Kalimantan
is rich in natural resources - the name means "River of Diamonds". The casual
visitor may find other kinds of riches; at the Erau Festival, it is possible to witness a
head hunting ceremony.
THE ERAU FESTIVAL OF TENGGARONG
A Blending of Cultures
by Kal Muller
The Dayaks dancing with their
swords, spears and an orangutan skull were atough bunch from a long way up the Mahakam
River. They certainly did not look like they had put on leopard skins, head-dresses with
colourfully intricate beadworks, huge earrings and a plethora of accountrements for the
benefit of gawking tourists. In fact, aside from myself, there were only a couple of
foreigners around, wives of French oil workers from the nearby city of Balikpapan. Local
Indonesians with video cameras, as well as a national television crew, were busy filming
the proceedings, knowing that they were on to a good thing. The Dayaks were about as
"authentic" as I had ever seen and - best of all - they were putting on their
show in the district capital of Tenggarong, a town of some 50,000 with small hotels and
localstyle restaurants. And Tenggarong is easily accessible by paved road from Balikpapan;
one of Indonesia's biggest oil centres.
The dragon is taken out to sea and thrown overboard. Below: A Dayak matron
with earlobes weighed down by heavy earrings, and handmade beaded headdress. |
The Erau festival was
another example of how much there is to the country outside the overtrodden tourist
tracks. Most visitors think of Indonesia only in terms of Bali with -perhaps - Yogyakarta
and Borobudur. But as communications and facilities throughout the archipelago have
improved tremendously, huge chunks of territory are becoming easily accessible to anyone
wishing to see the unusual in this land of never ending wonders, contrasts and traditions.
TheDayak ceremonies - and much, much
more - are part of the annual festival celebrating the foundation of Tenggarong, the
capital of a former sultanate on the bank of the Mahakam River. Here, as elsewhere in
Kalimantan (the Indonesian three quarters of the huge island of Borneo), the earlier Dayak
inhabitants were pushed inland by later Malay speaking migrants. It is unclear what was
involved in this gradual "push", but large segments of the Dayak groups allied
with coastal leaders, giving them allegiance as well as tribute. It is partially thanks to
the residual respect some Dayaks still show to the royal family at Tenggarong that the
Erau festival displays
such a visually exciting combination of tribal rituals, along with coastal Muslim
ceremonies and dances.
To clear up a confusing point: the
ethnic designation "Dayak" is no more or less precise than the word
"Indian" as applied to the Americas. Although all Dayaks share some basic
traits, their differences are numerous mutually unintelligible languages, different social
divisions and lifestyles as well as physical variations. All this underlines the fact that
the inland peoples of Kalimantan cannot be lumped together into a homogeneous group.
Specialists tear out their hair in despair when they hear laymen speak of Dayaks. While
many of us know the difference between, say the Mayas and the Apache, few have heard of
the distinguishing characteristics of the Iban and the Kenyah, lumped together into Dayak
category. But as several groups participate in the Tenggarong festival, for the sake of
simplicity we will not distinguish between them, with apologies to the specialist.
TENGGARONG
Tenggarong, the former capital of the Kutai sultanate, is now the seat of
the kabupaten (district) Kutai, a short dis-tance up the Mahakam River from Samarinda, the
capital of East Kalimantan province.
On September 28, 1782, the sultan of Kutai moved his court from a downriver location to
avoid conflict with Bugis immigrants from South Sulawesi who had settled there in large
numbers. The celebrations for the foundations of the city, which used to be a yearly
event, now occasionally take place at the government's discretion. As the district
treasury foots the bill, the decision as to whether to hold the festival is based on
budgetary considerations.
A series of speeches kicked off the events, the governor delivering the keynote address.
There followed a huge parade, including marching bands, majorettes and some muscular
Dayaks, bemused with the show as they were being mobbed by amateur and professional
wielders of cameras and video recorders.
For the next few days, after the
VIPs had gone home, the festivities settled down to a routine. Each day, there were
traditional sports of several varieties. One of these, a team event, consisted of whipping
heavy wooden tops, trying to knock down the opponent's while the thrower's top keeps
whirling. Government officials and Dayaks in traditional dress joined this game, all
joyfully shouting like rowdy boys. Another game consisted of a combination of soccer and
volley ball, played with a hollow rattan ball. There were several blowpipe competitions,
and one series of boat races, powered by teams of 25 paddlers. Races were also held for
canoes with small motors.
Each day there were Dayak dances and
rituals. These were performed in full traditional costumes, with personal decorations of
leopard claws and teeth along with all kinds of feathers and beads. The participants
looked splendid indeed. Aside from dances in full regalia, the rituals included two
spectacular recreations of traditional events.
A buffalo reedy for sacrifice tied to the ancestral
totem-like pole |
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First on the agenda was the
erection of a carved ancestral totem - like pole, combined with the slaughter of a large
water buffalo after prayers and a frenzy of dancing. The next feature was the ceremony
representing the completion of a successful "head hunting" raid, with a
substitute orangutan skull. This ritual was performed by the Dayaks who had travelled the
furthest to Tenggarong, from a village over ten days away. Along with the Dayak events,
the Islamized Kutai people put on a series of shows in their traditional outfits,
resplendent embroidered silk clothes. The performances included many dances, spread over
several days. In the best dance, the last sultan's brother and eldest son joined in
stately steps with govern-ment officials, all in the Kutai-style brilliant silk outfits
and accompanied by a gamelan orchestra.
The last and culminating day was
begun with prayers at the grave of Sultan Haji Imbut, the founder of Tenggarong. Later in
the day, the stars were two long "dragons", some eight metres long each,
fashioned out of rattan frames and dressed in colourful cloth. They were taken abroad a
boat to the centre of the Mahakam River with a committee of men in full Kutai traditional
attire. After due ceremony, the dragons were lowered into the water and two young men
jumped in to chop off the dragons' heads which were saved for the next ritual of this
type. The bodies of the dragons were allowed to float off downstream towards the sea.
The severing of the heads was the
signal for a free-for-all water fight to begin. Boats with power pumps and nozzles soaked
the crowd along the river bank, but the people were already doing a good job of plastering
each other with tossed bucketfuls and plastic bags filled with water. Some of the boats
fought each other with jets of water sweeping the decks. Photographers be warned: carrying
cameras by no means guarantees staying dry.
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