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Penan society is organised around nuclear families and camp groups.

In Penan society, the natives are highly developed in an egalitarian society and little gender division. It means that the social stratification among the men and women are almost equal.

Penan live under a set of customs known as molong that are geared in part for maintaining a balance and harmony with nature and preserving resources for future generations.

In Penan society, proper social behaviour is learned by example rather than by rigorous discipline, and the importance of sharing is instilled in children from the earliest age.

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Macaques

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-Main activity is hunting
- Only male hunters
- Mostly hunters work alone
-Occasionally work in a group
-hunt with spears, blowguns outfit with poison darts
-poisonous darts are tipped with tadjun, which is a poisonous plant (will kill the animals)
-fire arms ( when its available only)
-Hunt gibbons and macaques
- Wild pigs is the most desired prey
- Also hunts snakes and monitor lizards
- They never kill animal unless they need them as food
- They never kill adult animals that are accompanied by young
- other than hunting, they pick various type of fruits
- Farming such as rice plantation - only for those that have settled permanently

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- Usually done without a ceremony or official approval
- Used to be sealed with payments of bride-price such as blowguns, swords or money.
- East Penan allows first cousin marriage whereas the West Penan do not
- Polygyny is acceptable, but rare.
- Divorce takes place at the choice of either party

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-Avoid eye-to-eye contact when greeting to someone

-Bend slightly and make a bow when they pass by someone or a group of people

-Not allowed to shout or interrupt during conversation

-Penan believes that if they really disobey the taboos and omens, they will face hardship,

Illness or death.

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-Women are believed to be born without a soul until they are married
-Women cannot have children before marriage
- Unwanted child will be aborted with a special plant
- Husband can decide to retrieve his wife's soul by hunting an animal's head

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Forest Etiquette:
As one group goes ahead another group, messages will be left behind to lead them where to go and warn any possible danger.

Practice "mal cun uk" concept:
"mal cun uk" refers to follow your feelings. It is a process that enables them to accomplish amazing feats of orienteering (when they enter an unknown territory).

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Education level is not high

School is far from their homes, need to walk for a long distance

Most of them don’t go to school

Parents focus more on hunting skill-more useful in daily life

KEDAP - runned by Ministry of Education and supported by UNICEF, to provide a basic education for parents and aims to help them understand the value of schooling for their children.

This adult literacy class is in a high demand, many parents are on a waiting list

Early Childhood Education programme-sponsored by PETRONAS

Rumah Arau - encourage Penan children to attend pre-school, prevent drop-outs and with the hope of producing the desired sustainability in their attendance rate.

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- no festivals but rituals

- Blood pacts - part of political agreements between Penan leaders and neighbouring tribes.
- Rituals varied, but in some cases leaders would shed blood onto tobacco and then smoke it together, thus consuming each other's blood and preventing future conflict. A breach of this pact was believed to cause the vomiting of blood and a violent death.

- By smearing their blood onto a sago leaf, folding it and burying it some hunters believe they can change their fortune.

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Wear Jeans, t-shirt and shoes.

Influence by western culture.

Get it by exchanging items with loggers.

Items used for exchange are knifes, cloths, cooking item & etc.

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Penan Women have big earlobes.

The bigger the earlobes, the more beautiful the women are.

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Big earlobes for man indicates a great warrior.

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a one-piece garment, sometimes kept in place by a belt.

It covers only the genitals and partially of the buttocks.

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Penan dressed in colourful clothing.

Traditional attire are mostly worn by the elders.

They have accessories such as bands around their legs, wrists & neck.

Clothing made from Chawats (loincloth)

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- Follow the religion of animism - Believe that natural phenomena, spirits and magic are all interconnected.

- The Penan believe in a creator god named Peselong and rely on shaman to cure illnesses by removing illness-causing spirits.

- Some of the penan converted to Christianity since 1930s (christianity is spread after world war II)
- Some have been converted to Islam.

- believe in myth and spirits are still very strong in some places

- 2 souls:
*physical and emotional
* "dream wandering state"

- western Penan believe that their society originated in the upper Lua river region.

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" We’re not like the people in the towns, who have money and can buy things. If we lose all the things the forest gives us, we will die."

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" We’re not like the people in the towns, who have money and can buy things. If we lose all the things the forest gives us, we will die."

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PENAN MAN, BA LAI

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR6nGyNhdDc

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- Catch their prey by using a 'kelepud' or blowpipe, made from the Belian Tree (superb timber)
- Hunt Babui (wild boar) and other animals like deer, monkeys and Civet cats for meat
- Catch fishes from the rivers
- Eats Uvut (sago). They process it by trampling on it, and leave it in the sun to dry into a powder
- Gather ferns and fruit from the forest
- After settling in villages, they start growing and harvesting rice

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- Musical instruments such as flute and Sape (made from plants)

- Men cut their hair into “bowl style” and tie long ponytails.

- Women shave the hair on their upper forehead and temples, pluck their eyelashes and eyebrow to enlarge their forehead

- Tattoos (believe to get rid of spirits)

* Men - tattoos on their chest, throats and arms

* Women - tattoos on their wrists and legs

- Dance - “warrior dance” (Ngajat)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvTc3EhSsPI

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Fried sago coated with sugar

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Wild boar fritters

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Most Penan were nomadic hunter-gatherers until the post-World War II missionaries settled many of the Penan, mainly in the Ulu-Baram district but also in the Limbang district.The remainder were semi-settled in up river villages, where they farmed rice, bananas and tapioca. Many still hunted and gathered food in the forest.
Nowadays, Penan people are facing problems to protect their land due to deforestation and logging activities.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATMEUia5bkI

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Sarawak- Major populations of Penan tribes

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Sarawak- Major populations of Penan tribes

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• The Penan number around 16,000
• approximately 200 still live a nomadic lifestyle.
•The Penan can be broken down into two loosely related geographical groups known as either Eastern Penan or Western Penan;
•Eastern Penan reside around the Miri, Baram, Limbang and Tutoh regions
Western Penan in and around Belaga district.

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Selap are made from thick poles tied together with rattan strips. Typically the floors are four feet off the ground. Above a hearth of mud are two wooden racks for storing cooking equipment and drying fire wood. Each family usually has one hut for living and a smaller one for sleeping. The roofs are no longer made from giant palm leaves, which are now apparently scarce.

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The Penan are a nomadic indigenous people living in Sarawak and . BruneiAlthough there are only one small community in Brunei almost half have been converted to Islam.  Penan is one of the remaining tribes as hunters and gatherers. The Penan are known for their practice of 'molong' which means never taking more than necessary.
More nomadic Penan are now setting up semi-permanent settlements. Some communities are experimenting with farming, but this accelerates the move away from a nomadic life in the forest: the more farming you do, the less time is spent hunting and gathering and the more farming you need to do.