The Great Culture of Murut

The Murut people are mostly cultivators and hunters with some riverine fishing.

One of their traditions is headhunting. In order to get married, males had to present at least one head he hunted to the family of the desired girl. In one of the sub-ethnic groups, the Murut Tabol, it is believed that headhunting can help their souls to meet Aki Kaulung. According to their beliefs, Aki Kaulung is the main source of power and it also means grandfather in Murut Tabol. However, cultural practices like headhunting has been abandoned after the community has converted into Christianity.

Celebrations usually don't end before sunrise and can last up to seven days later. This is especially the case with weddings or funerals. Through modernization, jars along with cloth, beads, gold and ivory bracelets have replaced the heads required in weddings. All these dowry items will be proudly displayed at the ceremony. Jars or "sampa" holds a prominent status in their customs. The Murut know the age of sampa and treats them with utmost respect. Jars are also known as a place of spirits in the Murut culture.

Besides that, beads also play an integral role in Murut life. Wedding beads must be presented in the form of belts, necklaces, headgear and decoration. The wedding ceremony must be held in the bride's longhouse, tapai or rice wine must be served and all the meat has to be pickled.

The Murut keep the bodies of their deceased in a jar and place them in colourful and elaborately decorated grave-huts along with the deceased's belongings. The body will be placed in the foetal position inside the jar and a gong will be placed over the mouth of the jar to close it. However this custom of burial is becoming rare with the availability of wooden coffins.

There are certain taboos in Murut’s culture.
- After a person dies, no one living in the house is allowed to work for one to two days. If work is done, there will be poor crop yield.
- After a feast, no work may be done for 1 or 2 days or the padi will be as though burnt.
- After poisoning fish using tuba in large quantites, the padi will not be ‘fat’.
- While setting a trap, one must not make a sound or no animal will enter the trap.
- When searching for kuyong which are crystalline camphor, the product of a tree, the inhabitants of the hunter’s house may not go to another house to sleep lest no kuyong will be found. One may not eat cassava flour or the kuyong will be fine like flour.
- If the kuyong hunters has any menstruating women living under the same roof during the hunting period of the kuyong, it is believed that the camphor crystals will be bloodstained.