Iban Agricultural Augury.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
Iban Agricultural Augury. |
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Author :
Clifford Sather |
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Abstract:
In Iban cosmological thoughta great many living things, most notably birds, animals, and insects,are believed to have connection with the spiritual world. For this reason they are frequently interpreted as omens and their behavior is carefully observed for signs of warning,or indications of spiritual favor. Augury refers to divination by means of omens. Omens represent for the Iban the principal means by which the gods and spirits make known their will to man through indications revealed in nature. Augury allows man to read and correctly respond to these indications, and so, together with adat and ritual, makes possible, the Iban believe, mutually favorable relations between mankind and the inhabitants of the natural and spiritual worlds (cf. Jensen 1974: 126—27). In consequence augury constitutes a major focus of Iban religion and its practice permeates virtually every facet of Iban life. The present paper is concerned with Iban agricultural augury. Rice farming is the most sustained of all Iban undertakings (cf. Sather 1977: 67) and a major share of Iban augury is directly involved with the cultivation of rice. While the general features of Iban augury are well known (cf. Freeman 1960; Jensen 1974: 125 —140; Richards 1972; Sandin 1980: 93ff; Sather 1980a: xxxiff), the details of its practice are still inadequately described in relation to specific undertakings. Of these, rice farming is by far the most important. Particularly inadequate is our understanding of the ritual side of augury. For this reason the present paper focuses primarily on augural ritual and deals in particular with a specific augural rite known as pudas (v.f., mudas). The chief purpose of pudas is to insure the propititious outcome of a type of omens called burong laba. These include the most potent of all farming omens, and pudas itself represents for the Iban the most significant form of propitiatory ritual observed in connection with agricultural augury. My main purpose here is to explore the beliefs and practicalconcerns that underlie the performance of pudas and to relate these to more general features of Iban religion and agricultural practice.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Sather, C. (1985). Iban Agricultural Augury. The Sarawak Museum Journal, XXXIV (55): 1-38 |
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References
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