COSMOLOGY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPACE IN THREE SAMA-BAJAU RITUALS

Abstract

This paper examines how Sama-Bajau belief systems create space in ritual. In ritual, space ceases to be mere space but becomes an extraordinary site replete with meaning. This construction of a special place reflects, in its arrangement of markers, a social hierarchy comprising of, among others, ritual custodians, ritual celebrators or specialists, participant-audiences, and initiates. The arrangement of people, offerings and implements, as well as natural and man-made markers in ritual space may be construed as tangible artifacts of social relations that serve to link the visible and invisible worlds. In Sama-Bajau ritual, space takes shape as tangible and intangible cultural properties are made to relate to each other. On one hand, tangible properties such as roofed structures, temporary railings, and textile banners serve to mark off, in a physical sense, the sacred from the profane or the mundane. They may also announce the impending retreat of the quotidian giving way to the decidedly special, the spiritual or the divine. On the other hand, intangible properties such as music and dance create sonic and kinetic motifs that break silence and stillness of mundane space and time. As sound travels from its ritual source, the expanse of travelled space through human auditory senses, is felt and cognitively realized. As dance bursts forth from pre-determined points in space, it creates direction or trajectories as well as linear or curvilinear motifs across vertical, horizontal and sagittal planes, thus linking what in silence and stillness used to be unlinked elements in the landscape. This paper seeks to uncover the elements and contours of this rarefied space in ritual, and to see how these aspects of ritual space may help us achieve a better understanding of Sama-Bajau culture and identity. Keywords: Sama-Bajau ritual, sacred space, igal dance, kulintangan music, cosmology