Much of the earliest Bruneian art goes back to the Kenyah
and Kayan civilizations who occupied much of Borneo. The Kenyah and Kayan
peoples populated the island, and animals were an important part of
their art. Art is shared among both sexes: men traditionally work with wood and
metal, while women are pretty much the only ones who work in bead work and textiles.
Their spiritual world shows up in much of their art and architecture. Many
times they decorate their homes, clothing, and objects they use with protective
spiritual images as a means of using the protective powers they exude.
Men make these certain masks with really scary faces and
ferocious expressions to protect the rice fields. It’s thought to be used as a
way to ward off evil spirits that damage crops. They also developed a
“soul-catching” mask, which they believed that when you sleep or are
unconscious, your soul can escape from your body causing you to get sick. If
they believe this is happening, they will send a shaman to catch it.
Women are exclusively the ones who do beadwork. It’s
actually a very complex art, utilized in clothing, hats, baskets, and their
unique baby carrier they have called a ba’. Many of these items use the tiny seed beads to make intricate designs. Beads were even once used as a means to purchase things, and it’s
thought that certain kinds of beads have special powers and used as an amulet.
Most literature in Brunei is either written in Malay or in
English. (I’ve read several English-language articles from The Brunei Times, one of their largest newspapers, to get
information for these posts.) The most popular form of literature is a poetry
style called sajak. No, not Pat Sajak, but close. (Actually, no. Pat Sajak is
of Polish descent and grew up in Chicago.) Sajak is a Malay free-form style
(meaning “rhyme” in English) that was full of nationalistic symbolism once used
as a means of propaganda during the days when the Japanese occupied the island
during WWII. There aren’t many
Bruneian writers that are well-known outside of the region, but the most famous
work that came out of Brunei is the epic poem called Sya’ir Awang Simawn, about a famous hero to their culture. However,
there are a few books mentioned which use Brunei as its setting. One is a book
called Armageddon by Dale Brown. Another is an
Anthony Burgess novel called Devil of a
State (I believe it’s the same author of A Clockwork Orange.).
Up next: Music and Dance
Hi, really great article. I think being a Bruneian myself sometimes we tend to take for granted the things we grew up in.. Quite refreshing to read it from a visitor's angle (not to mention your beautiful descriptions).
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, It was Dale Brown who wrote Armageddon ;)
Source: http://books.google.com.bn/books/about/Dale_Brown_s_Dreamland.html?id=XmooQZPfPx4C&redir_esc=y
Thanks for the correction! I found two places listing it as a Dan Brown, but seeing how I own five of his books, I was confused why there was one out there I didn't know of. But now that I know the true author's name, I may have to try to find it now. Thanks for reading! Your country is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteCan you site some examples of the literature in Brunei? Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Mitzi. There really isn't a lot that I could find for specific examples. But I did come across this article about a collection of English-language poetry that you might find interesting. It gives a little more information as well as what people are currently working on in Brunei. You can read it here --> http://www.asiancha.com/content/view/1667/437/
ReplyDelete