Hundreds of the Kenyah Dayak tribes gathered and seasoned at the custom balai in Long Nawang Village, Malinau, East Kalimantan, which is only about 50 kilometers from the border of Serawak, Malaysia. They gather to talk about the customs of istiadat and the culture of Dayak Kenyah, including war dance which is the heritage of the ancestor.
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In front of the custom balai, sounds typical music lantuns sibling the dancers? who is devoted to women. The dance as a speech for the knights who come home from the battlefield. When the bass and gendang music (sampec) is increasingly tightened, the knights are tightened and begin to dance. The knight dances complete war dances with war garments, such as the decoration of the goat fur vest (bunung), shield (fat), pants made of leather (abet), head decoration (bluco), swords, and bracelets in the armband (sileng).
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The knights dance around the other knights who are incorporating the rulings of the war and the lesser will retreat to another knight. The history of war is an overview of how to play the ancestors.? The dance was carried out once a year by collecting all indigenous visitors from all Kaltim, ranging from Kayan Hulu district, Kayan Hilir, South Kayan, and Boh River. It was done to maintain cultural sustainability and maintaining the unity of Dayak tribes Kenyah, especially the unity of Indonesia.
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The Kenyah Dayak tribe in the area is the leading subsidiaries in maintaining the State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), they are a direct bordering front page with Malaysia. Perhaps the dance of the war is only the tradition and culture of the ancestors, but it indicates that they are always ready to maintain NKRI even 90 percent of their staple food ingredients are supplied from Malaysia.
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photo & text : Yusran Uccang
