Tabu customs of the warpath amongst the Sea Dayaks of Sarawak
This short note by John Hewitt documents tabu customs observed by Sea Dayak women in the Batang Lupar district of Sarawak while their husbands were on a punitive warpath, recorded in 1909 (p. 117).
Summary
Hewitt reports that when the Government of Sarawak arranged a punitive expedition against a border tribe, the able-bodied men of the Batang Lupar district—particularly from the village of Banting—were called out to serve. While their husbands were away, the Dayak women observed a series of trivial ceremonies and omitted certain daily routines, performed for the benefit of their husbands in accordance with principles of sympathetic magic. The author credits Miss Hall of the Banting Mission House with providing the list of tabus (p. 117).
The text includes a fragment of a prayer or incantation in the local language, translated as a plea for the absent men to dodge obstacles, petrify the enemy, and keep off hostile hands (p. 118). A section headed “The men” indicates that restrictions also applied to those on the warpath, though the full list is not reproduced in the available text. Hewitt closes by observing that while he cannot confirm universal compliance among the men, the women of Banting and neighbouring villages certainly followed the restrictions, and he compares these magical superstitions to those of medieval Europe (p. 119).