after hcvins mrde
perce
with the Brooke governrnent'
he himsefi i'
'uid
to ttuut t'econre
i nab'r!
(wnliley
200,1625).
l5 A common
Saribas saying is that the living Jnd the dead ire seParJted
by only
:l tlrin membranc
such
""ou"t"tt"
i'-fonifruit
The Inc'rning is thct we w"rrl'l
;:':i#;;;";"ird
anct fully sh"r" th.ir*"*p",i"n.es
if it wcre nnt f.r x thin
translucent
film that covers our eyes
(see Sathe! 2001: lu-Il5)'
16 ManY lban say that human
beings hrve mtrltiple
suuls !r)d descrlbe
this
Plr-
iLiiil:ffiil
t;iv'"out' 1u^,igo'
'uboft)
(foi a det'riled
discussion
see srthcr
2001:51ff.).
l7 llrdeed, my first encounter
with lhe Srribas lban term for
"Jncestors" cJrne
(luil(
;#;il';"",
in the early dnvs of mv hellwork'
I begarr lo Iecord
hxrvr''L
oravers for the recall oftne
poo' soJt' i'ct
pi nganbi' seneng'r'r
padi prrlni)
'llrcse
t'.il:;:'"
;.."".,Jiv
"*r'
"t'rtt
iu"'a'llv'
io bur gr'rdfaLhcrs-grrndnroth.rs
(aki'-ini' kami\'
18 The term bulga or b'ngai in everYdaY
speech means'flowerl
A/u is an alterna-
tive term, although
in some contexts'
the two have
"onrewhat
diffcrcnt m<'lnillg:
(see Sather 2001: 58-ost
Wftif" tt" i"t"ift are beyond
the pre;c'rt cs5ry' irr
Ferlrr'rl
terms butlg4i
tends to be used' as ht"' in tonn"ttion
!^'ilh lrrortJlity'
wlrilc
'rvrr
i'
;;;;;;;i;.Jt
*'"ciated
with images oflongevitv
and reProduction'
19 Bukit Rabong is not visible
from the Ulu Paku where I ditl Ilry ficlclvork'
brrt
can be readily scen frorn higf'"r
"i"t"tions
along the Sorawak
West Kllinlirrldn
border. It is easily identifraute
uy ii'll"ii"ttive P;frle'
which is likened lo that of a
;;i;;;;;;*,
:rl itel*Tff,:i:i]';T:i,ll,itJ:ij,TllI*"1
1U). Frorn its Profile
and the dlrec
,iitl J""ii, ii"t"i-"b""g
l' ut,,,o'i t"""intv
the same motrnt'ri' that
peoPle in
il:
;;'-;;;;.
.''
"yr
:lll:;*1iil:::I[::i:":li,"."i];,ll;;
the Taman and others' reSard as
communication)'
Ac"otdi"g
to s"ll'"to tt'is mountain
is identilied
or nTaps of West
148 CLTFFoRD SATHER
th.e rugan along the public passageway, rather than inside the family's apartment
(Sather 1993i 100).
28 There was a link here with sexuality as well, as traditionally, until the eariy
twentieth century, the night that followed was one of institutionalized courting
(malam ngayap mnia galrai), in which the rules against adultery we.e temporar-
ily suspended and married men and women were allowed to court other partners
(Sather 1993: 112).
29 As, in a parallel way, an act of successful headhunting in the past completed
the transformation of the dead into spirits, while, at the same tinle, releasing the
immediate survivors from nourning r$trictions. In this sense, the acts of wine-
drinking by the warriors during the Gandi Art, may be said to function as a ritual
substitute for taking heads-
30 Thus, the lban use ofteknonyms does not result in'genealogical rmnesial'as
the Geertzes (1967) claim it does in Bali. On the contrary, while little used in adult
life, where egalitarian values tend to predominate, personal nanes collle to the
fore at death, as part ofthe process ofsocial and spiritual dilTerentiation described
in this chapter.'lhe only persons who do not appear in the lusrl are those rviro
died nameless or without producing living descendants. In the lattr ca$e, childlcss
couples seek to avoid this prospect by the common practice of adopting children,
especially those ofsiblings (see Freeman 1970: 18-19).
3l While Biguet (in this volume) is correcl in reporting that the Iban say that the
dead may 'become (a.1,adl) snakes, they equally well say that the dead may tonceal
tlremseives' (ngarong) as snakes. In the ritual stanza quoted above, the deceasecl's
spirit informs the mourners, literally, in lban, 'l will conceal myself as a snake' (ka
karong aku ulnr)
(Salher 2001: 362),
'[lis
act of concealment in the body of a snake
or other animal one informant compared to wealing the animal's body'like a shirt'
(baka bsju).
32 Following his death in t874, Linggir, for example, is said to have reappeared as
a snake, gen;ally described as having the body ofa pl4hon and the head ofa cobra
(sawa teiong), which was often seen sleeping on a stack of firewood kePt on the
upper gale;of PerSfiultr Garran's longhouse at Tanjong' Ulu Paku This snake was
."gu.aia u. it
"
,ro'ofGarran, Linggir's successor and son-in-law' and whenever it
ap"p"ared, it was fed oferings by the members ofGarrant family For long intervals
it ii.opp"ur"d from Tanjong, during which time it reportedly appeared elsewhere
to advise other kln, many of them also local leaders Around 1910 the snake is said
to have disapPeAred completely
(Sather 1994c: 13' fn )'
33 Hence, the procedure is essentiaily the same as so-called
"secondary treatment
of the deadl' Wadley reports
(personal communication)
that in the Emperan this
container may be placed in a cave, rather than in a raised' open-air mausoleum
RECALLING THE DEAD, REVERINo THE ANcEsToRs
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