Although there exists an ultimate ground of identity to
all manifestations of life, the traditional view makes no as-
sumption of identity or equality among particular manifesta-
tions. The result is a general acceptance of a plurality of be-
ings and at the same time, especially in the mystic traditions
elaborated in Java, a recognition of the oneness of the indi-
vidual with the whole in the commonality of life.
The traditional religions differ markedly, however, in
their classification of categories or classes of beings. Priests
of the Ifugao, for example, are reported to be able to distin-
guish over fifteen hundred spirits or deities, who are divided
into forty classes. By contrast, the Rotinese recognize two
broad classes of spirits—those of the inside and those of the
outside—and are only concerned with naming the spirits of
the inside. The traditional religions also differ significantly
in attitudes to the spirit world. For some, all spirits are poten-
tially malevolent and must be placated; in others, benevolent
spirits are called upon to intervene against troublesome spir-
its. In the majority, however, attitudes vary according to
types of spirits. The result is a kind of spiritual empiricism
in which various ritual procedures are employed as experi-
ments to see what occurs. Often this is highly individualistic:
What works for one person may not work for another. In
general, all traditional religions aim to achieve some form of
ritual balance that accords each category of life its appropri-
ate due.
Although rarely accorded philosophical justification ex-
cept in the more consciously elaborate traditional religions,
there exists the underlying assumption that, since all is part
of a whole, any part can stand for the whole. Among the sim-
plest but most common microcosmic representations of the
macrocosm are rock and tree, whose union is variously inter-
preted as the primordial source of life and as the progenitori-
al conjunction of male and female. Other representations
abound. Ceremonial space may be constructed to mirror the
whole: Villages, houses, or ships may be symbolically ar-
ranged on a macrocosmic basis, or particular objects, such
as the kayon that is held up to begin and end a wayang perfor-
mance, the four-cornered raga-raga rack that hangs suspend-
ed in a traditional Batak house, or merely a flag and flagpole,
can be vested with all-embracing cosmic significance. Fre-
quently, the human body itself may represent the whole of
the cosmos. All such representations have a potency that is
centered, ordered, and ultimately diffused outward.
A fundamental feature of the traditional religions is
their recognition that life depends upon death, that creation
derives from dissolution. This is the emphatic theme of most
myths of creation and is repeated in origin tales and in much
folklore. In widespread tales of the origin of the cultivation
of rice, millet, or of various tubers, for example, the first
sprouts or shoots of the new crop come from the body of
some ancestral figure. Moreover, since life comes from death,
the ancestral dead or specific deceased persons, whose lives
were marked by notable attainments, are regarded as capable
of bestowing life-giving potency. Thus the dead figure prom-
inently in the religious activities of the living and the tombs
of the dead are often sources of religious benefit. In some
areas, as on Sumba, the tombs of the dead occupy the
center of the village; elsewhere they form the focal point of
pilgrimage.
The chief sacrificial animals in the traditional religions
are the chicken, the dog, and the pig (although among those
populations that keep them the water buffalo is by far the
most important sacrificial animal). Sacrifice generally in-
volves creative analogies on an ordered scale. The people of
Nias, who perform spectacular pig sacrifices, describe them-
selves as “God’s pigs.” In the mortuary ceremonies of the
Toraja, the sacrificial water buffalo is identified with the de-
ceased but, in other contexts, can represent the entire descent
group. Among the Rotinese, as among other peoples of
Southeast Asia, the water buffalo can also be analogically
identified with the whole of the cosmos and sacrifice can thus
be conceived as a reenactment of creation.
The entrails of chickens and the livers of pigs frequently
provide a means of divination within a sacrificial context.
These forms of divination, as well as others, such as the augu-
ry of birds or divination by spear, together with spirit posses-
sion form part of a complex revelatory process by which hu-
mans seek to interpret the wishes and intentions of the spirit
powers.
RITUALS OF LIFE AND DEATH. The rituals of the different
traditional religions of the region invariably constitute part
of a continuing process or cycle and are primarily concerned
with the enhancement of life, either the life of particular per-
sons or the life of large collectivities, including that of the
cosmos as a totality. Life-cycle rituals mark the process of life
and death. They may be seen to begin with marriage—the
union of male and female—and proceed through specific
stages. Prominent among these rituals are those that mark
the seventh month of a woman’s pregnancy, haircutting,
tooth filing, circumcision (which may have had a pre-Islamic
origin but has been given increased significance through the
influence of Islam), the coming of adulthood through mar-
riage, and the formation of an autonomous household,
which in many societies centers on the celebration of the
completion of a house. In numerous societies, tattooing is
a physical marking of this process of development and special
tattoos are used to identify individuals who can claim out-
standing achievements. Often tattoos are regarded as a pre-
requisite for admission as well as individual identification in
the world after death.
Death rituals are part of the same process as those of life
and in general are celebrated throughout the region with
great elaboration. Death rituals are also performed in stages
commencing with burial and continuing sometimes for
years. Such rituals are believed to chart, or even effect, the
progress of the spirit of the deceased in its journey or eleva-
tion through the afterworld. Major celebrations often occur
long after initial burial, when only the bones of the deceased
remain. These bones, separated from the flesh, may either be8650 SOUTHEAST ASIAN RELIGIONS: INSULAR CULTURES