The Bidayuh (formerly known as Land D(a)yak) are the one of the main indigenous ethnic group now settled in southwest Sarawak and adjacent areas of west Kalimantan. In Sarawak, Borneo a large number of the population is located in the first division, Kuching which is also the capital city of Sarawak. The areas which are considered as the Bidayuh areas are Lundu, Bau, Penrissen, Padawan, and Serian, where most of the Bidayuh villages can be found.The area in which they live is mainly in the basin of the Sarawak River and hilly to mountainous forest, traditionally worked by shifting agriculture and hunting based around farms populated from parent villages situated on the hills for protection. Today, almost all the traditional longhouse-villages have been replaced by individual houses, by roads and there is some plantation agriculture and a reduced emphasis on the growing of hill-padi. Fruit trees, especially durian, remain important property markers. The distinctive architectural and cultural feature of the Bidayuh was the headhouse, now adapted as a symbol.

In Sarawak there are generally said to be three main linguistic groupings (Biatah ; Bau-Jagoi ; Bukar-Sadong ) but these can be broken down even beyond the list referenced below as most people can be distinguished by locals down to village level through smaller differences in vocabulary and intonation. Each area speak its own dialect: Lundu speak Salako-lara; Bratak, Singghi, Krokong and Jagoi speak Bau-Jagoi; Penrissen, Padawan and the Siburan vicinity speak Biatah; and Bidayuh who live around Serian such as Tebekang, Mongkos, Tebedu to Tanjung Amo near the border of Kalimantan Indonesia speak Bukar-Sadong. The dialects are not mutually intelligible and English or Malay tend to be used instead.

Religion was traditionally animist but since the Brooke era Christian missionaries bringing education and medicine and, post-colonially, Malays bringing political influence have drastically reduced its influence (although vestiges often remain). Most villages have either a Roman Catholic or Anglican church or a mosque - rarely more than one or the village would tend to split. The Biatah people living around the Sarawak River tend to be Anglican while the Bau-Jagoi people tend to be Catholics. Muslim villages are rare.

External links

• Ethnologue language tree