Unlike in Peninsular Malaysia, hornbills in Sarawak are often linked to the culture and history of the indigenous people. Hornbills are often hunted for their attractive feathers, casque, and sometimes meat. These hornbill parts are also sought after for traditional rituals, crafts, and decorative items.
Deeply intertwined with tradition, culture, ritual
This is the second of three parts on hornbills in Sarawak’s article.
Unlike in Peninsular Malaysia, hornbills in Sarawak are often linked to the culture and history of the indigenous people, where in the past, the Helmeted Hornbill casques were traditionally carved into earrings for the Orang Ulu aristocrat men to adorn.
Local Bidayuhs mentioned that in the olden days, a casque would be placed on top of the baby’s cradle to ensure the baby had a good sleep, while feathers were used in the traditional headgear of the Ibans.
A study by Bennett et al. (1997) revealed a single Orang Ulu lady dancer used about 40 hornbill feathers for her hand displays — about 20 feathers, preferably from the Rhinoceros Hornbill species, for each hand.
Amin and Ripot (2017) confirmed that each hornbill had 10 feathers in its tail. They calculated that “to supply each dancer, four Rhinoceros Hornbills must be killed”. The consequences of these practices appear to be mostly destructive because, in all cases above, they involve the capturing and killing of actual birds in order to obtain the trophies necessary for the warrior and ceremonial costumes.
In a traditional Kayan wedding, the bride’s hat would require 16 hornbill feathers, which were held over her head as a symbol of protection (Bibi Aminah et al., 2009).
Other than the use of hornbill parts, hornbill motifs were often incorporated in their designs and celebrations, such as Gawai Kenyalang of the Iban.
However, most of the uses of hornbill parts are no longer practiced in modern times. Some of the feathers used in traditional costumes have now been replaced with feathers made of synthetic materials.
As time changes, local people’s perspectives are also changing as they become aware of the current pressure on the birds and their habitats. Although hornbills are heavily interwoven into the traditional cultures of some ethnic groups in Sarawak, more work needs to be done to increase awareness about the conservation of these hornbills.
When contacted by our reporter, Dr Victor Luna Amin from the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts said that prior to the Brooke Era, headhunting activities were historically rampant among the natives of Sarawak. During this era, trophies of Helmeted and Rhinoceros Hornbills were widely used in personal decoration and dancing.
Tails of both species of hornbills and feathers of Argus Pheasant are commonly collected and used by various groups as part of the traditional warrior costumes for the men. In 1862, such traditional warrior costumes were part of the Sarawak Rangers’ traditional customs.
Ritual beliefs
According to Dr Victor, wood carvings of hornbills are the centrepiece of traditional ceremonies for many different races in Borneo.
One of the major sacred ritual ceremonies that was observed and carried out by the Iban at the height of the pastime of headhunting masculine activities as a way of life prior to and during the era of Brooke and briefly during the Japanese era is the Gawai Kenyalang, the greatest of all the Iban festivals.
“In the past, this Gawai Kenyalang is associated with victorious raiding and trophy-taking (headhunting) during warfare, and in more specific terms, this ritual belief was celebrated by a community for several reasons: to boost the courage and fighting spirit of the warriors who were actively engaged in raiding and headhunting, to call upon the supernatural power for increased powers that would ensure victory on future raids, and finally to intimidate targeted enemies and weaken their foundation to defend themselves.
“This ritual ceremony was carried out by the Iban community to commemorate the successful taking of enemies’ heads in warfare, with the launching of the carved wooden Rhinoceros Hornbill effigy perched on top of a very long pole (tiang chandi in Iban dialect), with its beak pointing in the direction of the enemy’s longhouse, while offerings are laid before it and sacrifices are made while ritual prayers are chanted to summon the spirit of hornbills.
“In fact, the Rhinoceros Hornbill itself has no ritual significance, but its carved wooden icon was perceived to possess significant ritual meaning,” he said.
