Book on traditional Iban healing ritual now on sale at Tun Jugah Tower
KUCHING: A book that details traditional healing rites of the Ibans is now on sale.
The ‘ Sugi Sakit: Gerai Bai Pengerindu’ can be purchased at RM70 per copy from Tun Jugah Foundation on Level 4 of Tun Jugah Tower here.
The 370-page hard- cover book, authored by Jantan Umbat, is the Iban version of ‘A Borneo Healing Romance: Ritual Story Telling’ and ‘Sugi Sakit, A Saribas Iban Rite of Healing’ penned by Prof Clifford Sather. It tells about Iban traditional healing rites including the ‘Sugi Sakit’, which is meant to cure any ageing patient who shows little hope of surviving, after other means of treatment have gone in vain. The book also elaborates on how such ritual possesses ‘the power to heal’.
“It (ritual) is actually the last resort – one that seeks a divine intervention. In this book, the information has been deduced and extracted from priest-bards based on their commentaries and interviews, as well as (information from) individuals who were the audience of the ritual throughout the entire research, which began in 2003,” said Jantan.
The book also contains full texts of the healing chants by the priestbards – namely the late Renang Jabing who was the headman of Rumah Tarum, the late shaman Munan, and Bada Gudom of Rumah Dit.
Upon closer scrutiny, these chants portray implicit and invaluable information about the traditional healing practices of the Ibans – it outlines the sequence of events throughout the process, which culminates into the divination or ‘prognostication’ rite using a pig’s liver.
To purchase a copy, see Dorin Linang on Level 4 of Tun Jugah Tower. For more details, contact 082-239672 / 082- 412185 ( fax) or janet@ tunjugahfoundation.org. my / robert@ tunjugahfoundation. org.my (e-mail).