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Tiwah (Ceremony of theDead)
Tiwah is a ceremony which is held by those who still adhere to the indigenous faithof the Dayaks called Kaharingan which means "That Which Sustains".This ceremony is carried out when the Dayaks remove the bones of their dead relativesfrom graves and put the bones in a special place called “sandung”. Sandung is a humanstatue, either man or woman, made of iron wood, erected on both left and right side of Sandung. “Burung Piak Liau” on the top of Sandung symbolizes completeness of life inHeaven as well as an indicanon that Tiwah had been held to the Soul concerned.”KAMBE RABIT” carving symbolizes that the death of man is cause by disease and evilspirit.Yellow flag in front of Sandung is a symbol of Greatness of Supreme God.Sandung is a place to keep the bones through a ceremony called Nyakean, that is aninherent part of the Tiwah.The ceremony normally takes at least 25 days, and it can be found only in CentralKalimantan.Sandung is usually made of iron wood with typical Dayaks carvings on it'swalls and pilars.During the tiwah ceremony people sing and dance with the remains of the deadduring the night. All the people participate, men and women, old and young. Theceremony reaches its most dramatic stop during the slaughter of a buffalo as a sacrifice. If only one buffalo is killed, it is done a day before the cremation. If there are several, thekilling maybe done either at once, or a day before cremation or one or a few at a time,until cremation takes places. The buffalo is killed with spears, by several people, takingturns. The animal is tied to the animals pala, called sapundu and cannot escape, while it'sexecutioners aim their spears at its head and body. The person who has the obligation tothrow the first spear is the brother of the deceased. If he is indisposed, he can be
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