Kenyah-Kayan-Kajang

ETHNONYM: Bahau

Kinship

Kinship terminology is bilateral, reflects generation, and has an Eskimo-type cousin terminology. Descent is bilineal or ambilineal. Villages tend to be made up of people related consanguineally and affinally. Among the Kayans, each village ( urna ) has its own aristocratic genealogy.

Religion and Expressive Culture

A central feature of the life of these peoples was the mamat, or head feast, which is now rare owing to Christian influence. The mamat required a new head; its purposes included ritual purification, marking the end of a period of mourning for a deceased kinsman, or the ritual completion of a new longhouse.

DANIEL STROUTHES