Honey Tree Song [various Dayak tribes in Sarawak, Borneo], 0-1

Honey Tree Song [various Dayak tribes in Sarawak, Borneo], 0-1

pp. vi-x contents

#	*chapter*	*pp.*
0	Introduction	1-64
1	Childbirth & Cradle Songs	65-108
2	Chants of Initiation	109-132
3	Courtship, Marriage	133-170
4	Hunting & Gathering	171-192
5	Farming Rites & Sacrifice	193-226
6	Headhunting	227-258
7	Building & Journeying	259-280
8	Disaster, Sickness, & Healing	281-328
9	Festivals, Greetings, & Farewells	329-356
10	The Ending & Thereafter	357-378

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0. "Introduction"

p. 10 official British allocation of tribes to Christian denominations

*tribe*	*denomination*
Iban	Anglican
Bidayuh	Catholic
Kelabit	"Fundamentalist" [Methodist (p. 43)]
Kayan, Kenyah, & Penan	Catholic
Melanau	Islam

p. 12 Among women, "the initiated", "Gadong", are "devotees of a secret green and inevitably laughing society."

p. 25 categories of thunder

"gurut – long rumbling, rolling sound;

banu-banu – muffled rumbling from a distance;

tala-tala – many breaking sounds, one crash directly following another;

ganit – a warning pause, with flash of lightning, followed by thunder breaking;

gurap – booming pounding sound;

rugan – crashing sound;

daring-daring – high vibration overhead;

ai-ai -- moaning sound, slowly dying away."

bodily tattooing

p. 33	"Tattooing was and is still done extensively, but on and by men only. ... The throat tattoo distinguishes the Iban from other Dayak."
p. 42	Kelabit : "The ... women have elaborate tattoos on legs and inner arms, forming a deep "vee" inside the arm. The men have few tattoos."
p. 47	Kayan : "Tattooing was done elaborately on the women to mark status. Mostly the arms and legs were covered ... . The men are less elaborately tattooed".

terminologies for species of fauna & flora in the various dialects

p. 35 Iban	pp. 38-39 Bidayuh	p. 46-47 Kelabit
BEASTS : Bejil – tiny squirrel Jelu Sinang – Otter	BEASTS : Dangin – mousedeer Kumpapai – Black-and-white-spotted bear Bagong – Macaque Ungkang Padi – Slow Loris	BEASTS : Kelabat – Gibbon Kalesi – red monkey
BIRDS : Bejampong – Crested Jay Beragai – Scarlet-rumped Trogan Burong Tajai – Helmeted Hornbill Dundon – Cuckoo-Dove Kelabu/Papau – Diard’s Trogon Kenyalang – Rhinoceros Hornbill Ketupong –Rufous Piculet Menaol Banda – Brahminy Kite Nendak – White-rumped Shama Pangkas/Kutok – Maroon Woopecker Ruai – Argus Pheasant Sengayan Api – Crested Green Wood Partridge	BIRDS : Alo/Kalau/Pidada – Black Hornbill Bayan – Long-tailed Parakeet Buau – Collared Scops Owl Baba Bayan – Alay Parrpt Binchiyu – Crested Green Wood Partridge Biriak/Kuchu – Red-headed Tailorbird Buili Bayan – Blue-napped Parrot Bubot – common coucal Chong/Perunchong – Banded Pitta Gagak – Ground Cuckoo Geligah/Gura – White-rumped Shama Imas – Emerald Dove Iseng – common kingfisher Kangkok – Malayan Hawk Cuckoo ... etc.	BIRDS : Awih Langan – Racket-tailed Drongo Barit Kanui – Grey-faced Buzzard-eagle Balang Kanui – Tigre-eagle (Brahminy Kite) Barungiran – Magpie-Robin Manangang – Rhinoceros Hornbill Manudun – Helmeted Hornbill Matui – wrinkled hornbill Ngaye – Spiderhunter Pirit – Munia Ruive – Argus Pheasant
REPTILES : Kendawang – Red-tipped cylinder Meresian Striped bronze-backed snake Tadang – Cobra Sawa> -- Python	REPTILES : Siriang – Striped bronze-backed snake Jaludu – Cobra Biluai – Malaysian Brown Snake Tajug – river lizard	REPTILES : Garasan – Krait (coral snake) Rarih – longitudinally-white-striped snake
	AMPHIBIAN : Singkikeh – poisonous frog
FISHES : Adong—Hampala macrolepidota Ensribau Padi – Raskora elegans Kelar – Mastacembelus keithi (eel) Kenulong – Dermogenys pusillus Gemian – Polynemus hexanemus Iyu-parang – true sawing	FISH : Enchudi – Eel	FISHES : Delo – eel Pait – black-striped small Paliyan – semah Saniyan – Catfish
	INSECT : Lampapai – Firefly	INSECTS : Ane – Termite Angat – aphid ? Baranuan – small bee Bua Tikan – Honey-bee Nanan – red hornet Pitak – pig-tick
PLANTS : Brinjai/Empalam – black mango Malenjan – tiny red fruit Limau Tapah – pomello Lallang – Imperata cylindrica (grassy weed) [Pantu – thorny sago palm (p. 47)]	PLANTS : Matan – Mangifera longipetiolata Aping – Arenga undulatifolia Asam-paya – Salacca conferta Sangau – Nephelium sp. Jaong – Pholidocarpus majadum Sangang – Zingiberacceae Sankuang – Dracontomelum edule Rambai – Baccaurea motleyana Belimbin – Averrhoa belimbi ... etc.	PLANTS : Kiran – Jackfruit Kurad – red berries Daradtang – Oak-leaf fern Lakuwa – a root-spice Ilad – Isang palm Naman – black fern Balangian – Belian (ironwood) Buko – white-bark tree Lunok – Banyan Talun – reddish-bark tree Tumuh – resin tree Bayuh – bamboo Kanangan – thorny sago palm

