Dayak Culture ID

The Dayak are the indigenous peoples of the interior of Borneo, dwelling along the great rivers and in the forests of the island's vast and rugged heartland.

Dayak communities traditionally lived in longhouses sheltering many families, and subsisted through shifting cultivation of rice, hunting, fishing, and the gathering of the forest's rich resources.

Religious life centred on the spirits of the natural world and the ancestors, expressed in elaborate ritual; in earlier times martial prowess, including headhunting, held a place in Dayak custom and belief.

Riverine, forest-dwelling, and rich in ceremony, the Dayak peoples formed the enduring indigenous heart of Borneo.