Hari Gawai Dayak

The word Gawai means a ritual or festival whereas Dayak is a collective name for the native ethnic groups of Sarawak and neighboring Indonesian Kalimantan who are the Iban also known previously as Sea Dayak and the Bidayuh people also known as Land Dayak and the Orang Ulu (inclusive of Kayans, Kenyahs, Lun Bawangs, etc.). Thus, Gawai Dayak literally means "Dayak Festival".

The Dayaks are the indigenous people of Borneo. Dayak is a generic term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups which are located principally in the interior of Borneo. They have their own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily identifiable. Dayak languages are categorized as part of the Austronesian languages in Asia. The Dayaks were animist and paganistic in belief; however most converted to Christianity recently. Estimates for the Dayak population range from 2 to 4 million.

The idea for Gawai Dayak started war back in 1957 in a radio forum held by Tan Kingsley and Owen Liang, a radio programme organiser. This generated a lot of interest among the Dayak community. Up till 1962, the British colonial government refused to recognize the Dayak Day but instead called it the Sarawak Day. The first Gawai was hosted by Datuk Michael Buma, a Betong native, at his house at Siol Kandis, Kuching on June 1, 1963, before it was officially gazetted^[1] on 25 September 1964 as a public holiday in place of Sarawak Day after the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. It was first celebrated on 1 June 1965 and became a symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community. Today, it is an integral part of the Dayak social life. It is a thanksgiving day marking a bountiful harvest and a time to plan for the new farming season or other endeavors ahead.

Dayak would visit their friends and relatives on this day. Such visit is more commonly known as "ngabang" in the Iban language. Those too far away to visit would receive greeting cards or wishing gawai greetings via radio broadcasting in this modern time. If there is a formal invitation to visit, the guest welcoming (ngalu pengabang) procession will be performed by the inviting longhouse.

Preparation before Gawai Dayak

The mode of celebration varies from place to place. Preparation starts early. In fact, after the longhouse agrees to hold a big festival, the Dayaks may need to plant paddy in farms adjacent to each other and to implement a labour-exchange program called "bedurok" which is meant to ensure getting enough paddy at the end of the year in readiness for the big feast.

First of all, tuak (rice wine) which is the traditional drink of Dayaks is brewed at least one month before the celebration obviously using the glutinous rice from the recent bountiful harvest mixed with home-made yeast for fermentation. The Ibans also make a stronger alcoholic drink called "langkau" which is equivalent to vodka whereby a fermented tuak is heated up with fire to vaporize the alcohol which is then cooled with water and collected in a container. Among the Bidayuhs, this is called "arak tonok" which means burnt spirit.

The longhouse itself may be cleaned, repaired and repainted by cooperation (gotong-royong in Malay) among the longhouse dwellers, if necessary in time for the celebration. The longhouse itself is constructed in a unique way as a living home and ritual place of worship with the main tiang pemun post and the designated start point of all building materials ("pun ramu").^[2] So, this architecture must be maintained intact. Timber and wooden materials may be obtained from nearby forests if still available. Otherwise, these have to be bought from towns.

Some inside walls of the longhouse can be decorated with ukir pictorial murals with tree and wild animal motives, and bamboo designs by men with the decorating skills. Orang Ulu is famous for their colourful paintings of tree of life on their house walls and their house posts are elaborately-carved. Some men will get traditional tattoos on their bodies to signify their adventures and experiences with land dan marine life motives in time for the gawai.^[3]

Highly-decorated shields may be made and displayed near the family room door. Old human skulls obtained during headhunting raids if still kept are cleaned and shown for exposition. Heirloom jars may be cleaned for exhibition. Deer horns may be sticked on the longhouse posts to hang highly decorated swords.

Modern furniture like tables and chairs may be bought for comfort. Electric fans or even air-conditioners may be purchased if electricity supply has reached the longhouse. Old wooden longhouse ("rumah kayu") may be replaced with concrete and bricks to build it into a terraced longhouse ("rumah batu") either single or double storey if income and finance permits and when all family agrees to do so.

Just before the gawai, traditional cake delicacies are prepared from rice flour mixed with sugar like sarang semut" (ant nest cake), "cuwan" (molded cake) and "kui sepit" (twisted cake) which can last long while kept tight inside a jar because they are deep-fried until hardened but quite brittle when eaten. As the celebration nears, "penganan iri" (spherical-shaped cake) is made because this one cannot last long as it still contains moisture.

