Dayak Shield !

[Maurice]

Thank you both Sajen and Vandoo for your kind response.


t_c:

I tried to look it up in the books, but I find all different significations (ogre face, demon face, stylized old kind of human figure).
But I read recurrent that it probably has the function of instil fear by the enemy (and why than covering this "fear" face sometimes with hair that you don't see it anymore ) So afterall that could be a signification that it was to strengthen the warrior who holds the shield and give him some protecting power???

Exactly what kind of ideas stand at the beginning of the source of these ornaments???

[asomotif]

Hi Maurice,

I did not check the books, but in general for shields several explanations are often given.
spirits / ancestors...
One thing is sure, It is meant to help the one behind the shield

The mouth of this spirit is formed by 2 aso's facing each other.
This one has hornbills that appear to be used to form the eyebrows.

I am not sure when this appearred on shields, but I have a small dance shield that shows the same feature of Hornbills above the eyes.

Seeing them as "eyebrowes" may of course be my western point of view.
They might well be placed above the eyes/face, because they symbolise the "upperworld" and of course the aso's beneath representing the underworld.

Here some pics of the dance shield I bought in Sarawak in 1997.

Best regards,
Willem

[t_c]

Hi Maurice, thanks for looking into it for me. Shame there's not more info. I guess I was assuming that it was a characterization of some native deity instead of a generalized symbol.... I did some online reading and it was mentioned that the Aso was "generally thought to confer protection upon those who possessed this image". Unfortunately that leaves the face motif unexplained, but I can see how the "demon face" symbolism works as an icon to for the enemy to fear.

The Pit-Rivers Museum has some further info on these shields (still have more to read myself). I did a search for "Dayak Shields" and got a few pages of info - a nice online reference for those interested:
http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by t_c

Hi Maurice, thanks for looking into it for me. Shame there's not more info. I guess I was assuming that it was a characterization of some native deity instead of a generalized symbol.... I did some online reading and it was mentioned that the Aso was "generally thought to confer protection upon those who possessed this image". Unfortunately that leaves the face motif unexplained, but I can see how the "demon face" symbolism works as an icon to for the enemy to fear.

The Pit-Rivers Museum has some further info on these shields (still have more to read myself). I did a search for "Dayak Shields" and got a few pages of info - a nice online reference for those interested:
http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/

Hi t_c,

Thank you very much for posting these links. I will read it later when I find some time, but I scrolled through it and it looks very interesting.

Maurice