On the Indonesian island of Nias, the local population won’t spit for fear that the game would revolt in disgust. After building a pit covered with twigs, leaves, and grass to catch the wild game, the Nias won’t laugh or the pit’s sides would collapse.
They also believe that on the night after digging the pit they may have no intercourse with a woman or all their labor would be in vain. Sometimes the game itself was, or is, the object of the taboo.
The Caffres of Malagasy feared the boa constrictor and whoever killed it had to lie in a running stream of water during the daytime for several weeks.
When the Kayans from Borneo shot a panther, the hunter’s soul was in jeopardy as the panther’s soul is considered more powerful, so they stepped eight times over the carcass and would recite “Panther, thy soul under my soul.” Nias people live in highly organized villages.
Nias villages often possess impressive stone monuments and large houses that stood on earthquake-resistant timber pylons. Most of these villages have lost their old houses because of their deterioration and difficulties in maintaining the ancient wooden structures from rot, insects, and wear, and hence replaced by other more generic structures.
Other reasons why not so many old houses were rebuilt because of the over-harvesting of the forests. In the past, Nias villages, especially those of South Nias, were strategically built on top of a ridge or hill and were surrounded by ramparts and security gates.
Entry into this village was provided by only two gates via steep staircases. The gates lead to a straight paved avenue which runs through the village center, with a row of traditional houses on the sides of the avenue.
Close to the main square of the village was the house of the village founders, the omo sebua. In Nias villages, the space in front of each house was the property of the inhabitants. This “front courtyard” was used for mundane activities: e.g. drying harvests before storing.
The Nias people used a variety of material for the creation of their weaponry: leather, cord or woven fibers, precious metal, iron, and brass. The Nias used spears, swords, and blades as their weapon.
The Nias spear (toto’a doho in the south, toho in the north) was mainly used for hunting; the shaft is made of dark hardwood of nibung palm wrapped with rattan. Other types of spears are the berries, with a triangle-shaped head.
The Nias people are almost always presented as warlike people are known for their headhunting activities and human slavery, even at the present time.
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