Borneo/Tattoo

Borneo is one of the few places in the world where traditional tribal tattooing is still practiced today just as it has been for thousands of years. Until recently many of the inland tribes had little contact with the outside world. As a result, they have preserved many aspects of their traditional way of life, including tattooing.

Headhunting and tattooing were intimately connected in the magic, ritual and social life of many Dayak tribes. The hand tattoo was a symbol of status in life and also served an important function after death. It was supposed to illuminate the darkness as the soul wandered in search of the River of the Dead. The River was guarded by a spirit called Maligang. If the soul could show Maligang a tattooed hand, Maligang would allow it to cross the river on a log. If the soul was that of a warrior killed in battle, it enjoyed special privileges: it had a place reserved near Bawang Daha, the Lake of Blood, where it could grow rich without working and enjoy the companionship of the souls of women who had died in childbirth.

But if Maligang saw that the soul had no hand tattoo, he would roll and tip the log when the soul tried to cross the river, and the soul would fall into the water to be eaten by maggots. Some variation of this belief was found among most of the inland tribes, and it is interesting to note that similar ideas about the function of tattooing in the afterlife have also been recorded in many American Indian tribes.

. . . Kayan women are tattooed in complicated serial designs over the whole forearm, the backs of the hands, over the whole of the thighs to below the knees, and on the metatarsal surfaces of the feet. The tattooing of a Kayan girl is a serious operation, not only because of the serious amount of pain caused, but also on account of the elaborate ceremonial attached to this form of body ornamentation. The process is a long one, lasting sometimes as much as four years, since only a small piece can be done at a sitting and several long intervals elapse between the various stages of the work. A girl when about ten years old will probably have her fingers and the upper part of her feet tattooed, and about a year later her forearms should have been completed, the thighs are partially tattooed during the next year, and in the third of fourth year from the commencement the whole operation should have been accomplished.

. . . [Long Glat women] believe that after death the completely tattooed women will be allowed to bathe in the mythical river Telang Julan, and that consequently they will be able to pick up the pearls that are found in its bed; incompletely tattooed women can only stand on the river banks, whilst the untattooed will not be allowed to approach its shores at all. This belief appears to be universal amongst the Kenyah-Klemantan of the Upper Mahakam and Batang Kayan. From Tattoo History Source Book: Borneo

  Songs referenced: 

Cloud on My Tongue