A history of ritualistic headhunting
By Stefan Haertel

Disclaimer: This article is NOT meant to demonize any culture, or support the image of savagery or anything else like that. Likewise, it does not attempt to glorify or excuse the killing of humans. It is an objective study of the practice of ritual headhunting.

One of the less popular, yet hardly ever forgotten cliché of "tribal savagery" is the ritual of headhunting. In several cultures throughout the world, war meant to some that they would lose their head- literally. While headhunting is not such a widespread phenomenon as cannibalism and human sacrifice, it is common among many "lesser civilised" cultures.
Headhunting was practiced by various cultures in Southeast Asia, Oceania and South America. But as the fact that warriors went out to decapitate their opponents is the same to all these cultures, the reasons and the later treatment of their prizes is very much different. However, one basic resemblance of all the cultures was, that headhunting was practiced only during times of war.

In Southeast Asia, headhunting was common in Assam (India, but don't let the people of Assam hear that), Burma (Myanmar), various islands in Indonesia and the northern Philippines.
A notorious culture that practiced headhunting was the Dayak culture of Borneo, Indonesia/Malaysia (part of the Island forms the Sultanate of Brunei, but this is only a small fraction), the island also known under the name of Kalimantan. The Dayak are notorious because of their tatoos, which play an important part of their cultural lives. Tatoos would denote good housewives, strong warriors and successful headhunters (the tatoos in fact being a replacement for human sacrifice, which was practiced very long ago). An important symbol for a good headhunter would be the hornbill, a tropical bird whose most famous specimen appeared in the 1994 Disney film "The Lion King" (though he, for some reason, did not have the beak typical for these birds). Interestingly enough, the hornbill also appears in the headhunting cult of the Ilongot of the northern Philippines, though that is the only similarity between the two cults.
The Dayak believed that by possessing the head of a slain rival, the soul, abilities and powers of the victim would now be given to the new owner. The belief is similar, though not identical, throughout all headhunting cultures, the most important resemblance being the belief that the head is seat of the soul.
To the Dayak, the possession of the head-trophy had fundamental importance. This possession was believed to please the gods, who would bless the people with good crops and all that. Furthermore, the head was vital for the entrance of heaven later on, the passing of a bridge that lead to heaven being only allowed to those men who had two or more heads (with at least one of these being their own, of course), and to caring housewives.
With the adoption of the soul of the slain rival, headhunting was rather a reconciling action, as the head (as bearer of the soul, of course) was treated in a friendly manner, the people of the group the victor belonged to regarding the head (soul) as a part of theirs.

The Ilongot of the Philippines did not really care for their heads -the heads of their enemies that would be theirs, that is. With the Ilongot, headhunting was not the joy of gaining a new family member. It was much more like stress relief, in every way. The Ilongot did not even bring the heads of their rivals back home. The practical use of headhunting here was to gain the spirit of the victim, which allowed the be-header to wear hornbill earings, which was a sign of respect, and would allow them to marry a woman (all that only to impress the girls? Creepy.).
Other peoples of Southeast Asia would decapitate enemies to gain their souls for ancestorial armies of the skyworld, which was part of a three-layered world (the other two layers being this world and the underworld).
Headhunting eventually became more or less extinct in these areas (the more or less referring to a rather unknown status of some isolated peoples here or there), but was practiced very long into colonial times. Some cultures simply had an emotional tie to their heads, while others, like those of Borneo, did it as an act of defiance to their colonial powers.

Headhunting was also widespread in Oceania. While Polynesia was not so affected, the ritual becoming extinct eventually, the Melanesians kept the practice until the beginning of the 20th century, when colonists from Great Britain, Germany, France or the Netherlands did their very best to remove it from their colonies.
Melanesia includes New Guinea, the islands of the Bismarck Archipelego, the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Some of the keenest headhunters were the Marind-anim and the Asmat, both of New Guinea. To the cultures of Oceania, headhunting was a religious act. The practice of headhunting was a symbol of the defeat of evil forces in their legend of Creation. In fact, it was usually just a part of a ceremony which also included cannibalism.
The people believed that the power of Creation lay in the head, which furthermore meant that by possessing the head of someone else, the owner also gained these powers as an addition to his own.
Therefore, to the Melanesians the head was a symbol of Creation, and thus a symbol of life and fertility. The practice of sepparation of the head from the body came from the myth Creation, in which life became only possible when a giant demon who spread terror and had scared away the gods was killed and cut into pieces.

Many cultures of South America practiced headhunting as well. One of the was the Nazca culture of ancient Peru. Their passion for headhunting came from the Paracas, who were their predecessors of sorts. The Nazca had much interest in the preparation and presentation of their -newly aquired- heads, not unlike the aforementioned cultures. Small holes were cut into the forehead, to fasten ropes for carrying them (in Melanesia, these ropes were fastened in the nose). The inner parts of the head (eyes, tongue, muscles, brain etc) were removed, pieces of cloth were put into eyeholes and cheeks, and the mouth was closed with thorns to prevent the soul from fleeing (and to prevent the mouth from withdrawing in the process of drying). After a ritual ceremony, the heads were either buried or used for trophies.
It is not clear exactly why the Nazca did this, as there are no written sources about this. One theory is that they just wanted to please the spirits, like the Dayak, but another is that these heads were a symbol of life and fertility, like in Melanesia.

The most (in)famous of headhunter cultures is that of the Jivaro of Ecuador. Western judgement has not been kind to this people, which is subdivided into several tribes hostile to each other. They are most famous for their practice of shrinking heads, which only they did, no matter what clichéd adventure tales may want us to believe.
Jivaro warriors needed their trophies, which in their case were the heads of their rivals. The possession of this would mean good fortune to the warrior and pleasure to his ancestors. The preparation of the head also meant safety from the spirit of the slain and his revenge. It would also be an insult to the dead and his people, triggering vendetta, which means there was a consistent state of hostility and war between these tribes.
The Jivaros did not just take the heads of everyone. The reason needed to be vendetta, and the head would not be taken from a relative.
The heads were prepared by first peeling the skin off the skull with help from a slit in the back of the head which would later be sewn together again. The skull was then given as a gift to the anaconda. The skin, together with the hair, was then used for further preparation. It was first bathed in sacred boiling pots. The eyes were sewn shut with fiber, the mouth was temporarily closed with small wooden pegs, later to be replaced by dangling strings.
After the bath, the skin heads would be approx. 1/3 smaller, and had a darker colour. Hot stones and sand would serve for final shrinking later, but first the head would be turned inside out to remove the remaining flesh. Detail work would follow to make the whole thing more beautiful. The entire process would take about a week, and in the end the head would feel much like a rubber glove.
Three ceremonies would then be held in the course of a year. The head trophy remained a symbol for the warrior, much like the Medal of Honour to a US soldier, until it was then either dumped into a swamp or given to children.
Ironically, it was the Europeans who would give a boost to Jivaro headhunting. Interested in these exotic goods, they would trade them for firearms, which would be used to get more shrunken heads. The business flourished (the Jivaros eventually maintained a real shrunken head production for 25$ per head) until the Ecuadorian government tried their best to ban this trade. Apparently, it is not entirely extinct yet, and you can buy shrunken heads over the internet for about 76 Euros, so here's an idea for a very special and unique Christmas gift for your loved ones.

Sources:

http://www.thelema93.de/tattoo/files/dayak.html
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/russell/headhunting.htm
http://www.indianer-welt.de/sued/nazca/nazca-troph.htm
http://www.head-hunter.com/
Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin, Museum für Völkerkunde Abteilung Südsee: "Führungsblatt 080: Kopfjagd und Kannibalismus"