ETHNONYM: Bahau
Kinship terminology is bilateral, reflects generation, and has an Eskimo-type cousin terminology. Descent is bilineal or ambilineal. Villages tend to be made up of people related consanguineally and affinally. Among the Kayans, each village (urna) has its own aristocratic genealogy.
A central feature of the life of these peoples was the mamat, or head feast, which is now rare owing to Christian influence. The mamat required a new head; its purposes included ritual purification, marking the end of a period of mourning for a deceased kinsman, or the ritual completion of a new longhouse.
DANIEL STROUTHES