He added that when the icon perched on high, with the ritual expert (lemambang) wearing a clouded leopard skin robe generously decorated with black and while hornbill feathers, chants his ritual words (timang) and thereafter cuts out the tongue of the wooded hornbill effigy, the hornbill spirit is then launched and detached itself from the wooden icon and flies straight on its way to the attack and puts all the spirits of its enemies out of commission; by which the spirit of Rhinoceros Hornbill will tear off the foundations of enemy houses, plundering their property, and striking down their warriors, thus ensuring victory when the actual attack is made.
Ever since the banning of headhunting activity, massive migration, and cutting off virgin state land forests enforced by the British Colonial and Malaysian eras and with today’s great changes in the cultural and political contexts, this sort of ritual ceremony is now very rare, though principally still being practiced but mainly to serve different purposes.
Besides that, Dr Victor said hornbills are also recognised as spiritual symbols, either as harbingers of disease or as guides to the afterlife. The Murut tribe has a strict taboo on hornbills, with the belief that they bring sickness (a bad omen).
The Dayak people have emulated hornbills through their cultural practices, as shown in their hornbill-inspired tattoos and elaborately carved wooden hornbill effigies or totems.
Hornbills hunting in Sarawak
The use of hornbills in cultural practices and beliefs results in some hornbill species being hunted for their feathers and casques, especially the large species, which include the Rhinoceros Hornbill and Helmeted Hornbill.
The Helmeted Hornbill casques are known as “red ivory” due to their yellowish gold casques that are a result of stains from their preen gland, which produces yellow oily secretions.
This staining gives their casques aesthetic value, making them highly demanded for jewellery by Chinese traders and thus significantly affecting Helmeted Hornbill populations throughout their range.
According to Dr Victor, prior to the Brooke Era, the trade between Borneo and China flourished from at least the year 700 because of the demands by the people of Borneo for metals, ceramics, and beads and because of the Chinese demand during the Ming Dynasty for, among other things, feathers, swiftlet nests, and especially hornbill ivory. The Helmeted Hornbill is the only species of hornbill that has a solid casque, and the ivory is traditionally carved.
“The Chinese carvings of hornbill ivory were exquisite; status-enhancing items such as belt buckles, seals, figurines, snuff boxes, plume holders, hair grips, buttons, thumb rings, and bracelets could be fashioned from it.
“Obviously, in those earlier days prior to the existence and enforcement of the state laws on wildlife protection and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), hunting of Helmeted Hornbill ivory for export markets and for carving as stretched-earing for the traditional use by Orang Ulu men was believed to be uncontrollable.
“However, with the existence and enforcement of national laws and CITES in the mid-twentieth century, the demand for hornbill ivory had virtually died out, and there is no export of casques now, but illegal exports in recent years have put the hornbill species under new pressure from exploding demand for its red ivory,” he explained.
He pointed out that the consequence of such illegal international trade in and direct use of Helmeted Hornbill products appears to be most hostile and destructive to the species population, thus critically contributing to a direct threat to the species survival.
According to the conservation group TRAFFIC, the largest consumer of Helmeted Hornbill ivory is still China or members of Chinese communities in Southeast Asian countries. Documented seizure records show that the majority of Helmeted Hornbills are poached in Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra and smuggled to China, where the casques are carved for commercial sale.
Regarding trade, a study conducted by MNS stated that five of their respondents witnessed some form of trade in hornbill parts in Sarawak. The other 12 respondents said local hunting was no longer present. Some of them mentioned that the number of local hunters had also decreased significantly over the decades.
A press release by the Environmental Investigation Agency emphasised the severity of the threat faced by the Helmeted Hornbills, showing that black market prices for their casques in China are up to five times higher than those of elephant ivory, with the increased supply and demand likely to continue at an escalating rate.
Based on statistics from the SFC’s Enforcement and Protection Division, a total of 16 investigation papers have been opened for wildlife crime cases involving hornbills from 2019 until the second quarter of 2023.
These cases involve the seizure of 1,134 pieces of hornbill feathers of various species, 184 hornbill casques, and one live hornbill.
The demand for hornbill products on the international market fuels this illegal wildlife trade. Feathers and other bird parts are smuggled on the black market for use in traditional medicine and as decorative items in other countries. This high demand is why the hunt is still going on.
