People have been judging a person based on their looks. If you have tattoos on your body, okay gangster lah you. Well to some Borneans, not all but some, we painted our body, wanted to keep the tradition. I'll just expose the reason of these tattoos are painted on our body. The nature is the main focus on our tattoos. When designing this tattoo, leaves, fruits, animals, trees and branches are our focus. For the Iban, the first tattoo we should receive is the Bungai Terung, which means eggplant. This is a tradition that have been done by our ancestors, means "Bejalai" (Walking). It is a journey of an individual for the sake of wisdom and knowledge out from the long house. It is to show that an individual is prepared to carry their own responsibility, a path of a person to an adulthood.
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Generation to generation
Source: Google |
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Bungai Terung
Source: Google
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Well, there's tattoos on the neck, arms, legs and hands as well and it means something else too, it doesnt always mean a journey of a person, physically. But also represents their big life event for example being a father. Some of the tattoo like Entegulun, on the hands, marks that you have taken someone's head, and only can be done if you have taken heads. For protection, tattoo will be on the neck. The Iban calls it Pantang Rekong. We believe that it will give strength to the skin, stop the enemy from cutting our heads off. Both male and female who have this tattoo on their throat means that they have high status. High status as in highly accomplished in a field of their life, for example, a warrior has taken many heads, a great shaman or tuai rumah (chief of the longhouse) or even a great carver or artist.
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Pantang Rekong, Bungai Terong and tribals on the arm
Source: Google |
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Entegulun
Source: Google |
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