Kelabit Taboos

00:00:00ok, terima kasih ngen Bulan
ok, thanks to Bulan

00:00:04ieh marih Bario tungey
she came to Bario

00:00:06pian ngalap sukunuh
to record stories

00:00:08ataupun pian la' ngalap ulud lun merar
or record the elders talking

00:00:11lem ayu' ulun-ulun lun merar ngilad lah
about the lives of people in the past

00:00:14tapi lem beruhmalem kinih ieh petulu ngen uih
so this afternoon she met with me

00:00:17ngi ruma' tauh ngi Bario tungey
at our house here in Bario

00:00:20uih nutun mala si'it lem ayu' ali ataupun pantang lun merar ngilad ah
I'm going to try and say a bit about taboos in the past

00:00:26jadi "ali" ken Kelabit
taboos are called "ali" in Kelabit

00:00:29"pantang" ken Melayu'
and "pantang" in Malay

00:00:31kayu' lemulun merar ngilad nga' deh beruh-beruh paweh keyh
for example, when people in the past had just got married

00:00:35tapi tak diweh nalan mey ngeluar
if the pair went out

00:00:38ataupun nalan mey ngi natad
or went walking in front of the longhouse

00:00:40ataupun mey lem lati' kah
or went to the farm

00:00:41keli' diweh edteh puung ngi dalan nih
if they saw an animal on the road

00:00:44na'am diweh jadi' paweh
they wouldn't be able to get married

00:00:46harus paki' diweh neh
they would have to separate

00:00:47paki' diweh ko'
so they would separate

00:00:48kineh lem ayu' sineh
so that's that one

00:00:50beruhman adet lun merar ngilad
another practice of our ancestors

00:00:53sebelum deh masuk Kristen
before they became Christian

00:00:55memang edteh manuk
there was a bird

00:00:57ngai' kedeh ngen manuk sineh
they called it ngai'

00:01:00tapi tak deh la' mey ngeraad kah
if they wanted to go hunting

00:01:02ataupun mey ngi edteh bawang beken
or go to another village

00:01:04mey deh ngi natad ruma' neh
they go to the lawn in front of the house

00:01:08en deh narun edteh apui ngineh
they start a fire there

00:01:10pasang dteh apui ngineh
they start a fire there

00:01:11na'it manuk sineh mirat
and wait for the bird to appear

00:01:13tak manuk sineh mirat
if the bird appears

00:01:15lipa senu'eh beto' ieh temulud mey pekabing
and flies from right to left

00:01:18sekali-kali na'am deh kereb nalan
they are not allowed to go on

00:01:20na'am deh kereb, udtu'
they can't go on and must stop

00:01:21narun neh apui beruh
if they start another fire

00:01:23na'it manuk neh mirat
and wait for the bird to appear

00:01:24tak ieh temulud let lipa pekabing mey pesenu'eh beto' ieh
if he flies from left to right

00:01:28doo' renga' kineh, doo' renga' kineh
that's ok

00:01:30kereb nideh nalan mey peh-peh lawey deh lah
then they can go on wherever they were planning to go

00:01:33neh lem ayu' pantang sineh
so that's that taboo

00:01:35keteluh man, edteh pantang ataupun ali lun merar ngilad
thirdly, there was a taboo in the past

00:01:41renga' dedtur ngeren, na'am inan awan deh
if a lady was pregnant but she didn't have a husband

00:01:45ngeren mo-mo kah
an unplanned pregnancy

00:01:46na'am edtur ineh kereb ruyung lun mula' ih
that lady couldn't stay with the rest

00:01:49en deh naru' edteh lepo
they made a hut

00:01:50tegair tieh ngi natad nangey ko'
it was outside of the longhouse at a distance

00:01:52kuma'-kuma' ieh mali
for as long as she was pregnant

00:01:54mudeng ngineh tieh
she stayed there

00:01:55na'it-na'it ieh belawang
until she gave birth

00:01:57pengeh beto' ieh belawang
after she gave birth

00:01:58dih tideh kereb ngayan ieh umak ngi ruma'
then they would accept her back into the house

00:02:00neh teluh na'an ali nuk pakai lun merar ngilad lah
so those are three different taboos that people observed in the past

00:02:05neh tuih la' nemulud si'it lem ayu' ali
so I just wanted to say a bit about the taboos

00:02:08nuk tu'en lun merar neh pakai sebelum deh masuk Kristen
that people had before they became Christian

00:02:13pengeh beto' lem... pengeh perang gipun malem
after the Japanese War

00:02:16kurang-lebih lem laak 1945-46, kayu' ineh
roughly in 1945 or 1946 or so

00:02:22pengeh perang gipun
after the Japanese War

00:02:24nemarih neh lun missionary, lemulun let Lawas Mission
missionaries came, people from the Lawas Mission

00:02:28Tuan Sapu ken kamih ngeneh, Southwell
Tuan Sapu we called him, Southwell

00:02:31nemarih ieh ngajar lem ayu' ugama keyh
he came to teach us about religion

00:02:35neh kineh neh lun tauh, neh lun Kelabit, nemasuk ugama lah
that was how we, the Kelabit people, became Christians

00:02:39jadi na'am ideh percaya' ngen be-barang nuk na'ah ko'
then they didn't believe in those things

00:02:42ali-ali nuk na'ah
the taboos I just mentioned

00:02:43am ideh percaya'
they didn't believe

00:02:44neh nideh pecaya' ngen Tuhan lah
they believed in God

00:02:46pingan ineh na'am nuk kuasa-kuasa luk mo-mo
after that, these things didn't have any power anymore

00:02:49kayu' manuk-manuk, enun-enun beken-beken
like birds or anything else

00:02:51na'am ineh kuasa deh
they didn't have power

00:02:52keli' Tuhan neto' berkuasa lah
it was knowing God that empowered them

00:02:54neh lem ayu' ali lun merar ngilad
so that's about taboos that people observed in the past

00:02:57neh tuih la' matur si'it lem ayu' ineh lah
I wanted to say a bit about them

00:03:00kadi' anak-anak nuk madi' kinih, am deh keli' ineh
because children today don't know about them

00:03:03na'am tebuut deh keli'
they know nothing at all

00:03:04kapeh-kapeh ayu' ali ataupun pantang lun merar ngilad
they know nothing at all about the taboos that people observed in the past

00:03:07neh tuih nerang si'it lem ayu' ineh lah
so that's why I wanted to explain a bit about them