“Tattoos for us, the Ibans, are not made for fun. Each design means something and each is placed in a specific body part to signal that person’s accomplishments in war or wealth expeditions. They tell a story of the man’s life, where he has been, what he has done. Mind you, we only record our successes, not our failures. For instance, a young man like you, who are considered independent and ready to leave your parents’ longhouse for the first time to make a life for yourself, will get a tattoo of Bunga Terung, the brinjal flower, here.” Saing touched Adam’s left forearm shoulder to indicate the spot. “Because that’s where you sling your travel bag. It is supposed to give you strength and luck when you go bejalai.”
(Excerpt from “When Lightning Strikes”)
(tattoos of ‘bunga terung’)
(various designs of ‘bunga terung’ – different tributaries have their own specific designs)
Note: for tattoo designs no. 1 to 9 above, the white design in the middle is derived from a pattern you can find on the belly of a tadpole. It represents the beginning of life — just like bejalai is the beginning of a young man’s independent life.
I have written a post about the Origin of Iban Tattoos earlier this year. You can find it here. When I contacted Jedrzej (the owner of the story) to ask his permission to use his story in my blog, he contributed another story about the origin of Iban tattoos from “The Basic Iban design” written by Augustine Anggat Ganjing.
The story goes as follows:
“One day two friends were walking in the forest, since they had not eaten meat for many days they decided to go for a hunt. They managed to track down a wild boar, but when it was struck by one of their spears it was not killed outright and managed to run away. The two friends followed the boar all day long, in the evening they finally found the boar lying under a tree. By this time however it was starting to get dark and they were too far to go back home. Suddenly they met two other men (these men were spirits but the two friends were not aware of this yet), who invited them to spend the night at their house. Since the night was coming in fast and they had not brought much food with them the two friends agreed to spend the night. The house of the two strangers was up in a tree, inside they found everything to be very beautifully decorated. The four men talked about many topics until late in the night. In the morning when the friends wanted to leave the spirits asked them to stay with them for longer since they still had so much to talk about. They were so genuine in their request that the friends agreed to stay for a while. Over the next days they discussed much and the spirits thought the two friends many things especially about decoration and design.
One day the spirits had an idea, since they had decorated everything in their house they would decorate their own bodies with paint. They decided to take turns, one of the spirits (Pheasant) was so impatient to get the tattoos that he went first. So the entire morning the other Spirit (Bubut) was working on the tattoos. Even while the tattoos were being made the pheasant realized how much better they make him look. When the work was done they took a break for lunch. During this break the Pheasant went to the river to look at his reflection, he was very pleased with the results of the work.
After lunch it was the second spirit’s turn to get tattooed. Having freshly eaten the Bubut soon fell asleep. The Pheasant meanwhile started his work, but he soon saw it was going to look even better than his own tattoos. He felt jealous, and instead of finishing the work he spilled the red and black ink all over the Bubut.
When the Bubut woke up and discovered what the Pheasant has done he become very angry, they argued very loudly then turned into birds and both flew away. Until today the Bubut is so angry with the Pheasant he is never seen in the primary forest where the Pheasant lives.
(Footnote: the two men were quite startled to see all this but they did learn how to imitate the tattooing of the two spirits and hence forth Ibans could decorate their bodies with tattoos.)”
(iban tattoos for men)
(the scorpion design – to protect the bearer from malevolent spirits)
(the crab designs – to function as a shield to protect the body of the bearer the way the hard shell of a crab protect its body. They are usually places on the shoulder blades and the arms of the bearer.)
(the number of the lines on the fingers represents the number of human heads taken by the bearer)
There are other tattoo designs for men while the women have a completely different set of tattoos designs to record their accomplishments (i.e. in weaving). They are not listed here because I haven’t found out what they are and what they are for.
Do share if you know them. Thank you.
The Return of Panggau Warriors 