Building the Iban Longhouse

A longhouse in Sarawak; source:www.enicholl.com

"When the longhouse becomes too dilapidated, it is the responsibility of the tuai rumah (leader of the longhouse) to hold a gathering with his people to discuss about a new longhouse. If the head of each family agrees, all males and every family is asked to collect ramu (construction materials) for posts, beams, studs, planks, etc. When all the families report that they have enough ramu, the tuai rumah with the help of the tuai burung (the sage) will fix the auspicious date for the ngerembang, the clearing of the site of the longhouse."


The Tanju, the outdoor communal terrace

"A few days before that date, the tuai rumah goes into the jungle to seek the signs that will reveal the best location of the future longhouse. If the new longhouse is to be built downstream from the old house, the tuai rumah will look for the Nendak bird, to the right of his direction of travel. When he hears the call of this bird, he will uproot a small tree in that area to mark the occasion, , and he will bring home the small tree, known as the tambak burung."

"The next day, the tuai rumah enters the jungle again on a similar mission. When he hears the call of the nendak bird from his right hand side, he will again uproot a young tree to mark the spot and return with the tambak burung. Early on the third day, he again enters the jungle, this time looking for the bird on his left hand side. When he hears the call, he will again uproot a young tree and return with his last tambak burung."


The Panggau and the Ruai, communal living areas in the longhouse

"On the morning of the ngerembang, the tuai rumah will burn the tambak burung in the middle of the new site, before leading the members of the longhouse in the clearing works. When the ngerembang is finished, the families are asked to bring all the ramu that had been collected to the respective houses."


The bilik is the private realm of the family

"After the prayer, the tiang permun (the main post of the house) is placed in the ground, buried together with salt, a small piece of gold, the skin of the langgir fruit and a mumban twig (a small tree commonly found along the river banks). As soon as the longhouse is completed, the tuai rumah and the tuai burung will lead the the families into the new building. But before they finally move to their bilik (rooms), each family must build their own dapur (kitchen)."

Reference: Translated from Malay text reproduced in the Cyber Penom website, including all the photos except the first one.

Iban longhouse

The longhouse faces the river. Each family unit in the longhouse has its own section, consisting of a room (bilik) with a solid door, an equal-width section of the common area onto which all rooms open, and an equal-width section of the porch (tanju) -- which, as you can see, is a rickety affair made of split bamboo laid (not fastened) across supporting logs. We tourists were warned not to go out on the porch because it likely would not hold our weight, and believe me, we were not tempted. In addition to hanging laundry, the porch is used for doing work. An old man spent the morning out there building a door from fresh-looking boards.

Below, you can see some chicken coops on the left side, beneath the living quarters. The people kept a large number of chickens, which strut all around but are chased out if they come into the house. Several dogs and one very small, friendly, flea-infested cat shared the house. The people raise fish to eat in their own fish farm on the river; big bags of tilapia feed are stacked inside the longhouse.

First thing in the morning, most women went out to gather some food. They raise padi rice, vegetables and pepper on the hills above the house. (Black pepper is a major export of Sarawak; we saw pepper plants trained to climb poles in long rows everywhere as we traveled the roads.) The women strap a giant cylindrical basket on their back, put a conical hat on their head, and wearing long sleeves and usually pants, climb up a narrow path to the cultivated fields. When they return, the basket is filled with greenery. They make the baskets from grasses and rattan; the straps are made from tree bark.

One of the two women who cooked for us came in with what appeared to be some kind of tree leaves brimming from her huge basket. Later I realized I had heard a dull pounding coming from the kitchen for a very long time, so I went to investigate. In a small stone mortar she was mashing all the leaves to pulp. She already had a big blue plastic basin full of it. I signaled that I would like to try it and she gestured permission. But she had meant touch and not taste, because as I moved to put a clump into my mouth, both women urgently warned me not to do it. Pointing to the wok on the double-burner gas cooker (same as what most city Malaysians also use), they explained that the pulp had to be cooked. We ate it at lunch that day, and like everything we ate in the longhouse, it was delicious. The texture was heavier than chopped spinach but equally smooth. I don't know if they cooked it in chicken stock or just a combination of flavorings such as soy sauce, but the unique taste of the leaf remained, neither sweet nor bitter, a cross between mustard greens and collards.