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Magic Rods and
Stakes
In this
edition we present a group of four pig trap rods and two rice guardian
stakes collected by a Swiss artist in Borneo in 1975. It was the period when pig trap rods
started to enter the tribal art market. Three of them are Iban tuntun,
while one is a Tunjung kelulong. Both kinds of sticks were used
as measuring rods, to determine the correct height of a trip wire and of
the strike of the blade of a hunting trap, to kill pigs and deer. On
their top, a divinity standing or sitting in squatting position had the
function to call the spirit of the animal from the heavenly world to
catch him in the trap. This function of the carved figures places the
tuntun and the kelulong in the category of Dayak hunting charms.
The two rice guardian stakes are Iban agom and they had the
function to protect the rice from malevolent spirits. As the tuntun pig
trap rods, they were animated during a special ceremony. |
