by Adventure Indonesia Team

long-ear dayak tribe

Indonesia which is the largest archipelago country in the world consist of thousands islands with hundreds of different tribes living in those islands that makes Indonesia very special and interesting. One of the five big islands in Indonesia that is to say Kalimantan or Borneo Island is well known for its Dayak tribe.

However, there are many Dayak tribes who live throughout the Kalimantan Island such as Ngaju Dayak, Ma’anyan Dayak, Meratus Dayak and Ot Danum Dayak. This primitive Dayak tribe has gorgeous traditional dances as well as music instrument, ethnic arts as well as unique customs. They mark their status with extremely heavy ear adornments that lengthen their ears and intricate body tattoo. The Dayak tribe makes their living by clearing the forest away. They used to burn felled trees in opening a new land to cultivate. In fact, this is only a part of their slash-and- burn system of cultivation.

Dayak tribe, especially Meratus Dayak, has their own unique way in preventing the forest from fire that is to say by creating a fire partition of which wide is 45 meters to stop the fire as well as ensuring that the fire did not spread. Food can also come from hunting animals of which have different methods with their own uniqueness, fishing and agriculture. Instead of hunting for their prey, Dayak tribe used to lure the prey to come to them with their unique hunting method and skills instead of hunt for them. They use lance or blowpipe to hunt the animals of which needle is smeared with a poisonous mixture with the ability to paralyze or kill the lured animals.

Each of Dayak tribe has their own uniqueness and characteristic as follow:

• Ngaju Dayak tribe: it is the most populous Dayak tribe who live around the Kapuas River. Ngaju Dayak is well known for its art work. They elaborate wooden coffins in cemetery.

• Ma’anyan Dayak: the Dayak tribe that is still keeping the practice of spiritual heart, agriculture ritual; the shaman calls for a healing in a complex mortality ceremony.  Ma’anyan Dayak considered the placement of a Dayak tribe cemetery in accordance to its social status. The noble is placed at the upstream of the River. The range continues down to soldier cemetery, ordinary people cemetery in the downstream and slave cemetery in the downstream.

• Ot Danum tribe: the Dayak tribe who live in the south range of Muller and Schwaner mountains. This Dayak tribe is well known for its long house where they live of which has 50 rooms in it. They also known for their skill in rattan, bamboo and palm leave plaiting.