In the interior of Borneo, along the great rivers of Central Kalimantan, live the Ngaju Dayak. Some of them still follow the traditional religion called Kaharingan, whose most important and demanding rite is the tiwah: a second funeral, held even years after death, whose purpose is to accompany the soul of the deceased definitively into the world of the ancestors.
Who the Dayak are
"Dayak" is a collective name for many indigenous peoples of Borneo, differing in language, customs and history: Iban, Kenyah, Kayan, Ngaju and many others. Often associated in the European imagination with communal longhouses and headhunting, today they are communities living between tradition, Christianity, Islam and rapid transformations of their land.
The Ngaju live mainly along the Kahayan and Katingan rivers. Their traditional religion has long been studied by anthropologists for the richness of its cosmology.
Kaharingan: a recognised religion
In Indonesia the state recognises a limited number of official religions. To gain space and protection, followers of Kaharingan obtained during the twentieth century recognition of their faith as a form of Hinduism, under the name Hindu Kaharingan. This choice involved a process of organisation: a religious council, reference texts and shared places of worship.
At the centre of the cosmology stands Ranying Hatalla Langit, the supreme being, alongside a female figure associated with the underworld and the waters. The cosmos is divided into an upper world, a lower world and the middle world of humans, often represented by the image of a tree of life.
Two funerals, two stages
According to Kaharingan, at death the soul, called liau or liaw, does not immediately reach its final destination. It remains in an intermediate state, close to the living, until the tiwah is celebrated.
| Phase | What happens | State of the soul |
|---|---|---|
| first funeral | provisional burial of the body | suspended, close to the village |
| intermediate period | months or years of waiting and gathering resources | still bound to the living |
| tiwah | exhumation, purification, sacrifices, placing in the sandung | guided to the heavenly village |
The final destination is Lewu Tatau, a heavenly village described as a place of prosperity and beauty, where souls live in peace with the ancestors.
The tiwah rite
The tiwah is a collective ceremony: several families often join to celebrate it together, because the costs are high. It can last weeks and includes several phases.
- Exhumation of the bones of the dead, which are cleaned and handled with care.
- Building or restoring the sandung, a small wooden structure on posts, often decorated, in which the bones will be kept.
- Animal sacrifices: buffalo, cows, pigs and chickens. The buffalo are tied to the sapundu, wooden posts carved with human and animal figures.
- Ritual chants by the priests, called basir or balian, who in a sacred language guide the soul's journey, describing its stages up to Lewu Tatau.
- Placing the bones in the sandung and closing the rite, which also frees the living from mourning.
The tiwah thus has a double effect: for the deceased it marks final arrival in the world of the ancestors; for the family it lifts the prohibitions and obligations of mourning, allowing full return to social life.
A rite that strengthens the community
As with other second funerals of the Indonesian archipelago, the tiwah is also a great social event. It gathers relatives from distant villages, mobilises resources and creates and renews bonds. A family's prestige is also measured by its ability to honour its dead worthily.
In 1907 the French anthropologist Robert Hertz, studying precisely the funerals of Borneo on the basis of the available sources, put forward an idea that became classic: in many cultures death is not an instant but a process that requires time to be completed, both for the deceased and for those who remain.
In short
- The Ngaju Dayak of Central Kalimantan partly follow the Kaharingan religion, recognised in Indonesia as Hindu Kaharingan.
- The soul does not reach its final destination at once but remains suspended until the tiwah.
- The tiwah includes exhumation, sacrifices tied to sapundu posts, priests' chants and placing in the sandung.
- The soul's destination is Lewu Tatau, the heavenly village of the ancestors.
- The rite also ends the mourning of the living and strengthens the community.
