Residents of kalimantan island: Iban.

Photography/Written by Mark Lane/Wang Heng

Kalimantan island (also called Borneo Island) belongs to Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Malay: Borneo, Indonesian: Kalimantan) is the third largest island in the world and the largest island in Asia. This island surrounded by the sea has abundant rainfall and jungles everywhere. The island covers an area of 736,000 square kilometers, and many unique species, such as Malay hornbill, Borneo orangutan and Kalimantan elephant, inhabit and breed here. Strange and rare Malaysian flowers (or King Flowers and Raffles Flowers) also thrive in the jungle.

There is a large area of virgin forest in central kalimantan island, which is called "dark forest" by some people, just because there is a daunting local ethnic group-Dayak (also known as Dayak). The Daya nationality has a population of about 2 million to 4 million, which is widely distributed. They can be found in Sarawak, Malaysia, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and West Kalimantan in Indonesia, and the exact number is difficult to count.

Daya people speak Daya language, belonging to the Malay-Polynesian language family of Austronesian language family. In the historical narrative handed down from generation to generation, their ethnic groups once lived in the coastal areas of kalimantan island and along the Sungai Kapuas, the longest river on the island. Later, due to the immigration of foreign immigrants, the Daya people gradually moved inland, mainly living in the upper reaches of various rivers, so they later got the name of "Olandayake", meaning "the man in the upper reaches". They are scary because this nation has the custom of headhunters eating people in ancient times. In the past, wars between tribes continued. As a popular custom between kalimantan island and Southeast Asian islands, the hunter's head was a demonstration of bravery and success by indigenous peoples. However, as time goes on, this custom has disappeared a lot.

The Daya people use many Austronesian languages, including many languages similar to the official Malagasy language in Africa. There are seven ethnic groups in the tribe, and some ethnic groups also have different languages. Clan is an important social structure of Daya people. Daya people of the same clan will live in a big and long building they call a "longhouse", and Indonesians call it "balai" or "batang". In addition to daily life, longhouse will also have some celebrations or religious ceremonies involving the death of freshmen, which is of great significance to their lives.

Dayak Yiban is one of the seven branches of the Daya nationality with a population of more than 800,000. In Malaysia, most Iban people live in Sarawak (Malay: Sarawak, Malaysia is one of the two administrative regions of Borneo, and the other is Sabah), a few people live in Sabah, and a few people migrate to Malaysia Peninsula.

Iban people, like many aborigines, did not record historical materials in writing at first, but they were all passed down by word of mouth. According to some current studies, their ancestors first lived on the southwest coast of Borneo, and then gradually moved to the source of rivers. /kloc-In the middle of the 6th century, they arrived in the south of Sarawak and settled down. Although there is no written language, rich oral literature is a great wealth of the Iban people. Their language also belongs to the Malay-Polynesian family of Austronesian languages, which is closely related to Malay, especially Malay in Sarawak. However, in terms of language inheritance, it is very difficult to inherit the Iban language because the government does not pay attention to it.

Like other branches of the Dayan people, the Iban people have their own longhouses. These long houses are moved about once every 10 years to get more land in the jungle. Today, most Iban people still live in long houses called Rumah Panjai. This is equivalent to a small autonomous unit. Two or three generations of a family live in the same house, but each small family is independent. In the same river basin or the same area, long houses close to each other usually form a so-called regional alliance through marriage or alliance.

From the beginning, the Iban ethnic group established a racial system. A few gatherers and nomadic hunters were either expelled or eradicated, but some of them were accepted by the ethnic group in a peaceful way. In the process of continuous expansion, violent conflicts with other tribes are common. For example, they once occupied the territory of Bidayuh (one of the main indigenous groups in Sarawak and West Kalimantan), and because of the dominance of rivers, they constantly clashed with the Kaye people in the north. Since18th century, some Iban longhouse communities began to give up their semi-nomadic lifestyle. They stopped unnecessary migration and chose to stay in the core area of the ethnic group, where there is enough land to use. Others, who are still expanding outward, have begun to make even greater moves: attacking China merchant ships, attacking Malaysian coastal residents, and even some remote Iban settlements, plundering like pirates. /kloc-in the middle of the 0/9th century, they also fought against European colonists on a large scale.

