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Updated: June 15, 2025
Again, if they see a certain snake just as they are about to enter a strange river or a strange village, they will stop and light a fire on the bank in order to communicate with Laki Neho. Kayans will not eat any species of turtle or tortoise. Klemantans When a party is about to set out on any expedition they explain their intentions to BALI FLAKI, and then observe the movements of the hawks.
When a new house is built, a wooden image of Bali Flaki with wings extended is put up before it, and an offering of mixed food is put on a little shelf before the image, and at times, especially after getting good omens from the hawks, it is offered bits of flesh and is smeared with pig's blood.
A special position in the Kenyah system is occupied by BALI FLAKI, the carrion hawk, which is the principal omen bird observed during the preparation for and conduct of war.
We do not know of any other animals to which especial respect or attention is paid by the Kenyahs. Animal Cults of the Kayans But as it is not possible to distinguish these two kinds of hawks when seen flying at some distance, they address and accept all large hawks seen in the distance as Laki Neho. The function and powers of Laki Neho seem to be almost identical with those of Bali Flaki.
Something will be said of the cult of BALI FLAKI in a later chapter; but we would note here that this bird is peculiar among the many omen-birds of the Kenyahs, in that an altar-post before the house is assigned to him, or at least one of the posts rudely carved to suggest the human figure is specially associated with BALI FLAKI, and in some cases is surmounted by a wooden image of the hawk.
If one of a party dies on the journey, they will stop for one whole day for fear of offending Bali Flaki. If a hawk should scream just as they are about to deliver an attack, that means that some of the elder men will be killed in the battle.
If the people have good luck in their new house, they renew the image; but if not, they usually allow it to fall into decay. If, when a man is sitting down to a meal, he espies a hawk in the heavens, he will throw a morsel of food towards it, exclaiming, "Bali Flaki!" We have seen that during the formal consultation of the hawks the women are sent to their rooms.
Before going out to attack an enemy, omens are always sought in the way we have described, and if the expedition is successful the warriors bring home not only the heads of the slain enemy, but also pieces of their flesh, which they fix upon poles before the house, one for each family, as a thank-offering to Bali Flaki for his guidance and protection.
As Archdeacon Perham has said, this last deity has a material animal form, namely, the white-headed hawk, which is the Bali Flaki of the Kenyahs, and plays a somewhat similar part in their lives.
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