Religions and Beliefs

Name : Gun Lok Hen    
ID     : 1081104163    
Responsibility :Religions and Beliefs of different Ethnics.   

    
i.Description on the individual ideation of the link  
 -This link provide information about different religions and beliefs of different ethnics . This enable readers to have different visions towards Sarawak Cultural Village ,readers also can gain knowledge of different ethnics' ancestors about how they practice their religions and beliefs .


ii.Objectives of the link   
-- Introduce different religions and beliefs practice by different ethnics in Sarawak Cultural Village.       

-- For readers to know that any religion calls its followers to have faith in God and God attributes and to have faith in the religion leader and his breaching.      
--  To let the readers know the relationship among body, mind, and spirit .    

  -- Discuss how to ask about spirituality and religious beliefs and practices.  
    

iii. Design of GUI       

iv.Flowchart 

References:

http://www.everyculture.com/East-Southeast-Asia/Iban-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html

http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/590794 

http://www.gomalaysia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=364&Itemid=88889113

 http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/63042/Sarawak-Cultural-Village-8  .

different ethnics.

Add caption

                  

Religious belief refers to a mental state in which faith is placed in a creed related to the supernatural , sacred, or divine. Such a state may relate to the existence,characteristics and worship of a deity or deities,divine intervention in the universe and human life, or values and practices centered on the teachings of a spiritual leader. In contrast to other belief systems,religious beliefs are usually codified. 

There are different ethnics in SARAWAK CULTURAL VILLAGE and owning different religions and beliefs. There are : 

*~ Orang Iban   *~  Orang Bidayuh   *~ Orang Melanau   *~  Orang Ulu   *~  Malays *~  Chinese Religions and Beliefs    

 Orang Iban

Religious beliefs and behavior pervade every part of Iban life. 

In their interpretations of their world, nature, and society, they refer to remote inventor gods, who brought the elements and a structured order into subsistence; the bird-god Sengalang Burong, who directs their lives through messages borne by his seven sons-in-law; and the popular gods, who provide models for living.

Iban religion is a product of a holistic approach to life, in which attention is paid to all events in the waking and sleeping states.

The religion involves an extensive causality, born of the Iban conviction that "nothing happens without cause." The pervasiveness of their religion has sensitized them to every part of their world and created an elaborate otherworld (Sebayan), in which everything is vested with the potential for sensate thought and action. 

 In Iban beliefs and narratives trees talk, crotons walk, macaques become incubi, jars moan for lack of attention, and the sex of the human foetus is determined by a cricket, the metamorphized form of a god.

 

Though the gods live in Panggau Libau, a remote and godly realm, they are unseen, ubiquitous presences. 

In contrast to the exclusive categories of Judaism and Christianity, "supernaturals" and "mortals" interact in all activities of importance. In contrast to the gods who are more benevolently inclined towards mortals, Iban believe in and fear a host of malevolent spirits. 

These spirits are patent projections onto a cosmic screen of anxieties and stresses suffered by Iban: the menacing father figure, the vengeful mother, the freeloader, and becoming lost in the forest. Iban attempt to maintain good life and health by adherence to customary laws, avoidance of taboos, and the presentation of offerings and animal sacrifices.

Orang Bidayuh

Second largest Dayak ethnic group in Sarawak after the Iban. Bidayuhs are traditionally animist, and vestiges of these beliefs still remain. 

The British colonial times (known as the "Brooke family" era) saw the arrival of Christian missionaries, bringing education and modern medicine. 

The great majority of Bidayuh are now Christians, majority of them being Roman Catholic. However, since the establishment of Malaysia and the increasing political influence of the Malays, a small number of Bidayuh have converted to Islam.

                           

 

Most Bidayuh villages have either a Roman Catholic or Anglican church or a mosque -- rarely more than one or the village would tend to split. The Biatah people, who live in the Kuching area, are Anglican, while the people of the Bau area are Catholic. Muslims can be found in areas like Padawan ("Kampung Bisira" and "Kampung Darul Islam Belimbing") and Bau ("Kampung Segubang (50%)") but Muslim Bidayuh villages are extremely rare.

