Conclusion

Mount Murut in a distant


It was sure lot of fun during the MPU week. We get to study  different cultures currently in our beloved country,Malaysia. Performing the Lun Bawang  dance during the Presentation Day was nerve wracking for our group as we only have limited time to prepare for it. Through all the midst of hardship, we succeded in bring out an unforgettable performance for our audience. We realised that each cultural arts and traditions should be preserved and they were not as boring as we thought it would be. Malaysia truly is a multiracial country   because different cultural backgrounds were  showcased by different group during the MPU Week. We are proud to be Malaysian and forever will be a Malaysian.

Performance!!!

                                     





Our Lun Bawang's dance performance. It was hell lot of fun performing the dance on that day. 

The Importance of Preserving the Culture and Arts of Lun Bawang ethics

All of us love meaningful and beautiful things. We tend to protect things that are valuable and worth sacrificing. This concept also applies to our love towards the culture of the Lun Bawangs. It is necessary to preserve and protect their amazing and beautiful culture. There's pride as a Malaysian because Lun Bawang bring more colours to our country's racial diversity. Life would just be so boring without such things. These different elements are what promote and drive diversity, which in turn promote all sorts of innovation. If everyone ate the same type of foods, didn't celebrate holidays, wore the same type of clothes, lived in the same kind of cities all across the world, the world would be a pretty boring place. To take away those traditions and culture is to mute a part of their world. Aristotle tells us that happiness is not only something that we receive, but it is also something we achieve, that is why preserving their culture can be our greatest achievement in life. Without these spices to life, life would be pretty dull

Arts

Unique Tree Bark Arts


Other than the beads, the Lun Bawang are also very well-known with their innovative handcrafts that were made from the ‘talun’ tree bark such as the vest, cowboy hat, purse and other products.

Below  are the Talun Tree Bark handicrafts by Tree bark artist,Mr Bell Suut where more pictures of his art can be found on this blog, http://blogtau.com/lun-bawang-unique-tree-bark-artist/

Traditional Song (Arts)

A Lun Bawang man playing his sape during the Lun Bawang Festival

The sapeh (sampet, sampeh, sape) is a traditional lute of many of the Orang Ulu or "upriver people", who live in the longhouses that line the rivers of Central Borneo. Sapes are carved from a single bole of wood, with many modern instruments reaching over a metre in length.

Initially the sape was a fairly limited instrument with two strings and only three frets. Its use was restricted to a form of ritualistic music to induce trance. In the last century, the sape gradually became a social instrument to accompany dances or as a form of entertainment. Today, three, four or five-string instruments are used, with a range of more than three octaves.

Technically, the sape is a relatively simple instrument, with one string carrying the melody and the accompanying strings as rhythmic drones. In practice, the music is quite complex, with many ornamentations and thematic variations. There are two common modes, one for the men's longhouse dance and the other for the woman's longhouse dance. There also is a third rarely used mode. Sape music is usually inspired by dreams and there are over 35 traditional pieces with many variations. The overall repertoire is slowly increasing.

Sapes are still being made in Borneo, and modern innovations like electric sapes are common.

Taboos

1. It's believed to be a bad omen to name a newborn baby.   

      -Babies will not be named after a deceased family member.

2.Whenever the Lun Bawang of the old days want to build a longhouse, a clearing must be made first. The bird has to be called first.Then when the clearing had been done, a group of people, especially the women and children were asked to bang all kinds of sound producing objects- to drown the cries or call of certain animals like barking deer or chase away animals so that these animals does not bring bad omen to the people. Suppose they heard a sound from a barking deer during the process of building, they have to stop work and find a new site elsewhere
3.For instance, before they clear a jungle, they have to call that bird.If it appeared and fly from the right direction, it means they can proceed.If not, they either wait or cancel it and start the whole process elsewhere. If they were given the green light, but in the process of clearing, a snake was killed, they have to stop.Even if they managed to clear the jungle, and burned it, but after burning, found a carcass of a snake- the have to abandon the their project and start somewhere else

Festival

Festival and Celebration

Lun Bawang people celebrates Irau Aco Lun Bawang (Lun Bawang festival) annually on the first of June in Lawas, Sarawak. This festival is traditionally a celebration of the rice harvest, but now it showcases a variety of Lun Bawang culture and events such as Ruran Ulung (beauty pageant contest) and ngiup suling (bamboo musical instrument band).

The Ruran Ulung

Being a predominantly Christian community, Lun Bawang also traditionally celebrates "Irau Rayeh" since the 1950s, which is a Easter festival and celebration.

              A Lun Bawang man with his "sumpit" during the Lun Bawang Festival

Belief

Religion

Lun Bawangs were mostly animist before the 1920s. Under the rule of the White Rajahs (Vyner Brooke) in Sarawak, Christian missionaries especially of the Borneo Evangelical Mission denomination had more access to the Lun Bawang highlands and hence preached Christianity to the Lun Bawang people.

A group of Lun Bawang attending Sunday service

The majority of the Lun Bawangs are Christians, predominantly of the Borneo Evangelical Mission denomination. A small number are of other Christian denominations, such as True Jesus Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, or of another religion, such as Islam and Buddhism.

Ethnic Background

The Lun Bawang (formerly known as Murut or Southern Murut) is an ethnic group found in Central Northern Borneo. They are indigenous to the highlands of North Kalimantan (Krayan, Malinau and Long Bawan), Brunei (Temburong District), southwest of Sabah (Interior Division) and northern region of Sarawak (Limbang Division). In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the Lun Bawang (through the term Murut) are officially recognised by the Constitution as native of Sarawak[2] and are categorised under the Orang Ulu people; whilst in the neighbouring state of Sabah and Krayan highland in Kalimantan, they are sometimes named Lundayeh or Lun Daye. In Brunei, they are also identified by law as one of the 7 natives (indigenous people) of Brunei, through the term Murut.[3] Nevertheless, in Sabah, Kalimantan and Brunei, the term Lun Bawang is gaining popularity as a unifying term for this ethnic across all region. There are also other alternative names such as Lun Lod, Lun Baa' and Lun Tana Luun.
Lun Bawang people are traditionally agriculturalists and practise animal husbandry such as rearing poultry, pigs andbuffaloes. Lun Bawangs are also known to be hunters and fisherman.

Lun Bawang girls in tradisional costumes