As the big day approaches, everyone will be busy with general tidying up, grave visiting, paddy drying and milling, collecting and preparing foods for the festival and final house decoration where necessary.

A visit to clean the graveyard is conducted and offerings made to the dead before the actual festival. After the visit, it is important to bathe before entering the longhouse to ward off bad luck.

Before milling the paddy, it needs to be sufficiently dry to make the grains stronger by getting off of any moisture and not broken while milling. In the old days, traditional tools like rice miller, rice mortar and winnowing basket are used to turn the paddy into rice. This process is quite lengthy and time-consuming, therefore done in groups. Nowadays, modern rice milling machines are available. Those who do not plant rice now will buy rice from towns if they can afford to do so.

Before the Gawai eve, the longhouse folks may organize a hunting or fishing trip if forest is still available in the rural areas to get wild meats and fish from rivers or even seas if nearby. Both can be preserved with salt in a jar or smoked over the firewood platform above the cooking earth in the kitchen, in waiting for the coming feast.

Any wild animal parts like the horn, teeth and claws, and bird horns and feathers will be used to decorate and repair their traditional costumes for the coming big feasts.

Celebration on first day of Gawai Dayak

On the Gawai Eve, people will take sago, aping, sawit or coconut palm shoots which are mostly for making soup with meats and collect other vegetables like the wild miding fern, fiddlehead fern, bamboo shoots, tapioca leaves and Dayak round brinjals from nearby jungles, farms or gardens early in the morning.

Upon their return, some poultry and chickens will be slaughtered for the festival. Some of their meats will be cooked in middle-aged thin-wall bamboo logs to make the traditional dish called "pansoh" or "lulun" in the Iban language. The meats will be first mixed with traditional herbs like lemon grass, ginger, bungkang leaves and salt to taste before putting them into the bamboo logs.

The remaining meats will be preserved in salt if too much to be cooked at once or straight away cooked, either fried or souped in mixture with palm shoots. Some of the meats especially the animal heads will be roasted over the open fire for consumption right away while still hot with some tuak served. Traditional cooking is made over open fire from wood as fuel and the cooking implements are made from small tree logs.

Some glutinous rice is cooked in bamboo logs to get the special aroma from the bamboo and thus delicious to be served with the meat cooked in a bamboo log. Normal rice will be cooked using pots at the kitchen with fire made from wood. The fire wood will give the cooked rice a distinctive aroma. Some Dayaks especially Orang Ulu may wrap up rice in the "long" green leaves before steaming it inside a pot in order to get a special aroma. Nowadays, rice is cooked using a gas stock or rice cooker with several pandan leaves put in to give a delicious smell. Therefore, nowadays Dayaks may have both types of the cooking facility with the modern one inside the kitchen while the traditional one just outside the kitchen to let the smoke out of the family room.

Meanwhile in the longhouse, highly decorated mats will be laid out on the gallery which runs through the entire length of the longhouse for guests to sit on. There are various types of Dayaks' traditional hand-woven mats which are used for seating guests, These are the reed mat woven with colourful designs, "lampit" rattan mat, "bidai" tree bark mat and "peradani" mat. The walls of most family rooms and gallery are decorated with traditional blankets like the woven Pua Kumbu or tied cloth ("kain kebat") which are made with unique Dayak designs. The women are very much keen to showcase their hard labour of mat-making and hand-weaving during the festival. Even some wonderful traditional baskets can be seen during the gawai.

Celebration on first night of Gawai Dayak

The celebration starts on the evening of 31 May.

In most Iban longhouses, it starts with a ceremony to cast away the spirit of greed (Muai Antu Rua), signifying the non-interference of the spirit of bad luck in the celebration. Two children or men each dragging a winnowing basket (chapan) will pass each family's room. Every family will throw some unwanted article into the basket. The unwanted articles will be tossed to the ground from the end of the longhouse for the spirit of bad luck.

