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Weapons knives Metal forging was, and still is unknown on Enggano. Up to the present day the metal for knives and bush knives (parang) has been imported from mainland Sumatra. The wooden hilts are still made locally,
but those intended for the parang reveal great stylistic similarities with those produced on the mainland. The hilts for the smaller knives are typically Engganese.
A head is carved in wood usually, covered with tinfoil, as is the case with the carved squatting figures on the women's headdresses. In 1994 an old Javanese kris with a hilt carved in Engganese style was still present on the island. The kris was said to protect the house of its owner from burning down. Spears A great variety of spears (for which the Indonesian word tombak is used) are found on Enggano. The curved hooks are typical for the island.
Since the nineteenth-century the spear heads have been made of metal, but in the past they were made of bone
Each category of spears has its own name.
The hunting spears can be used for a variety of purposes, the most frequently mentioned being the hunting of pigs. Spears once served as marriage gifts, as well. Some are considered to be old family pusaka, and are given to the next generation of men through the female line. After the owner has died it is not his son who acquires the pusaka, but his sister's son. Shields Engganese shields are very rare. Three well-preserved shields are part of the collection of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. [44]
Sometimes a human or mythical being is depicted on the shields, but the meaning of this design is not clear.
Some house models show a shield attached to the underside of the house.
The three shields in the Tropenmuseum are large and heavy, which suggests that warfare on Enggano was rather static. The shield offers more than enough space to hide behind for one person, but is difficult to carry around. A wooden pin under the shield was probably used to drive it into the ground. | |
