• Welcome to West Borneo

West Borneo is a province in Indonesia located on the island of Borneo with the capital city of Pontianak City

The total area of West Kalimantan is 146,807 km² (7.53% of Indonesia). It is the fourth largest province after Papua, East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan. [3]

The area of West Kalimantan includes one area that is popularly known as the province of "Thousand Rivers". This nickname is in harmony with the geographical conditions that have hundreds of large and small rivers that can be  navigable. Several major rivers are still the arteries and main routes for inland transport, although road infrastructure has reached most of the sub-districts.

West Kalimantan is bordered on land with the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Although a small part of West Kalimantan is marine, West Kalimantan has dozens of large and small islands (some uninhabited) scattered throughout the Karimata and Natuna Straits bordering the Riau Islands

according to the 2004 census ,  population in West Kalimantan  amounted to 4,073,304 people (1.85% of Indonesia's population).

Climates in West Kalimantan  are wet and tropical. Rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year with its peak rainfall occurring in January and October the average air temperature is between 26.0 s / d 27.0 and the average humidity between 80% to 90% .

The most dominant ethnic groups in West Kalimantan are Dayak (34.93%) and Malay (33.84%). Dayak ethnicity is ethnic living in rural area, while the Malay ethnics  are majority living in coastal area. The third largest ethnic group is Javanese (9.74%) who have settlement base in transmigration areas. The fourth largest ethnic group is  the Chinese ethnic (8.17%) who are widely found in urban areas such as Singkawang and Pontianak. The next is in the fifth rank of Madurese (6.27%) who have settlement base in Pontianak and Kubu Raya.

The sixth to 10th largest ethnic groups are Bugis (3.13%), Sundanese (1.13%), Batak (0.60%), Daya (0.52%) and Banjar (0.33%) and other tribes (1.33%).

Art and culture

Traditional dances

Dayak is rich in traditional dances.  there are Dance Monong / Manang / Baliatn, Pingan Dance, sword dance/Ajat Dance, Jonggan Dance, Gondan dance,Kinyah Uut Danum, and Zapin dance.

Monong / Manang / Baliatn, is a  healing dance that is found in all Dayak community. This dance serves as a repellent / healer / antidote to the disease so that the patient can recover  from the disease . The dancers act  like a shaman  with their mantra . This dance is present when the shaman is in a state of trance, and this dance is  the part of the traditional ceremony of Bemanang / Balian.

Monong / Manang / Baliatn dance

Pingan Dance is  a Single Dance of Mualang Dayak  community of Sekadau District in the past serving as a ceremonial dance and today this dance serve as the entertainment for the community for  t for the sustenance / tuah / food given by God. This dance uses Pingan as a medium of attraction and this dance departs from ancestral culture in the past which is closely related to the legitimacy ritualism of traditional Dayak of Mualang (Ibanik Group)

PINGAN DANCE

Sword Dance / Ajat Sword, is a single dance found on Dayak  of Mualang. This dance tells the preparation of self-defense for a young man who will come down to do Mengayau expedition. Dancers perform attacking and deflecting movements using their traditional skills. This dance of his past begins with a ritual f worship of  the sword (Nyabor Mualang language) and this dance is accompanied by a musical instrument called Tebah Unop. Spread in the village Merbang and surrounding Belitang Hilir subdistrict and belitang upstream kampung sebetung.

Jonggan Dance, is a social dance of Dayak Kanayatn community in Kubu Raya area (Ambawakng), Mempawah (Toho, Manyalitn), Landak (Sahapm) which can still be found and enjoyed visually. This dance tells joy and happiness in Dayak youth association. In this dance the guests who come are generally invited to dance together

JONGGAN DANCE

Condan Dance is a social dance that is accompanied by poetic  and traditional music of Dayak people in the district of  Sanggau Kapuas . sometimes this kondan art is accompanied by guitar. This kondan art is a greeting of happiness to guests who visit and spend the night in the area. This art is done by way of dancing and replying  rhymes or poetic.

Kinyah Uut Danum, is a typical war dance of the Dayak of Uut Danum tribe that shows agility and vigilance in the face of the enemy. Currently Kinyah Uut Danum is much shown at special events or when welcoming guests who visit. This dance is very difficult to learn because in addition to using the original Ahpang (Mandau), also because the movement is very dynamic, so that people who have no strong physics will  have fatigue quickly

Kinyah Uut Danum,

Zapin dance in West Kalimantan is found Malay society. Zapin is the dance of Malay  Society adopted i from middle east that is Hadramaut, then spread to Riau onwards to Kalbar. Zapin dance Is a social dance in society, as the media of expressing the  happiness in the association. If he uses the Tembung property,  then it is called Zapin wall, if using fan , then it is called Zapin Fan.

ZAPIN DANCE

Traditional Musical Instrument

Gong / Agukng, Kollatung (Uut Danum) is a musical instrument made of brass and  a multifunctional musical instrument both as a dowry, as a symbol of spirit in marriage. As well as material payment in customary law.