Bario's History Background - Post #4

Folk art, crafts, and hobbies
The Kelabit make many handicraft items, many of which are for everyday use. Most of these items, however, are made with little ornamentation and no carving. Nonetheless, many of them are beautifully made, with great skill.


Bamboo and rattan are the two common materials used to make their crafts. Rattan is easily obtained from the primary forest, and the bamboo is acquired from the secondary forest, i.e., from areas which have at some time in the past been used for agriculture. Many cooking utensils, tools in the kitchen, basket for storage and carrying, fish traps and rice winnowing trays are some items which are made of these materials, sometimes from a mixture of the two. Besides that, the Kelabit use other materials like grass, bark or other plant materials to make mats, brooms, sun hats, knife sheaths, and rain capes. Nylon cord and thread are sometimes used together with the other materials.
 

Social Problems
One of the acute social problems faced by the Kelabit in the highlands is the increasing and rapid migration of younger generation into the urban areas. This inevitable trend has left the old people to tend the rice fields. In order to overcome the shortage of labor to work in the rice fields, the Kelabit are getting laborers from their neighboring communities. Most of these laborers, however, are paid with remittances that flow from younger generation to old people in the highlands. In other words, the Kelabit diasporas support their families in the highlands and provide funds for up-keeping the farms.

Even though the isolation of the Kelabit Highlands did not deter many of them from obtaining further education in the urban areas, except with the airstrip, the Kelabit Highlands still is without proper communication and links with the outside world. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain information via television, radio, telephone or even newspapers in the highlands.

The rapid economic progress in Sarawak has benefited the Kelabit in many ways. However, the increasing demand for agricultural land development has put the Kelabit in a dilemma. They have to decide whether to give up their land for large-scale land development, or to maintain their traditional farming system. 
 

References
Amster, Mathew. 1998. Community, Ethnicity, and Modes of Association Among the Kelabit of Sarawak, East Malaysia. Ph.D Dissertation. Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University.
Bala, Poline. 1999. Permanent Boundary Lines in the Kelabit Highlands of Central borneo: A Colonial Legacy. M.A. Thesis. Faculty of Graduate Study, Cornell University.
Harrisson, Tom. 1954. “Outside Influence on the Upland Culture of Kelabits of North Central Borneo.” Sarawak Museum Journal 6:104-120.
Harrisson, Tom. 1959.World Within: A Borneo Story. Singapore: Oxford University Press.
 
Hobson, Sarah. 1982. Two Way Ticket. In association with Yorkshire Television and UNICEF. London: Macdonald & Co. and Publishers.
Janowski, Monica Hughes. 1991.“ The Making of Earthenware Cooking Pots in the Kelabit Highlands”, in Chin, Lucas and Valerie Mashman. Sarawak Cultural Legacy: A living tradition. Society Atelier Sarawak, P.O.Box 66, 93700 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Saging, Robert Lian and Lucy Bulan. 1989.”SKelabit Ethnography (A Brief Report)” Sarawak Museum Journal Vol.XI (No.6). Page 89-118.
Talla, Yahya.1979. The Kelabits of the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak. Provisional Research Report. No.9, Pulau Pinang, Social Anthrosection School of Comparative Social Sciences, University Sains Malaysia. 
 

GLOSSARY:
Ate – literally means “death”
Alai ma’un – the old alai
Bane – beads stringed for necklaces
Bao alai – a shiny yellow long oval venitian glass bead. While most are plain yellow (unpatterned), some are patterned, known as the alai barit, with rose buds and gold dust. Highly priced and top valued beads by the Kelabit.
Bao Bata’ Agan – blue glass beads with plain white inside of it.
Bao Bata’ Madi’ – tiny glass beads with slight green and blue shade over it.
Bao Rawir – literally means long beads. They come in length of 15 – 25 mm are composed of very fine, smooth opaque pale dusty orange-glass.
Burak – rice wine from fermented rice
Burak Ate/lua ate – a death feast, which was held at the secondary burial. Generous amount of burak pade or rice wine was prepared for the week – long feast.
Daun isip – huge leaves used as food wrappers.
Irau - feast where everybody in the community are invited
Irau Lua/Burak Lua - the old version of naming ceremony which was held to initiate and pronounce blessing upon a child. Burak or rice wine and some rites were very prominent at this feast.
Irau naru/mekaa ngadan – the current version of the burak lua ceremony in which many of the old rites and the drinking of burak are discarded. Most importantly, it is an act of thanksgiving to God for the children born to a couple. During the occasion the couple publicly announce the parenthood and grandparenthood names taken up by the new parents and grandparents. Close relatives or childless couples might also take up new names after consulting the family concerned

Nekit – a war cry normally done by men.
Ngebpar anak – also known as nganuk ceremony, which means to dress someone up. A new ebpar or loin cloth for a boy and tekip or sarong for a girl was tied around the child’s waist for the first time to signify that the child now has begun to live as an individual.
 
Ngelua anak – a rite slaughtering a pig or few pigs to examine the liver/livers in order to determine what it had to say about the fate and fortune of the child concerned and also to smear the child with the blood.
 
Ngutek ceremony – one of the rites performed at the burak lua. The child (boy) concerned was asked to spear a skull in the river so that the child would grow to be a successful hunter.
 
Nui Ulung – a ceremony at the burak lua where either a tree or the longest bamboo obtainable or both, were erected outside the longhouse as a monument to mark the occasion. It symbolised the raising of the child and his status in later life as well as to mark the prestige of the host family.
 
Nuwat anak – the act of pronouncing blessing upon a child. Items such as a small sharpening stone, a carving knife, an awl and a “deren” leaf were placed one after another onto the child’s palm, if the child was a boy, and a tiny hoe, a wooden ladle and the awl, if it was a girl. The child was exhorted to be good, brave, hardworking, well mannered and to follow the examples of the men and women who invoke the blessings.

Pun – short term for Tepun meaning grandfather/grandmother or grandparents of a child/children.
 
Sinabu – “mother of a boy”. Title used to address a woman if her first child is a boy.
 
Sinamu – “mother of a girl”. Title used to address a woman if her first child is a girl.
 
Tamabu – “father of a boy”. Title used to address a man if his first child is a boy.
 
Temamu – “father of a girl”. Title used to address a man if his first child is a girl.
 
Tepuabu – “grandfather/grandmother of”. Used to address a grandfather or grandmother if his/her first grandchild is a boy.
 
Tepuamu – “grandfather/grandmother of”. Used to address a grandfather or grandmother if his/her first grandchild is a girl.
 
Ulung – a tree or bamboo pole erected outside the longhouse at the burak lua ceremony.