Melanau Sickness Images, Spirits given Physical Form

Paul Beavitt (University of Leicester, Leicester, UK)

Many illnesses for the Melanau of North Easter Borneo are caused by spirits (tew) who live in the skies, the forests or the sea. If humans offend the spirits illness will result, sometimes as a warning to the offender or sometimes because the spirit seeks to drink the blood of a human and thereby gain life (nyawa). The cure for such illnesses is to carve an image of the spirit deemed to have caused the illness (belum), which after spitting betel juice at it and using appropriate words becomes occupied, by that spirit for three days. In this form the image can be returned to its proper dwelling place in the skies, forests or water.

A carver could never gain a living from his craft but believes he should use his skills for the benefit of the whole community of which he is a part. He should not innovate except through the authority given by dreams and should carry in his head a repertoire of 100 or more images. If the patient fails to recover the explanation will be sought in terms of failure to identify and carve the image of the spirit, which has caused the illness.