Lance

Basi Baranga

Note: The following text is taken from a 19th-century collection catalog and, in its language and perspective, partially reflects colonial thought patterns. We present the text in its original version to make the collection's history transparent and promote a critical examination of the colonial legacy. Certain terms and formulations may be perceived as problematic today. A 2009 research project concluded that most descriptions are factually correct and still usable; only a few details were found to be inaccurate or incorrect. The results of this project were published in the following collection catalog: https://khm-wmw-tm-library.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1457155265

"50. Lance - "Bassi baranga".
The shaft of this lance is decorated on its lower end up to about a meter with long black buck hairs which are tied on in a spiral, one on top of the other. The hair decoration gives the name "baranga". This lance belongs only to the chiefs, nobles and privileged persons whose slaves always carry them ahead of them. In normal life the hair ornament is covered with a black or red cotton covering. For important festivals and ceremonial parades the lance is inverted and carried with the tip pointing down so that the long buck hairs, which are fastened to the lower end, can be freed from their cover and fall into a broad bush. In battle the lance is carried with the head up, the hair decoration is not covered. In times of peace all lances must have their heads covered with sheaths. If someone appears with an uncovered lance head it is considered as a deep insult, and as a challenge to battle. The head of the present lance is flat, without a sheath, the shaft fittings are richly chased silver."

Translation of: Czurda, F. A. J. (1883). Catalog mit Erklärungen der Etnografischen Privatsammlung des Dr. F. A. J. Czurda in Postelberg (Böhmen). (p. 8). Wien, Wilhelm Braumüller