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.

Bibliography

LeBar, Frank M. (1972). "Kenyah-Kayan-Kajang." In Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast Asia, edited by Frank M. LeBar. Vol. 1, Indonesia, Andaman Islands, and Madagascar, 168173. New Haven: HRAF Press.

Sagan, Jacob Dungau (1989). "The Kenyah People of Sarawak." Sarawak Museum Journal 40:119-141.

Uyo, Lah Jau (1989). "Kayan People of Sarawak." Sarawak Museum Journal 40:56-88.

DANIEL STROUTHES