Singalang Burong

The high god of war and of the omen birds, one of the two principal deities of the Iban. He is the lawgiver who shaped the very core of Iban culture. Lang and his immediate family live at the "Towering Ridge" in the sky. In his celestial longhouse live the seven most important birds of augury, five of whom are married to his daughters. These son-in-laws function as his messengers.

Singalang Burong, also called Lang, is regarded as the ancestor of may deities and culture heroes. He was also responsible for initiating his grandson Surong Gunting in the correct procedure of the most important rituals — the rituals connected to warfare, or gawai amat.

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