Iban people used to be headhunters, which is a custom of killing people, cutting off their heads and collecting them. The ibans are good at fighting. In order to compete for more land and resources, they launched the hunter's head activity in the nearby river basin. This way of making men gain prestige and show bravery was very popular at that time. At weddings and funerals of tribal leaders and some senior figures, heads are also used as ritual sacrifices. However, the hunting of women, children and corpses is not included. This custom was gradually abandoned after the arrival of European colonists.

1839, the British explorer James Brooke landed on the coast of kalimantan island for the first time. He helped Sultans Of Brunei suppress the rebellion of Sarawak aborigines and persuaded Sudan to appoint him as a local governor, thus establishing his position. James also had people lobby the British government in London to recognize Sarawak's status, so as to arouse investors' interest and further consolidate his position. Although the piracy in Iban and the wars between other tribes didn't have much influence on Sudan at that time, James thought it was a potential big trouble and threatened foreign merchant ships. He began to ban many actions of the Iban people, especially headhunters. He punished the Iban people who violated the ban and set an example for them. But because Sarawak is not a colony of the British royal family, many people regard it as James' private adventure, so he has no support from any British soldiers and fleet.

During the British colonial period, the Iban people were called "Haida Jacks" or "Haida Jacks".

Iban people attach great importance to the family, and every time the newborn in the family will become the focus of attention within the family, various traditional ceremonies to welcome the new life are essential. They have their own standards for the relationship between family members. For example, the names given to newborns must be related to their grandparents. They think it will enable the younger generation to connect with their ancestors, which is a blessing.

In Iban society, men and women are free to fall in love, but considering that marriage can make two families form an alliance, the elderly tend to dominate the marriage of young people. After marriage, the Iban people still live in a long house, perhaps the man's house or the woman's house. Surprisingly, their attitude towards divorce is not conservative. As long as both husband and wife agree, divorce is not uncommon here.

On weekdays, men are responsible for hunting and chopping wood, while women are responsible for cooking at home, collecting fruits and vegetables, and managing the daily affairs of the long house. In the tradition of Iban people, boys should learn how to go out and stand on their own feet when they are teenagers, which they call "starting the initial life course". These teenagers have to face all kinds of unexpected situations and learn how to solve them. Of course, if they can bring back the trophy, their elders will be more proud of them. Girls, on the other hand, prove their growth by learning to knit. Weaving is one of the traditional skills of tribal women. The cloth they weave is called "Pua Kumbu", which has obvious tropical style, rich colors and exquisite stitches. These fabrics are practical and beautiful, and the traditional clothes made are quite amorous.

However, nowadays, in the face of the powerful impact of modernization, the craftsmanship here is gradually declining. Most young people go out to look for jobs and only go back to their hometown during holidays. The inheritance of Iban people's traditional skills is not optimistic.

The Iban people have many ceremonies related to farming, which are full of their piety and belief in the gods. Rice and glutinous rice are the main food crops of Yiban people. In addition to being a daily staple food, it will also be made into cakes or rice wine. They fermented homemade yeast and glutinous rice together to make a traditional alcoholic beverage "tuak", and after distillation and other processes, they could make another kind of wine "langkau" with higher alcohol concentration. Iban people think these wines are very beneficial to their health. Besides toasting at the banquet, it is no problem to quench your thirst in summer or as a welcome drink.

Due to the lack of refrigeration equipment in the tribe, they often use drying and pickling methods when preserving meat products. Cut fish and meat into small pieces, add some salt, and store them in pottery or glass jars, usually for several months. Or put the meat on a flat cooker and bake it until it is dry, or take it out for a while and cook it when you eat it.

