Essay On Bird Omens

The belief in the spirit world has been the central part of the lives of the indigenous tribes of Borneo in the past. The bird omens for instance, do have a strong influence on the natives of Sarawak in the past. This is indeed true to the Kayan tribe. The bird omens are not the same everywhere though. Certain birds or ‘manuk’ have the greatest influence on the lives of the people. These birds normally used at night, are supposed to give the information being asked of them.
It is not only the cry of birds that the Kayans pay attention to. There are certain animals - the deer, armadillo, lizard, bat, python, cobra, even the rat, as well as certain insects - which all give omens under different and special circumstances. But these other creatures are subordinate to the birds, from which alone augury is sought at the beginning of any important undertaking (Gomes, 1911).
The tradition concerning the origin of bird-omens is that, ‘in the beginning, a Dayak got married

However, much economic loss was encountered because of time wasted in observing the various feasts on the tribal calendar, as well as for consultation of an almost endless list of signs and omens. On this account, (Krohn, 1927; 2001) is of the view that less than one third of their annual activities was devoted to actual work pursuits.
The impact of bad omens was badly felt by the various indigenous tribes in the past. For instance, a paddy field that was cleared from the jungle by the hardest kind of labour such as the felling of trees, clearing of logs and ready for planting was completely given up because of the appearance of bad omen. Thus, depriving an entire longhouse of rice so necessary for food, causing hardships and suffering of famine or ‘liyen’’ that would not have happened but for the inexorable superstitions that gripped the lives of the people for many generations (Krohn, 1927;