Speaking of (Dis)Continuity: Cultures of Christianity and the Christianization of “Culture”

Abstract

Saturday, June 4, 2005, was a busy day in Kampung Benuk’s adat gawai calendar. Having spent the previous 72 hours conducting postharvesting rituals around the longhouse (gawai sawa; see Chapter 2), the nyamba gawai now turned their attention to the health, safety, and well-being of the village community at large. In the morning, the male ritual chief, Bai Toyan, held the annual gawai for the two pairs of wooden guardian spirits (tibudò kayuh) that had protected the village’s old river entrance for as long as anybody could remember. With the aid of some Christians, he built a sangar (bamboo altar) with offerings for the spirits, and carved them entirely new bodies, replete with miniature weapons, to ensure that they would continue watching over the place. As dusk fell, he, a small group of female practitioners, and some family members then gathered in the pangah to bathe, feed, and bless the ten skulls hanging from its rafters—to persuade them, as their forebears had done, to keep defending the village from enemies, illnesses, and other dangers. Balancing precariously on a wooden sawhorse, Bai Toyan carefully wet the skulls using a bundle of leaves and smeared them with ritual substances, including turmeric, oil, and chicken blood, before also daubing everyone else present.