Canadian Marc Ryan (hereinafter referred to as Mark) is a photographer who has a keen interest in traditional culture and customs. All people and events full of historical sense can make him think about it. Many years ago, Mark was interested in the indigenous tribes living in kalimantan island. Before that, he had filmed a personal project in Bayao, Sabah, Malaysia, but he still expected to shoot more indigenous people, especially the Iban people. In Mark's view, it is what he wants to continue to do now and even in the future to let more people know about these people who are isolated from the world and far from modern civilization.

2065438+In February 2008, Mark came to West kalimantan island and embarked on a shooting journey. Because he is going to several places, he plans to stay for at least two weeks. Considering that he is not familiar with the situation there, he found a local mechanic as an assistant to help him arrange some travel matters, such as air ticket reservation, car rental and chartering. He is given full responsibility by the local people, and he can also act as a guide and translator.

This time, besides taking some documentary photos as usual, Mark wanted to try something else. For example, he wants to take a portrait of the Iban people with solid curtains as the background. He believes that this way can make the characteristics of this ethnic group more prominent and fuller. Not only let the outside world know all aspects of their lives, but also have a more intuitive feeling about the looks and uniqueness of each of them.

To this end, in addition to photographic equipment, Mark also prepared a Bailey box, which is specially used to place props such as background cloth and lighting lamps needed for shooting. And his personal belongings are very few, because just carrying these equipment is enough for him to cope.

However, the enthusiastic Iban people reduced Mark's travel fatigue a lot. To his surprise, unlike ordinary indigenous tribes, the Iban people are particularly cheerful, and they are even more excited when they hear Mark coming to shoot. Iban people are particularly proud of their history and culture, and they talk about Kan Kan enthusiastically. They are almost not afraid of the camera, and communication is much smoother than expected. For two weeks, Mark has been living and eating with the local people. Although there are many differences in living habits, Mark still tries to integrate himself and try to experience those differences.

Like many other indigenous peoples, the Iban people and their ancestors have been believing in animism for hundreds of years, the so-called animism. In this oldest known belief system, believers firmly believe that everything in the world has a soul and has the ability to think. However, after James Brooke set foot on this land, under the influence of European missionaries, many Iban people converted to Christianity, but at the same time, these people insisted on the old traditional customs of Iban people and tried to find a balance between them.

Mark saw a large area of tattoos on many Iban people. Obviously, like other island peoples, the Iban people have a tattoo tradition. Tribal tattooists make black dye with water and carbon, and then use sharp bone fragments with the help of sticks and knives to operate. Their tattoo patterns are quite rich, including animals, flowers and plants, and some abstract patterns with different styles. It is said that in tribes, only men can get tattoos. There is another saying about the location of tattoos: tattoos on the neck symbolize courage, and tattoos on the shoulders symbolize men's bar mitzvah. Before the habit of hunter's head was abandoned, it was said that every hunter would stab a finger bone to the black, and the back of his hand would be stabbed to the black for the first time.

Like the locals, Mark lives in a long house. He learned that in the past, the traditional longhouse was made of bark as the wall and palm leaves or shingles as the roof. But now, with the development of the times, the Iban people began to build long houses with bricks, concrete or cement. The furnishings in the house are also very different from before. Television, refrigerator and other household appliances are not uncommon, and modern necessities such as running water, power supply and Internet are also readily available. At present, the Malaysian government has also built a long house for foreign tourists to experience sightseeing. Although it is newly built, various elements remain. Visitors can learn about this nation by enjoying headhunting dances and tasting homemade rice wine. In this regard, the Iban people do not reject it.

Two weeks later, Mark found it not difficult to make friends with the Iban people. Different from grandstanding headhunters, they are extroverted and friendly, always proud of the land they have been living on and the cultural customs passed down from generation to generation, and their acceptance of novelty is also surprising. As a foreign tourist, Mark has also learned to treat everything he is unfamiliar with with with humility, but he is willing to try his best to understand it. Maybe this is what he learned from this country.

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This article is taken from Civilization 20 18.5438+02.