Mengap, the song of the Dyak head feast
J. Perham, a missionary and ethnographer working in Sarawak, published this article in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1878, presenting a detailed account of the Mengap—the ceremonial song recited at the Sea Dyak head-feast (Gawe Pala or Gawe Burong). Perham’s overarching thesis is that the Mengap, though appearing to European ears as “a mere senseless rigmarole,” constitutes a coherent mythological narrative in which the recitation of the hero Kling’s feast functions as a ritual invocation of Singalang Burong, the war-spirit, who is believed to descend to the actual Dyak house where the feast is held (p. 123).
Summary
Perham situates the Mengap within a tripartite system of Sea Dyak ceremonial feasts: Gawe Batu or Gawe Benih (the Stone or Seed feast, connected with farming), Gawe Pala or Gawe Burong (the Head or Bird feast), and Gawe Antu (the Spirit feast for the dead) (p. 123). The Mengap itself is a fixed poetic register, distinguished from colloquial Dyak by its alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, and “most excessive verbosity,” and by its resistance to the linguistic change that affects everyday speech (p. 123). The narrative structure is indirect: rather than praying directly to Singalang Burong, the performer recounts how the mythical spirit-hero Kling held a head-feast and fetched Singalang Burong from his dwelling atop the hill “Sandong Tenyalang,” and the Dyak participants identify themselves with Kling so that the recitation operates as a genuine invocation (p. 124).
The narrative proceeds through a series of mythological episodes: the dispatch of the moth Kasulai and the swallow Laiang to fetch the Wind Spirit Antu Ribut, who in turn carries the message through “pintu langit” (the door of heaven) to Singalang Burong; the gathering of Singalang Burong’s feathered sons-in-law (the omen birds, which explain the feast’s alternate name Gawe Burong); and the central episode in which the bird Katupong’s wife Dara Inchin Temaga demands a “precious ornament” before she will attend the feast in the lower world (pp. 125–131). Perham identifies this ornament unambiguously as a human head—either putrefying flesh or a charred skull—thereby revealing the Mengap as a ritual text that naturalises and sanctifies head-taking, with women as its “prime movers” (p. 132).
The performance is a full-night affair, beginning at approximately 6 p.m. and concluding between 9 and 10 a.m., after which a pig is killed and its liver examined as the final act of the ceremony (p. 135). The closing rite, bedanjang, involves the performer touching each person in the house and pronouncing invocations, personating Singalang Burong and his bird-sons-in-law, who are believed to confer physical strength and bravery upon the men and luck, skill, and beauty upon the women (p. 134).
Key Findings
- The Mengap is a stationary poetic register distinct from colloquial Dyak, governed by alliteration, rhythm, and rhyme, and resistant to the ongoing development of spoken language (p. 123).
- Singalang Burong, described as “the Mars of Sea Dyak mythology,” is invoked indirectly through the narrative of Kling’s feast; the performer’s recitation is understood to cause the spirit to descend to the actual house where the feast is held (p. 124).
- The “precious ornament” demanded by Dara Inchin Temaga is explicitly identified by Perham as a human head, and the episode is read as a “distinct assertion” that women are the prime movers of head-taking in Dyak society (p. 132).
- The lullaby sung by Nising’s wife functions as a ritual curse on the head-takers’ enemies, with the child metaphorically representing the captured head carried about the house; the young Dyak listen to this section with “the greatest keenness and enjoyment” (p. 132).
- The bedanjang blessing ceremony involves the performer touching each individual and invoking specific gifts—strength and war-bravery for men, paddy-luck and beauty for women—mediated through the bird-spirits (p. 134).
- The full recitation lasts approximately sixteen hours (6 p.m. to 9–10 a.m.) and is performed while the singer walks up and down the long verandah past pandong erections bearing war-charms, swords, and spears (pp. 134–135).
Conclusion
Perham’s definitive historical takeaway is that the Mengap is not a meaningless incantation but a structured mythological narrative that performs a dual function: it ritually summons the war-spirit Singalang Burong to the feast-house, and it encodes a moral and cosmological justification for head-taking by embedding the human head within a sacred economy of gifts, curses, and blessings. The text thus serves as both a ritual technology and a cultural argument, naturalising violence through the authority of the divine and positioning women as its active agents (pp. 124, 132).
Context
- The article was read at a meeting of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society on 8 July 1878 and published in JSBRAS Vol. 2 (pp. 123–135); Perham was a Church Missionary Society missionary stationed in Sarawak, where his access to Sea Dyak communities in the Saribus and Balau dialect areas enabled his ethnographic work.
- The Mengap texts Perham records represent one of the earliest European transcriptions of Sea Dyak ceremonial poetry, preserving a fixed ritual register that, as he notes, remains “stationary” while the spoken language continues to evolve (p. 123).