With the Katingans it is the custom for the blian to deposit in a cup containing uncooked rice the objects withdrawn from a patient. Having danced and spoken to the cereal he throws it away and with it the articles, the rice advising the antoh that the small stones, or whatever was eliminated, which he placed in the patient, are now returned to him.
These Katingans begin their year in June and July, when they cut the jungle in order to make ladangs, months being designated by numbers. At the beginning of the year all the families sacrifice fowls, eat the meat, and give the blood to antoh in accordance with their custom. After the harvest there is a similar function at which the same kind of dancing is performed as at the tiwah feast. On both occasions a game is engaged in which also is found among the Bahau and other tribes, wherein a woman jumps dexterously between heavy pestles that, held horizontally, are lifted up and brought down in rapid succession. Three months later—at the end of the year—another festival occurs.
The Katingan calendar may be rendered thus:
1. Cutting the jungle, June and July……. during 2 months
2. Drying the trees and burning them……. during 1 month
3. Planting paddi…………………….. during 2 months
4. New paddi…………………………. in 3 months
5. Harvesting………………………… during 1 or 2 months
6. Waiting…………………………… during 3 months
In order to ascertain the auspicious date for planting paddi these Dayaks employ an astronomical device founded on the obvious fact that in their country there comes a period when a rod placed in an upright position casts no shadow. That is the time for planting. In addition to this method of determination they consult a constellation of three stars which "rise" in the east and "set" in the west during half a year, and are invisible during the following six months. When the three stars appear perpendicularly above the rod in the early morning, before sunrise, then the time to plant is at hand; when they are in the zenith in the late afternoon before sunset, the season for making ladang has come.