on adaptability

Yes, we are an adaptable lot. We response to changes quite openly. We accept religions well, depending of whichever religion comes to the society first, or whichever religion suits our needs better. Most of us, even after having converted to our new religion (or having been raised in the new faith and not the traditional beliefs) still keep some traces of traditional beliefs at home.

We say 'tudu bangat' or 'tapun' when we think of food and have no immediate access to the food in order to avoid bad luck/accident. We even say that when we have to go out of the house before eating the food we are supposed to eat.

We say 'koburol' when we compliment little babies, because our elders taught us that saying the word will keep the bad spirit from harming the babies. (Hmm...magic word? :-)). We say 'sori palis' to avoid bad luck, which more or less functions the same as the English 'touch wood'.

Those are at least the obvious cultural heritage we keep. And I like practising it because it makes me feel very Dusun. (Trying to get my children to do the same, though with the kind of environment they live in, it's a bit of a challenge).

Anyway, adaptability can be a threat. When one adapts too much of outside practises that clash with the traditional culture, a conflict might arise, affecting the individual if not the society. For instance, sex before marriage is not something that's endorsed by the Dusun society. But in the modern world, because of their adaptibility, many people do not have anything against this anymore. (I could be wrong- this could be a generalization based on a few seen cases though.) The sad thing is when a child is born out of the wedlock, and the father refuses to marry the mother, the mother will be branded (negatively) for life or at least for a few years. Offering support openly to the mother, unfortunately, is not a common practice. Why, in the olden days an unwed mother would be left to give birth by herself in the jungle. If she survived, she could go back to the society, offer a 'sogit' and slowly be accepted again. Fortunately, because of the adaptable nature of the society (again), the mother's 'sin' would be forgiven in the long run...