Love is key to seoul-escorting ritual feast in Bentian

By Indra D. Himrat

BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan (JP): It was 3 p.m. Dancers leading the rite came out of a longhouse and went to a field behind the building where a water buffalo was tied to a pole carved in the form of a human statue. The buffalo was lying on the ground after being repeatedly speared by the gathered masses.

This was the peak and the end of a "soul-escorting ritual feast", based on the traditions and beliefs of the Dayak Bentian tribe in Kutai district, East Kalimantan.

Local villagers call this rite gomek or gombak, which means a ritual feast to send the soul of the dead to the far-faraway Mount Lumut. What actually happens during the rite is that the body of the deceased will be moved from his coffin to his grave in the village. Therefore, this rite is also called a corpse- dumping ceremony.

The Bentian people believe that Mount Lumut is a place where the souls of all dead people gather.

"The mountain is in Central Kalimantan," said Herman, tatau or the traditional chief of Tende village, pointing to a mountain top.

Tende, where the rite was held, is a small village of 250 people on the border of East and Central Kalimantan.

Herman, also one of the dancers in the gombak rite, had just completed his invocation of the mantra prior to the beginning the spear-throwing attacks on the water buffalo.

The mantra was invoked before the humanesque pole, or blontang. Before spears pierced the water buffalo, the dancers went round the pole, jointly stating to their gods that a water buffalo would be slaughtered. Then they told the buffalo that "its life will end here, because it is how it is of use."

The buffalo was tied to the blontang with a 15-meter-long tightly plaited rattan rope. Then the villagers repeatedly threw their spears at the animal until it fell to the ground.

Then, for a week, that is, until the buffalo died, most villagers concentrated on the ritual feast. It is believed that during the feast, it is taboo for the villagers, especially the relatives of the dead, to work in the fields or in the forest.

If this taboo is not heeded, disaster will probably strike. The whole family, not only the person violating the taboo, will be blighted by mishap. Angry souls, offended at not being respected, will make them ill or even throw logs on them when they are in the forest. The Bentian people, who believe in kaharingan or animism, know that the souls of the dead, found everywhere in animate and inanimate objects, are angry.

During the ritual feast, the souls are fed. Then the dancers, called wara, will ask the souls to bless all the villagers and protect them. From the last evening until the day when the water buffalo is speared, the wara keep dancing in a circle along with the souls inside the house.

During this "soul-escorting ritual feast", all relatives of the dead and other villagers will also donate rice, pigs, chickens, vegetables and leaves of forest trees needed in the rite. Practically nobody stays at home.

Similar help will be forthcoming from other villages connected for the most part with the social intercourse of the person holding the rite and also with the way he and the traditional chief command respect among their relatives in other villages.

At the recent feast at Tende village, the traditional chief of the nearby Sambung village attended with a number of his villagers. They brought with them pigs, chickens, rice and vegetables. According to Mun, the chief, people from his village were prepared to make donations because the deceased was a generous person.

Love

When the meat of the slaughtered water buffalo had been cooked, all the rite participants had a meal together. The sun was by then way down in the west. After the meal, the participants left the lou, or longhouse, one by one and the village descended into quietness again. Both the feast-holding family and the villagers were happy because they had successfully held a feast to show their love for the deceased.

When holding such a ritual feast, the quantity of food served will depend on how much money the family holding the feast has at their disposal. If they have a lot then a lot of food will be served for a longer period of time, sometimes for as long as two or three weeks. However, if funds are limited, the food will be served only for one week but this will in no way detract from the sincerity of the relatives to fulfill their "obligation" to demonstrate their love for the deceased.

For one week of the soul-escorting ritual feast, the villagers will slaughter at least one water buffalo costing some Rp 800,000 (US$100), three to five pigs, costing Rp 300,000 each, and scores of chickens. They will also have to make ready rice and side dishes as well as equipment for the burial of the deceased's body. On average, to be able to hold such a ritual feast, a family will need Rp 2.5 million to Rp 3 million, a large amount of money compared with the simple life the villagers generally lead.

Therefore, only those considered well-off and widely connected in his village and in other villages can hold such ritual feasts. Generally, they are well-respected people in their village. However, if death occurs in a certain family, anybody in the village can hold such a rite for the deceased.

This soul-escorting ritual feast traditionally performed by the Bentian people, however, is becoming rare as a result of both the high cost it entails and the modernization which has permeated the life of these people.

In the context of the Dayak culture as a whole, the Bentian sub-tribe is one of some 450 Dayak sub-tribes in Kalimantan. In general the Dayak people can be categorized into four groups.

The first group is characterized by performing the burial tradition and the presence of a blend of egalitarian community and social stratification. The Bentian, Ngaju, Tunjung, Luangan and Kelabit people belong to this group. The second group, including the Bukat and Punan, is characterized by their skills at hunting and making concoctions.

The third is characterized by a relatively democratic but firm leadership, such as the Iban and Kentu. The last group is characterized by their social stratification and their skills at planting rice on dry land. The Kayan and Kenyah people belong to this group.

The writer is an anthropologist.