Around 6 pm or as the sun sets, an offering ceremony (miring or bedara) will take place, normally at every family room. Before the ceremony, ritual music called gendang rayah is performed. Old ceramic plates or containers made of split bamboo skins will be used to put on the offerings to deities. For example, the Iban Dayaks have seven deities whose names are Sengalang Burong (the god of war which is represented by the Brahminy Kite in this world), Biku Bunsu Petara (the great priest second in command), Menjaya Manang (the first shaman and god of medicine), Sempulang Gana with Semerugah (the god of agrriculture and land), Selampadai (as the god of creation and procreativity), Ini Inee/Andan as the god of justice and Anda Mara as the god of wealth.^[4] In addition, Iban Dayaks will call upon the legendary and mythical people of Panggau Libau and Gellong, and some good helpful spirits or ghosts to the feast.

The number of offering sets to be prepared may include at least nine sets which are at the four corners of the family room, one each at the kitchen, the rice containing jar, the gallery, the tanju and the farm. Each offering set for festivals normally contains seven traditional items namely the cigarette nipah leaves and tobacco, betel nut and sireh leaves, glutinous rice in hand-woven leave container (senupat), rice cake (tumpi), sungki (glutinous rice cooked in buwan leaves), glutinuos rice cooked in bamboo logs (asi pulut lulun), penganan iri (cake of glutinous rice flour mixed with nipah sugar), ant nest cake and molded cake, poprice (made from glutinous paddy grains heated in a wok or pot), hard-boiled chicken eggs and last but not the least, the tuak rice wine poured over or contained in a small bamboo cup.

After all the offering sets are completed, the Feast Chief thanks the gods for the good harvest, and asks for guidance, blessings and long life as he waves acockerel over the offerings. The cockerel will then be sacrificed by slicing its neck and its wing feathers are pulled out and brushed onto its bleeding neck after which each feather is placed as sacrifice (genselan) onto each of the offerings sets. The offerings are then placed onto their respective designated locations.^[5]

Once the offering ceremony is done, dinner for family is then served at the gallery which is contributed by every family in the longhouse. All the best traditional foods, delicacies and drinks that have been prepared so far are showcased for this family dinner reunion. Relatives and friends are invited to join in this dinner.

Just before midnight, a spirit-welcoming procession (called Ngalu Petara in Iban) up and down the gallery seven times is performed. During this procession, a beauty pageant to choose the festival's queen and king (Kumang and Keling Gawai) is sometimes conducted based on completeness of traditional costume and of course a bit of beauty and handsomeness.

Meanwhile, foods and drinks including traditional cakes and delicacies are continued to be served either at the gallery or within the family room and ready for consumption by anyone based on the open house concept. It is time to show generosity to all!

At midnight, the gong is beaten to call the celebrants to attention. The longhouse Chief (tuai rumah) or Festival Chief will lead everyone to drink the Longevity Water (Ai Pengayu in Iban). This is normally tuak and at the same time longhouse dwellers wish each other "Longevity, Wellness and Wealth while living on this world" which in Iban is the famous line of festival greeting of "Gayu-Guru, Gerai-Nyamai, Senang Lantang Nguan Menua" in Iban. Apologies for any past mistakes or quarrels may be made to forgive and forget in order to maintain harmony and peace within the community.

The celebration now turns merrier and less formal with some festival programs organized.

Among others, a tree of life called ranyai in Iban will be set up at the gallery for celebration purposes and to showcase the traditional ngajat dance, sword dance or self-defence martial art and other merry making activities around the tree according to the sound of traditional music played. Others will sing their traditional poems like pantun for entertaining the guests and crowds.^[6]

There are many variations of the traditional ngajat dance which basically revolve around the male dance and female dance graceful and precise movements of the body, hands and feet with occasional shouts of battle cry. The famous and common choreography is called rice mortar ngajat dance, warrior dance and hand-combat dance for men while pua kumbu ngajat dance and above gong dance for ladies.

A ngajat dance contest may be held during this time at the ranyai tree of life. There are various types of ngajat traditional dance which are performed by ladies and gentlemen as mentioned above. The Iban male traditional dance is meant to show strength and bravery and may imitate the movements of a hornbill which is regarded as the king of worldly birds by the Iban Dayaks. The Iban female dance involves more graceful movements of their body, hands and feet.