 

 

The Bidayuh of Bau have a unique tradition of hanging the bodies of the dead on trees and left to rot away. The skeletons are left on trees as a reminder of the dead. The tradition is rarely done nowadays. While they attribute spirits to many things in nature such as birds, animals, and plants, many who hold to the traditional religion today believe in a supreme god who comes to their assistance in the cycle of rice cultivation as well as major events in the cycle of life.

 Orang Melanau

While originally animists, the majority of the Melanaus are now Muslim, although some of them, especially among the Melanau Mukah, Rajang and Dalat are Christian. In 1980 ,53,689 Melanau were Sunni Muslim, 8,486 were Christian, 1,749 were tribal, 5,328 were listed as having no religion (but were probably all tribal), and 326 were listed as miscellaneous.

For Muslims, Christians, and tribals alike, the world consists of this, the middle world, the upper world (the sky), and the world below. 

Traditionally the world was egg-shaped, seven layers or worlds above and seven below the middle world, the whole being balanced on the head of a buffalo standing on a snake, all surrounded by water.

The breathing of the buffalo caused the ebb and flow of the tides. For some people the land of the dead was an underworld; others thought it elsewhere, but did not know where. Its topography was exact, but differed for Muslims, whose view was shared by Christians. 

For Muslims, Christians, and tribals alike, the world, the sun, the moon, and the stars were created by Alla-taala, but how is not known. He is remote and little interested in human affairs. All "layers" of the world are inhabited by spirits ( tou ), who, together with humans, animals, and plants, share this middle world. Every being has its own proper place in the world, which is ordered by adat. 

 

 

Overstepping boundaries causes trouble, and most human illness is caused by trespassing on some spirit's living space.

Spirits are of many kinds: earth, air, water, forest, etc. Sometimes they are referred to as ipu', who are less malevolent than tou, and may indeed be invited to reside in and protect dwellings. Supernaturals live on the moon and punish disorderly and disrespectful behavior by men, especially mockery of animals. A female guards the entrance to the land of the dead. 

People are reluctant to call such supernaturals "tou" or "ipu'," but no other term exists for such demigods. Muslims and some pagans call them melaikat. 

.

Orang Ulu 

  

 

 

The vast majority of Orang Ulu are Christians, of various denominations, but old animistic beliefs still persist in some areas, along with Bungan, a modern adaptation of traditional religions.

 

In the old days, a tattoo on the back of a man's hand signify he has taken a skull. The Kayan believe that the tattoo serves as torch for their journey into the underworld.

 In the old days, a tattoo on the back of a man's hand signify he has taken a skull. The Kayan believe that the tattoo serves as torch for their journey into the underworld.

 

While the Orang Ulu men wear tattoo on almost all parts of their bodies, Orang Ulu women confine it to their wrists and hands.

 

 

Although beads are not locally produced, the Orang Ulu have a tradition for beadwork. The Orang Ulu obtain the beads through barter trade. Large, antique beads are fashioned into head-dresses, bracelets, necklaces and girdles, while smaller ones are used on baskets, baby carriers, belts, just about anything they fancy.

.

Orang Melayu

 

  

In the beginning, Malays were animist

s,by about the opening of the Christian era, Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism were introduced by Indian traders to the Malay Archipelago, where they flourished until 13th century before the arrival of Islam brought by Arab, Indian and Chinese Muslim traders.

 

Nevertheless, the earlier beliefs having the deeper roots, have maintained themselves against the anathemas of Islam and indeed, Sufism or the mysticism of Shia Islam, which properly has no place among orthodox Sunnis has become intertwined among the Malays, with the spirits of the earlier animistic world and some elements of Hinduism.

    

Following the 1970s Islamic revival (also referred as re-Islamization) throughout the Muslim world, many traditions that contravene the teaching of Islam and containing elements of shirk were abandoned by the Malays. Among these practices was the mandi safar festival (Safar bath), a bathing festival to achieve spiritual purity in which can be discerned features similar to some of those of the Durga Puja of India.