deities worshipped by the various tribes

*tribe*	*river*	*deities*
Iban	Lupar	p. 33 Biku (highest god); Sempulang Gana (god of farming)
Bidayuh		p. 37 Tapa / Tampa (chief god)
Melanau	lower Rajang	p. 40 Alatala (highest god)
Kelabit	Kemena	p. 43 Darayah (chief god, appearing as Bune ‘blue parakeet’)
Kayan	upper Rajang	p. 48 Batang Tuman (chief male god)
Kenyah	Baram	p. 48 Jalong Paselong (chief male god); Bungan Seluan (chief female goddess)
"		p. 54 Bali Ulu ("the spirit of heads")
Penan		*p. 57 Bale Cherawa ("spirit of open air, changing space, illusion, and shifting phenomena – a concept similar to the Hindu maya.");*
"		p. 58 Bale Dam ("spirit of fever")

pp. 35-36 Bidayuh dialects

p.	*1^st Division district*	*dialect*
35	Kuching	Biatah
	Serian	Bukar Sadong
	Bau	Singei Jagoi
36	Lundu	Silakau & Lara

p. 35 The Bidayuh "migrated from what is now West Kalimantan, the Balai Kerangan area. Bidayuh are called "land dayak" partly to differentiate them from "Sea Dayak" or Iban".

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1. "Childbirth and Cradle Songs"

p. 73 1.6 Ngaleng Uyan Ngadan Anak ("Rite of Naming the Child")

[Kenyah – Upper Baram, 4^th Division]

"set fire to the stalk of bamboo,

Bali Pusa, spirit of the inner fibers of bamboo –

and to mark the ash on your forehead, child."

"Bali Utang, guardian spirit"

"Bilong Nyelong, creating spirit"

"Urai Lihan, female spirit of padi,

whose father is Asang Wan"

"protected before birth by Bali Saong, spirit of the hat"

"keep away Bali Sakit, spirit of sickness"

pp. 76-87 1.9 Wa Besapat ("Removing Incest Taboo from Couple")

[Paku Iban – Saribas, 2^nd Division]

p.	*ritual offering*	*its function*
86	*"beliong lajong* axe" ["axe with a small triangular head" (p. 80)]**	*"to hack a place deep for the root of the lensat* tree to stay firm."**
	"blowpipe made of the honey tree"	"to knock upward and stop the hole of the thunder and lightning."
	*"kumbu rayong* blanket"**	"to cover the top and side of the snail at the river, so that it may stay within the hollow of raised roots." ["to cover the riverbanks and to ... riverbank erosion." (p. 80)]
	"bar of iron" ["step flat" (p. 80)]	"so that our feet not slip".
	*"woven tebraya* woman’s sarong"**	"to keep the daylight from being covered by the clouds". ["to cover the sky, to prevent the heavy rains." (p. 81)]
	*"big pinggai* plate"**	"to keep the earth within the river from being moved away." ["to keep the river from eating into the cliffs, causing high banks that collapse." (p. 81)]
	*"smaller pinggai* plate"**	"to receive the cloudy dew, [that a continuous and heavy mist not drop. (p. 87)]"
87	*"rangki* shell armlet"**	"to the river, so that there be only ripples upon it."
	*"The pelaga* and the kelam beads"**	"to have neither long waves and high waves."
	*"The kebok* ["the ears of which go downwards" (p. 81)] and the tepayan ["the ears of which go sideways" (p. 81)] types of jarlets"**	"for holding the soul safe within their care." ["carried by a man (the person who enacts the spirit of Puntang Raga), the keep the soul safe inside of it." (p. 81)]

pp. 90-94 1.11 Tok Tunggok ("The Nightbird Calls")

[Paku Iban – Saribas, 2^nd Division]

p. 91

"one night the moon, a young girl, flew low over the earth. There she met the nightbird and they married. He later broke a taboo (mali) she told him of and therefore she flew away back to the sky, never to return. ... after she had borne their child, the moon asked her husband to wash the cloth for wrapping the child and, in particular, to hang it to dry from the branches of a tended domestic fruit tree. But the nightbird carelessly hung the cloth on the branches of a wild tree that bears no fruit. This neglect ... so angered the moon that she flew away, leaving him calling after her.

In another version the nightbird had been forbidden by the wife, the moon, from seeing her bathe. The moon was shy because the top part of her body was dark but the bottom, from the waist down, was light. One night her husband secretly watched her at her bath; she at once knew it and flew away". {cf. [S^into myth of] Izana-gi’s spying at night on his wife Izana-mi, resultant in their separation; and Aktaion’s spying on the goddess Artemis while she was bathing.}

p. 92

"This tunggok, according to legend, not only calls but also weeps at the time of the full moon. If one can catch these tears, one is said to possess a most powerful lovecharm." ["The bird is possibly the Hawk-Owl (punggok), which calls at night from a tree, ... when there is a moon (... never ... on a dark night)" (p. 91).]

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Carol Rubenstein : The Honey Tree Song : Poems and Chants of Sarawak Dayaks. Ohio U Pr, Athens, 1985.