The Enshrinement of the Dead Among the Iban.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
The Enshrinement of the Dead Among the Iban. |
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Author :
Motomitsu Uchibori |
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Abstract:
According to the standard eschatology commonly held by the Iban, the majority of the dead (or rather their disembodied souls), whether they died normaly or in somewhat abnormal ways, establish themselves finally in the Land of the Dead (Sebayan). Sebayan is a self-contained sphere, in which the ghosts lead their lives without, ideally, depending upon the economy of the living. Although communication between the dead and the living does not cease altogether by the establishment of the ghosts in that sphere, there is no longer formal occasion on which the living should make offerings to cater for the dead after the final festival (gawai antu) has been held for the ghosts. The living and the dead are thus ontologically, if not emotionally, separated from one another by the completion of the whole series of mortuary rituals. The most characteristic of the future life conceived by the Iban is its similarity to the life in this world. Indeed, Sebayan and the life there are a replica of this world, only modestly idealised. The Iban seem well content with this eschatology. For it explains the fact of death by substituting another life for death and palliates in this way the anxiety about personal extinction. In this report I would like to presentan evidently heterodox view of the fate of the dead which is connected with the special practice of enshrinement of the dead. This is not a practice found among all the Iban subgroups. To my knowledge, it is confined to rather limited groups of the Iban of the Second Division, that is, the Layar (Saribas), Skrang and Balau Iban (and possibly also the Lemanak), and their direct heirs in the present Sixth Division. It may be regardedas a local phenomenon peculiar to these Iban. However, the practice of enshrinement and the ideas underlying it are important, though exceptional, in understanding the eschatology of these Iban in its entirety and deserve special notice. They appear, at least in certain respects, to be an antithesis to the orthodox eschatology which the Iban assume to the majority of the dead.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Uchibori, M. (1984). The Enshrinement of the Dead Among the Iban. The Sarawak Museum Journal, XXXIII (54): 15-32 |
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References
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