The fieldwork on which this paper is based was carried out at Kerangan Pinggai longhouse, Ulu Paku, Saribas, during university holidays, 1976–79, 1981–84, and 1988. The present essay had its beginnings in a paper presented at a session of the American Anthropological Association meetings, sponsored by the Borneo Research Council in 1988, on ‘Rites of Passage’. An initial version of the present paper was read at a seminar on ‘House and Household’ conducted by the Comparative Austronesian Project, Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University in April 1989. I am grateful to those present on both occasions for their comments and criticisms and wish to thank in particular George Appell, Robert Barrett, Aletta Biersack, James Fox, Penelope Graham and Mark Mosko for their critical reading of earlier drafts of this essay.