‘Miring antu pala’ ritual for museum skulls prior to renovation move
KUCHING: The longhouse in the Sarawak Museum Ethnology Department may be a replica, but the cluster of blackened skulls hanging over a replica hearth inside is the real deal.
Collected from various sources since the Brooke era, the origins of the 23 skulls are unknown but all have found a home together in the museum’s longhouse gallery.
These skulls are about to be moved into storage to make way for renovation on the 126-year old museum, with staff from the Council for Native Customs and Tradition (Majlis Adat Istiadat Sarawak) making sure the proper steps are carried out.
Led by chief ‘Lemambang’ or priest Lanting Itar, the team divided food offering such as rice, fish and eggs into three winnowing baskets known as ‘chapan’.
There are taboos attached to the chapan, such as never eating anything offered on it or not facing one when eating.
Thomas Lakar, one of Lanting’s assistants, provided some insight of the process to a rapt audience of museum staff, invited guests and members of the media.
“When a warrior comes back with a head, he will be met by his wife if he is married, or his lover or mother, if he is not. The head is received in a ‘pua kumbu’ and there will be a ceremony to welcome it to the longhouse. The head has to be placed in the chapan.”
He added that in an ordinary ‘miring’, they would use a plate but the ‘miring antu pala’ is “an exceptional miring for exceptional people”.
“The skulls did not belong to ordinary people, but the one who killed them was more powerful. We still believe this until now although we are Christians. They still exist and watch over us,” said Thomas, adding that when it comes to war and fighting, someone had to die.
When asked if he knew where the skulls were from, he said there were a few sources but declined to name any. He did provide some anecdotes about living in a longhouse where the identities of the heads were known.
“During the old days, we would sit around the fire and my grandfather would tell stories about how we got the skulls. At the time, we could still name who the head belonged to. Now we don’t do that anymore because it’s too sensitive.
“Just because there are heads hanging around doesn’t mean they don’t occasionally have a life of their own. Late one night, I came back to the longhouse to see one of the skulls smoking, with something like a cigarette in his mouth.”
Occasionally, some of the skulls ‘slip’ out of their rattan holder and fall on the floor, added Thomas.
“It doesn’t break when it hits the floor, and you have to put it back up, after sacrificing a chicken and holding a ceremony.”
The three chapan baskets will remain in the longhouse gallery with the heads for three days before any removal can take place.
“If you don’t appease them, they will disturb you.”
Once the food was prepared, Lanting wrapped a red cloth around his headgear and was handed a white cockerel. He spent the next 15-to-20 minutes in recital while the fowl on his knee periodically tried to peck a grain of rice and, once or twice, tried to escape.
A chicken and a piglet were also slaughtered as part of the ceremony.
Assisting Lanting was Lemambang-in-training Wilson Inden, who later told reporters that this particular ceremony called for their most experienced priest due to the large number of heads and their age.
According to Sarawak Museum Department director Ipoi Datan, they expect renovations to take about two years, and the skulls might find themselves in a new location by the end of 2019 or early 2020.
“We will move them after three days according to custom. We need to observe these three days of not touching them, and then they will go into storage.”