When most people think of seeing headhunters, they probably associate that with finding a job. However, the headhunters we went to see today didn’t dress in flash suits and go over our CVs . We went to see the tribal village Kuai that had once been the home of the fearsome headhunter named Monsopiad, and is now conserved by his descendants.

This village is called the “Monsopiad Cultural Village” and it is built on the lands where the Kadazan tribes lived. The Kadazan are the biggest ethnic group in Sabah, and their origin seems to be Chinese, although their language and culture is very different from that of the Chinese.

Monsopiad was a fearsome and respected warrior chief who ruled this village around 300 years ago. And while his headhunting days are over, over 42 trophy skulls remain for all to see. We don’t have photos of them, but we will show them in the video we’ll post when we have a bit more time to edit our video footage.

As a sign of respect for the warrior chief Monsopiad, another tribe gave him a carved Orangutan skull (above photo) as a gift. But it also had an ulterior motive - they were showing him that they were skilled since they could not only carve wood, but also bone.

One of the highlights of our visit was a performance done by a traditional dance troupe. Here you can see Grace learning some of the dance steps . This dance was a relatively easy slow number. Then when my turn came, I had to try to dance a headhunter dance and weave my feet between moving bamboo poles! If my life depended on the results of that dance, I wouldn’t be writing this post, as I was not as fast-footed as the experienced dancers

Many of these dancers, and our guide are descendants of the Kadazan ethnic group, and in some houses near the village live the direct descendants of Monsopiad.

So was Monsopiad a hero or villain? To his people, he was a hero who defended them from pirates and other robbing parties, however to others (including some westerners), he is seen as a savage because of the heads he kept as trophies.

And while headhunting is a long dead tradition, people live in similar houses all over Borneo, and many still practice some of their cultural traditions.

As for us, we had a great time, tried some traditional rice wine (which actually tastes a bit like sweet white wine), tried the dance, and saw a way of life that seems to be long gone.

G: I like weekends! The markets are closed and I don’t have to do any trading

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2007 at 10:02 pm and is filed under Front Page, Borneo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.