For Bidayuh Dayaks, their traditional dances comprises tolak bala (danger repealing) dance performed before the harvesting season to ask for blessing and to protect the community from danger, totokng dance that is performed during the harvest festival to welcome the paddy soul and guests, langi julang ritual dance which is performed at the closing of the harvest festival to thank gods for bestowing good health and rich harvest and the eagle-warrior fight dance to win over a girl as a wife which is usually performed after the harvest season as a form of entertainment for guests of the longhouse with the outstretched hands of the dancers imitate the movements of the eagles as they flap their wings in flight and then they attack each other with the eagle eventually fell unconscious so leaving the warrior as the winner.

The ngajat dance is accompanied by a traditional musical set which is made of an engkerumong set (percussion), tawak (big gong), bebendai (small gong) and bedup (drum). The Orang Ulu music is played using the sape. Nowadays, the traditional musics and native songs have been recorded so can be played easily.

Other activities that may follow and extend to the next few days include (blowpipe) sumpit contest, traditional game contest, cockfighting matches (nyabong), mini sports and fun games.

The Dayaks love to rear chickens for food and cockerels for cockfighting which is part of their ritual festivals and their favourite past time. They have recognized many types of the cockerel feathers based on similarities with other birds and fishes, and intimate knowledge to read the luck and fate of the cockerels based on the scales on their feet.^[7]

The blowpipe is a very long straight cylindrical tube (about 3 meters) made of a hard wood with a circular hole drilled through its middle centreline and its arrow tip is poisoned to kill animals and birds while hunting after being hit.

Other traditional game competitions include the tuak drinking, arm-wrestling (bibat lengan), small log pulling (betarit lampong), rope pulling (tarit tali) and foot-banging (bapatis) contests.

Mini sports may be organized on the ground during the day e.g. football, sepak takraw (rattan kickball) and futsal which is popular nowadays among the youth. Fun games are organized for adults and children such as running in gunny sacks and balloon blowing.

Celebration on second day of Gawai Dayak

On the first day of June, homes of the Dayaks are opened to visitors and guests. An open house organized by the Dayak association or non-government organisation is also held on that day or several days afterwards. It is time to showcase their traditional foods and drinks, cultural performances, ritual ceremonies and the Dayak hospitality in general.

Normally during gawai, ladies and gentlemen wear their traditional colourful costumes called "ngepan" in Iban especially for welcoming guests before changing to modern clothes. The traditional attire set of Iban gentlemen include a loincloth (sirat or cawat), animal skin protective coat (gagong), headgear with peacock and hornbill feathers (lelanjang), chains over the neck (marik), silver armlets and anklelets along with a shield, sword and spear.

Of course, the body of gentlemen may already be decorated with tribal tattoos (kalingai or pantang in Iban) which signify their life experience and journey. Nowadays, temporary tattoos can be made onto the body just for the celebrations except specific signatures like the frog design on the man front neck and tegulun design on the hand backsides which both indicate someone had successfully chopped off human heads during headhunting or killed enemy during military combats in modern days. However, some designs are based on marine life which are meant for protection and rescue of the wearers if they are in danger or their boats capsized or sunk in the rivers or seas while traveling elsewhere in search of fortune and better life.

The traditional costume set of Iban ladies consists of a hand-woven cloth (kain betating) worn around the waist, rattan and brass ring high corset around the upper body, selampai (long piece of scalp) worn over the shoulders, a woven bead chain over the neck and shoulders called marik empang, decorated high-comb (sugu tinggi) over the hair lump (called sanggul), silver belt (lampit), armlet, anklet and orb fruit purse. The other Dayak tribes would showcase their own traditional costumes during the festival. In the past, it is customary for Dayak ladies to show off their bare breasts as a sign of beauty to all guests during festivals but no longer practiced nowadays.

For Bidayuh Dayaks, Dayung Boris are maidens of the Gawai Festival, dressed in traditional dresses. Their traditional community building is called the “baruk” which is a roundhouse that rises about five feet off the ground. This serves as the granary and the meeting house for the settlement’s community. Longhouses were typical in the olden days, similar to that of the Ibans but many now live in separate houses in a village style.

The traditional costumes will show more or less the economic status of the wearers as not all can make or afford the woven clothes and silvers. Hand weaving is a highly skilled job and only a few ladies will eventually become accomplished master weavers. Certain designs used in the weaving are sacred and the woven cloths are only used for ritual festivals. The social ranking of Iban ladies will be determined after her death during their Gawai Antu where the traditional customary law called the widow fee (adat tebalu in Iban)^[8] will be paid in her honour and accomplishments in life.

