Kachong, Borneo Malaysia скачать в хорошем качестве

Kachong, Borneo Malaysia

Video with images of Kachong an Iban village at the Lemanak river in the heart of Sarawak. High up on the banks of the river is a major longhouse on poles observed from different angles. A staircase leads to the entrance of the ruai or inner verandah. The steps leading to the entrance of the ruai consist of a notched tree-trunk. On the walls of the ruai are worn hats, broken baskets, torn bags and mats next to wooden utensils and musical instruments. An older Iban man sitting on the ruai floor shows human skulls which are kept in a basket hanging in the longhouse. It reminds of the past when the Iban were fierce headhunters. The Iban are the largest indigenous group in Sarawak. In the past they were feared by other tribes for their hostile attitude and their war parties. They were fierce headhunters. For the Iban the practice of headhunting was not a cruel act but a reflection of their animist beliefs. They believed that taking the head of an enemy proved the strength of the hunter. It also transmitted the force of the defeated to his victor. The skin was separated from the inner skull which they preserved. The skulls were then suspended by strips of rattan or hung in baskets in the longhouse to transmit their force into the community. The Iban live in a longhouse which gives shelter to a large number of family households with their own rooms. The number of doors accounts for its length which varies from twenty meters up to two hundred meters. Each door is an entry to a family room which is a combination of a living- and bedroom, a kitchen in the back and a loft for the storage of paddy. The front door opens on to a covered verandah or ruai which is used to receive visitors or to relax with friends and neighbours. The second outdoor verandah or tanju is an uncovered platform which is used mainly for drying paddy, pepper or rubber in the sun. The whole structure is raised about sixteen feet off the ground on hardwood piles. It is about twenty yards wide. The longhouse is made of hardwood and partly roofed by sago palm leaf and hardwood shingles or sink plates. The condition of a longhouse varies because each household builds its own portion. Each household is also responsible for its upkeep. Although it is in every household's interest to keep it in good repair some households may neglect to do so. The longhouse architecture is the best defense against hostile attacks for it protects the households up from the ground and all together against surprise. It also saves material to build attached houses while at the same time it strengthens the ties of blood and friendship within the community. The people in a longhouse are farmers who grow paddy on the fields in the lowland hills. They work together on the fields for one or two seasons. On ordinary days the number of people working together may be anywhere from two to twenty. On the day of the planting it may be forty or more. Each person who does a day work for someone else may claim a day's labour in return. This traditional economy of mutual exchange is however changing. Nowadays many Iban turn to growing cash crops like pepper. They organize their fields into modern plantations to grow rubber or oil palm. Others leave the traditional community and move to urban areas. In the past many Iban people had a tattoo. It was an expression of their power and beauty and a symbol of their tribal community. The tattoo was also a sign of one's status within the community. Nowadays only older people have a tattoo on their body. Their body is covered with circles and rosettes, spirals and lines. A tattoo in the neck expresses their courage. A tattoo on the thigh means the person was a headman. A circle of dots and lines on top of the fingers means the person was a headhunter. For women a tattoo was an instrument to emphasize their beauty.