The Tarob and the sacred oath

Stories from the Dusun people of Sabah

Long ago in the villages of Bongkud and Namaus in Sabah, Malaysia, the Dusun people told special stories. These stories taught important lessons about how to live together and respect nature. Two of the most important stories are about the Tarob (a hungry spirit that eats the moon) and about a sacred promise that keeps two villages united.

Who are the Dusun people?

The Dusun people live in Sabah, on the island of Borneo. They have their own special beliefs, ways of doing things, and stories. Many of their stories explain things in nature, like why the moon disappears during an eclipse, or why people must keep promises.

The Dusun people have a great god called Kinoringan (sometimes called Kinorohingan). According to their creation story, his wife Suminundu created the island of Borneo and placed Mt. Kinabalu at its centre. This mountain is very important to the Dusun people and appears in many of their stories.

The story of the Tarob: the moon-eating spirit

What is the Tarob?

The Dusun people had an explanation for something you might have seen: when the moon seems to disappear from the sky. Today, we know this happens because of science. But the Dusun people believed something different.

They believed a hungry spirit called the Tarob (also called Barob) tried to eat the moon. This spirit was so greedy that nothing could fill its belly. It could take many different forms: sometimes a fish, sometimes inside other animals, and sometimes just a spirit floating in the air.

Why is the Tarob so hungry?

According to one Dusun story, the Tarob was so greedy that even his mother could not feed him. No matter how much food she gave him, he always wanted more. One day his mother became tired of his endless hunger. She told him: "Go and eat the moon instead!" And that is exactly what the Tarob tried to do.

What happens when the Tarob tries to eat the moon?

When the Tarob began to swallow the moon, the people on earth saw it disappearing. They knew what was happening. They came together and made noise. They beat their gongs (special drums) loudly and called out to the spirits in the sky.

Kinoringan, the great god, heard all this noise. He was not happy with the Tarob for being greedy. He told it to stop. The Tarob got so scared that it spit out the moon, along with all the rice it had stolen from the Ompuan women (female spirits who look after rice and plants). The rice fell to earth and gave people a good harvest that year.

What does this story teach us?

This story teaches an important lesson: when many people work together and speak up against something wrong, they can make a difference. It also shows that being too greedy is never good, even for a spirit.

A modern connection

Many years later, a Dusun man named Geluing was hunting and fishing in the forest with his friends. While fishing with a net (the same way his father taught him), he caught a very small fish called a Barob fish. Geluing remembered the old story and told his friends: "People used to say this fish would swallow the moon. That is what our ancestors believed. The spirit of the Tarob lives in all these fish."

The story of the sacred oath

A promise that binds two villages

In 1950, something important happened in the villages of Bongkud and Namaus. People from Namaus did not have enough land to farm. They asked the chief of Bongkud if they could have some land. The chief agreed and said: "We will give you land. But if we ever need land, you must give us land in return."

Both villages agreed to this promise. But they did not just shake hands or sign a paper like we might do today. Instead, they performed a special sacred ceremony to make the promise official and very serious.

How was the promise made sacred?

A special person called a Bobolian (a priestess or spiritual leader) came to perform an important ritual. First, they brought a buffalo and made a special sacrifice. They took parts of the buffalo (its eyes, tail, mouth, tongue, and ears) and buried them in the ground. They also took the buffalo's blood and poured it on stones to make them sacred.

The Bobolian then performed ancient prayers and rituals called rinait. These prayers connected the people to the spiritual world and to the heavens. As she performed these sacred rituals, she called upon the spirits to witness this promise and to punish anyone who broke it.

What did the promise say?

The sacred oath included these important rules:

• no cheating between the villages
• no bothering other people's wives
• no stealing land
• no murder
• no mocking people

Anyone who broke these rules would be "eaten" by the sacred oath. This did not mean they would be eaten. Instead, it meant that bad things would happen to them: they might get sick, have bad luck, or face other troubles.

Why is this promise still important?

Over 70 years passed since 1950. Many houses were built on the land that Bongkud gave to Namaus. Today, many different families live there. But according to the Dusun people, all those people remain bound by the sacred oath made so long ago.

Every day, without even thinking about it, people in these villages live by the rules of that ancient promise. The blood of the buffalo, buried in the earth, reminds them that this is not just any promise. It is a sacred bond between their communities.

What makes these stories special?

Stories that explain the world

Both stories try to explain things about the world. The Tarob story explains why the moon disappears (an eclipse). The sacred oath story explains why Bongkud and Namaus became one community and how they stayed united.

Stories that teach lessons

These stories teach important lessons. The Tarob story teaches about working together and the dangers of greed. The sacred oath story teaches about keeping promises and the importance of honesty.

Stories connected to the land

Both stories are connected to real places. The forest where Geluing fishes is a real place where the Tarob spirit is believed to live. The land given between the villages is real earth where the sacred promise still matters.

The power of storytelling

For the Dusun people, stories are not just entertainment. They are a way of teaching, remembering, and understanding their culture. These stories have been told for hundreds of years. Parents tell them to their children, who tell them to their children.

By keeping these stories alive and telling them in new ways (like through films and the internet), the Dusun people can share their culture with the whole world. People everywhere can learn about how the Dusun people see the world and what is important to them.

Conclusion

The stories of the Tarob and the sacred oath show us that different cultures have different ways of understanding the world. The Dusun people use stories to explain nature, to teach lessons about how to behave, and to remember their history.

These stories remind us that:

• greed is not good
• promises are sacred and important
• communities working together are stronger
• stories are a powerful way to teach and remember important things

The Dusun people have kept these stories alive for centuries. By learning about them, we can understand and respect the Dusun culture and the beautiful island of Sabah where these stories come from.

This simplified version is based on a scholarly article by Martin Potter about the Tarob and the sacred oath in Dusun culture. The original stories were collected and shared by the Dusun people themselves through the Big Stories, Small Towns project.