Therefore, weaving is the top skill for ladies to master while the men master the art of agriculture especially rice farming and later on planting of economic crops, and headhunting while still practiced last time. In addition, the men are encouraged to go on journeys in search of better life and fortune e.g. wild rubber tapping last time and working offshore nowadays. The men are also expected to learn skills for hunting, fishing and honey taking from high tapang trees. The social ranking for Iban men are determined during taking their widower fee during the Gawai Antu.

Traditionally, when guests just enter or arrive at a longhouse, the reception ladies will quickly line up to form two rows on the left and right hand sides of the ladder and the door to welcome, shake hands nowadays and offer the guests tuak while the guests passing in between them. These are called the welcoming drink followed by the thirst-quenching drink. From time to time, the guests while seated are then served several more rounds of tuak as the feet-washing drink, profit drink and respect drink. This activity to show hospitality is called the watering of guests or "nyibur temuai" in Iban. Non-alcoholic drinks and non-pork foods are also served to respect certain guests according to the religions, health conditions or simply personal preferences.

During conversations, it is very common among Dayaks to trace their family ties using genealogy (tusut in Iban) for which a tusut drink may be offered. Before ngajat dancing or nowadays karaoke singing, a drink of tuak is also offered. Before making any speeches, a glass of tuak is given to the speakers to encourage and motivate them. One type of a special speech called jaku ansah (sharpening speech) is recited before the guests of honour stand up to speak.

For formal invitations, the guests of honour will be offered to open a fort (called muka kuta in Iban) which is signified by slashing a fence bamboo set up in front of the guest after a recital of special speech by a talented poet. This is followed by an animal-spearing occasion (mancak or nganyang jelu in Iban) at the foot of the longhouse ladder before climbing up into the longhouse with a special speech recited by a talented poet. When the guests enter the longhouse, they are offered drinks by a group of ladies in waiting.

Then a guest procession along the longhouse gallery ensues at least one round before the guest and company are seated at the gallery of the headman, the inviting feast chief or any designated family. This procession is led by a group of traditional ngajat dancers (normally a man and few ladies) who are followed by the important persons with the entourage and finally the traditional musician crew.

After one round procession, the guests are seated at and around the gallery of the headman or the feast chief. After that, a guest prayer is recited by a talented speaker like the headman or the lemambang bard while swaying and holding a chicken over the heads of guests. Once recital is completed, several rounds of drinks are offered again to guests before a simpla offering is prepared by selected guests. Then Some speeches and formality may follow. Modern furniture complete with a modern public announcement system may be available on this special occasion.

Before the guests are offered foods, a special speech (called "muka kujuk pemakai" in Iban) to open the traditional cloth covering over food containers is recited. In the past, guests are seated in lines and served foods in plates by the inviting persons to evenly distribute and ensure everyone got foods but nowadays, self-service or buffet style is practiced.

Next, a set of specially made ground rules of conduct for the festival is announced to all guests and the longhouse own dwellers by the headman or the feast chief before merry-making starts. This is called "begeliga" in Iban. It normally contains rules of discipline and reminders along with heavy fines for making disturbance, trouble, quarreling or fighting among those present.

After the formality has past, all guests will be invited to visit any of the families in the longhouse, usually one after another following the stronger invitations or family connections and skipping a few family rooms where necessary. A short longhouse may consist of ten to thirty family rooms in a row while moderately long ones can reach between above thirty to fifty family rooms and the really long ones can be between above fifty to one hundred family rooms. The really long ones can be split into several terraced houses with one headman in charge.

Another merry-making activity here is called bantil (persuaded drinking) of men by ladies to ensure guests are well-served with drinks to overcome their shyness. It is common to reject several first offers of food and drinks among the guests while it is a custom to offer food and drinks to guests several times as a sign of hospitality and respect to fellow others. The ladies may sing the traditional poem called pantun in order to request the men to drink a large amount of drinks such as tuak.

In another hospitality game called uti by the Ibans, some very important persons (VIPs) may be offered to cut open a coconut placed on a ceramic plate using a knife without touching the coconut and breaking the plate. Successful attempt is rewarded with tuak drinks. A coconut is usually used to check on the conditions of someone's heart and fate where a white coconut flesh is a good indication but a black one would be a bad one.