Kaharingan

Kaharingan is the animist religion of the Dayak peoples of southern Borneo, among them the Ngaju. The name comes from the old Dayak word haring, life. Its symbol is the Batang Garing, a tree of life with a hornbill and the sun at the top.

Ancestor spirits and many deities, often under one supreme god, are central. Traditionally the Ngaju held the second funeral, the tiwah, most important: months or years after the burial the bones were placed in a carved tomb, the sandung, and animals were sacrificed so that the soul could travel to the highest heaven. The balian healed the sick by calling back a wandering soul in trance dances.

The Ngaju were more open to outside influence than other Dayaks. After 1835 the Rhenish Mission began to convert them to Christianity.