#rinait

[tananansad]

who wants a list of folk catholic ritual incantations used by tindal dusuns

[tananansad]

waow. there's a whole archive of lotud tantagas (ritual specialists) reading the rinait mamampang (creation myth chant) out loud right over here. i've never seen anything like this before. most chants are only written down or in the form of snippets on youtube. i'm so glad i got to see full recordings of rinaits, even if not from my own group.

[tananansad]

a strong urge to transcribe rinaits i’ve encountered on youtube

[tananansad]

a misconception about rinaits

I think the worst misconception among present KDMR peoples is that rinaits are specifically only chanted by bobolians.

Pictured: Adam Gontusan, a male bobohizan from Penampang, a district usually known for its female priestesses. Source

They’re not.

In fact, rinait is such a semantically wide word that it encompasses anything from hour-long appeasement chants to small, daily chants that aid against small inconveniences like this rinait which I found here:

Kuuku doru-doru hombo nongoi di ama-ama? Inongoi ponopuk-nopuk. Songkuro sinopukan? Iso no wodik-wodik. Kotulud ilo wodik, idu tonggoi liata.  Hombo nongoi di idi-idi? Inongoi poniud-iud. Songkuro nosiud-iud? Iso no dalat-dalat. Patatako oh dalat, idu tonggoi liata. (Inggulian do inturu)

which I would literally translate as

Kuuku doru-doru; where have the fathers gone? Gone to hunt with blowpipes. How many shot? Just one small wodik. The wodik flies away; rid the eye dust. Where have the mothers gone? Gone to fish. How many caught? Just one small dalat. Behead the fish, rid the eye dust. (Repeat seven times)

When there is no nearby water source, children are taught from a young age to recite this mantra while rubbing their upper eyelid whenever “dust” enters their eye(s). That’s kinda cute, honestly, despite not really getting the significance of the verses.

Notes:

Kuuku doru-doru has no inherent meaning, it’s a miscellaneous phrase, most likely to indicate which rinait is about to be recited.

I failed to find a reputable source that mentions what a wodik is. Probably a kind of edible dove or robin. Same goes with the dalat.

If you couldn’t tell, I translated the duplicated nouns as dimunitives, which is how it would be perceived by Dusuns. The duplicated verbs, too, indicate a search for small game, and not a mass hunt.

Idu tonggoi liata contains a compound verb idu tonggoi in its root form, which usually indicates the imperative for non-transitive verb phrases. Literally, it translates to “remove seize.” Regardless, I’ve failed to come up with a better translation of the line.

To moniud is to fish with a handled net, usually meant for small game.

[tananansad]