Aki Nabalu

Kadazan Dusun · numen · Kadazan Dusun traditional religion; continuing · numen

Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak of Borneo, is held by the Kadazan-Dusun peoples to be the resting place of the souls of their dead, and its name is generally derived from Aki Nabalu, 'the revered grandfather (or ancestral place) of the dead'. The early ethnographies of British North Borneo already record that the spirits of the departed travel to Nabalu, and the dead were traditionally buried facing the mountain so that the soul might see its destination and begin the journey. In living tradition this sacred presence is personified as Aki Nabalu, the grandfather-guardian who keeps the mountain and receives the souls of the dead; the Dusun communities of Bundu Tuhan and Kiau on the mountain's flanks address the peak reverentially as Gayo Ngaran, 'the Great Name', avoiding more direct speech. Before any ascent the bobolian ritual specialists traditionally performed the monolob, offering seven white chickens and seven eggs together with betel, tobacco and lime to secure the guardian's permission and protection — a rite continued today in an annual ceremony and renewed in the community pilgrimage known as Kakakapan id Gayo Ngaran ('going up to the Great Name'). After the earthquake of 2015 the mountain's guardianship returned to public prominence when ritual appeasement ceremonies were held on its slopes.

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