Suara dari masyarakat Dayak Ngaju/Voices from the Dayak Ngaju community
Pak Hermanto dan Pak Ebner dari masyarakat adat Dayak Ngaju berbagi pandangannya tentang pentingnya menjaga warisan leluhur yang berupa hutan Ulin di Kalimantan tengah dan suara burung Bangkang Kaput sebagai penanda alam dalam kebudayaan mereka.
English:
Pak Hermanto and Pak Abner from the Ngaju community share their perspectives on the ancestral significance of the ironwood tree in Central Kalimantan and the symbolism surrounding the song of the Bangkang Kaput bird.
Transcript:
Our message is that we must remember our cultural customs. Ironwood used to be the symbol of Central Kalimantan. One of our traditions was a deity ritual using ironwood to make sando, tiwah, gundo or what people call tepatung. And there are many others.
No other wood [aside from ironwood] was ever used for building houses. They were all built from ironwood, but now it’s hard to find ironwood. It’s gone, so it’s difficult now.
That call is the sound of what people sometimes call bangkang kaput, or some people call it rangkang tutup. So, this bird call is indeed typical at around this time. In the past, if our ancestors heard this call while working on the land, like I said yesterday, it was an auspicious sign when it sang at this certain time of the day. Nowadays, it’s different from before.
