Part 6 (1/2)
DREAMS
The Dyaks place implicit confidence in dreams. Their theory is that during sleep the soul can hear, see and understand, and so what is dreamt is what really takes place. When anyone dreams of a distant land, they believe that his soul has paid a flying visit to that land.
In dreams, also, the G.o.ds and spirits are supposed to bring charms to human beings. The story is often told of how a man falls asleep and dreams that a spirit came to him and gave certain charms, and lo! when he awakes, he finds them in his hands. Or else he is told in a dream to go to a certain spot at a special time and pick up some stone there, which will have some mysterious influence for good over his fortunes.
Dreams are looked upon by the Dyaks as the means the G.o.ds and spirits use to convey their commands to men, or to warn them of coming danger.
Houses are often deserted, and farming land, on which much labour has been spent, abandoned on account of dreams. Newly married couples often separate from the same cause. It is no unusual thing for a man or a woman to dream that the spirits are hungry and need food. In that case the inmates of the Dyak house organize a feast, and offerings are made to the hungry spirits.
CHAPTER XIII
MARRIAGES AND BURIALS
Marriages in all countries are occasions of rejoicing, and it is the same among the Dyaks. The princ.i.p.al part of the ceremony is the fetching of the bride from her father's to the bridegroom's house. The women-folk of the village, who are friends of the bridegroom's family, set out in a boat, gaily decorated with an awning of parti-coloured sheets, and with streamers and flags flying, to an accompaniment of gongs and drums and musical instruments, to fetch the bride to her future home.
When the boat arrives at the landing-stage of the bride's house, they all walk up--a gaily dressed crowd--and are welcomed into the house.
Here they sit down and talk over the future prospects of the young couple, chewing betel-nut and _sireh_ (a kind of pepper leaf) all the time. A portion of these chewing ingredients are carefully set aside to be used later on. The Dyak with his great love for divination, cannot allow such an occasion to pa.s.s without some attempt to find out the secrets of the future.
[Ill.u.s.tration: IN WEDDING FINERY]
The company all sit down in the long common hall of the Dyak house, and the betel-nut, _sireh_, etc., specially set aside for the ceremony, are brought forward. A betel-nut is split into seven pieces by one supposed to be lucky in matrimonial matters, and these, together with the other ingredients of the betel-nut mixture, are all put in a little basket, which is bound together with red cloth, and laid for a short time upon the open platform adjoining the house.
The Master of the Ceremonies, who splits the betel-nut, then makes a little speech, telling the a.s.sembled guests that if either party should desert the other without sufficient reason, the offending party shall be fined such an amount as has been agreed upon.
The basket containing the split pieces of betel-nut is then brought in and uncovered, and the contents examined to ascertain the will of the G.o.ds. Should the pieces of betel-nut, by some mystic power, increase in number, the marriage will be an unusually happy one; but should they decrease, it is a bad omen, and the marriage must be postponed or relinquished altogether. But, as a matter of fact, they neither increase nor decrease, and this is taken to mean that the wedding is one upon which the spirits have p.r.o.nounced neither a good nor a bad verdict.
This action gives the name to the marriage ceremony. The Dyaks call marriage _Mlah Pinang_--”spitting the betel-nut.”
The contents of the little basket, used to discover the will of the higher powers, is chewed by those present just as other _pinang_ and _sireh_, and the marriage ceremony is over; the young couple are lawfully man and wife.
For the wedding, the bride decks herself out in all the finery she possesses, or can borrow from her friends. Her wedding-dress consists of a short petticoat of Dyak-woven cloth, which reaches to her knees. Along the bottom edge of this there are sewed several rows of tinsel, and of silver coins, below which probably hang some rows of hawk-bells, which make a tinkling sound as she walks. Round her waist are several coils of bra.s.s or silver chain, and two or three belts made of dollars or other silver coins linked together. From her hips upwards, as far as her armpits, she wears a corset formed by threading split cane through a great number of small bra.s.s rings, arranged so closely together as to completely hide the cane. To this corset may be fixed two or three bands of silver coins. Her armlets of bra.s.s or silver extend as far up as her elbow. As many rings as she possesses are on her fingers, and she wears necklaces of small beads, worked in very beautiful patterns, and finished off with a ta.s.sel of beads, or else a large number of big silver or bra.s.s b.u.t.tons strung together round her neck. Her ears are decorated with filigreed studs of silver gilt, with a setting of scarlet cloth behind the filigree work to show them off.
In her hair is a towering comb of silver filigree work, to which are attached a number of silver spangles, which glitter with every movement of her head. She wears her hair in a knot into which are stuck a number of large bra.s.s hair-pins, decorated with beads and little tags of red and yellow and white cloth. She possesses a bright coloured jacket of Dyak-woven cloth; but she does not wear it, it is slung over her right shoulder.
After this detailed description of the bride's dress, it is disappointing to learn that the bridegroom takes no special pains to ornament his person. The men wear a great deal of finery when they attend a feast, or when they go on the war-path, but on the occasion of his wedding, the bridegroom takes no extra trouble over his apparel.
BURIALS
As soon as a man dies, the professional mourner sits on a swing near the head of the corpse and sings a long dirge, blaming the different parts of the house, beginning with the roof-ridge and proceeding downwards, for not keeping back the soul of the dead man.
Then the corpse is carried out into the public part of the house, and is covered with a Dyak sheet. By his side are put his belongings--his clothes, his implements of work, his s.h.i.+eld, his sword, his spear--which are to be buried with him, or placed on his grave.
Early the following morning the body, wrapped in mats, and secured with a light framework of wood, is carried on the shoulders of four men, and, accompanied by their friends, they go to the jungle. When they come to the spot where a tree is to be cut down for the coffin, a halt is made.
A fowl is killed, and the blood collected in a cup, and mixed with a little water. Each person present is touched with the blood, to propitiate the G.o.ds, and to secure safety from any evil consequences to the persons engaged in the funeral rites. They now set to work to make the coffin. A tree is felled and the required length cut off. This is split in two, and each half is hollowed out. The corpse is then placed inside this rude coffin, the two parts of which are now firmly lashed together with cane.