Product Code Database
Gawai Dayak, Ari Gawai or Andu Gawai is a form of harvest festival celebrated on 1 and 2 June annually in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia.
It is observed annually on the month of June by the Dayak people ethnic groups to mark the end of the rice harvesting season and gratitude for all the blessings, harmony, sustenance and luck the tribe has received. The festival is also celebrated by Dayaks in neighbouring West Kalimantan, Indonesia on the other date, although it is still not recognised a public holiday by the republic, as well as other Dayak (particularly Iban and Bidayuh) diaspora all around Malaysia, Indonesia and abroad.
The festival is celebrated with various symbolic decoration and family and other social gatherings activities such as of Pekit Kumang (Dayak/Iban female), Dayung Sangon (Bidayuh female), Keligit (Orang Ulu female) and Miss Cultural Harvest Festival (female), Pekit Keling (Dayak/Iban male), Dari Pogan (Bidayuh male), dance performance of Ngajat, Pencha (sword dance), Kuntau (martial arts), and other arts and crafts performances together with the availability of food booth throughout the festivals.
First mooted by radio producers Tan Kingsley and Owen Liang, the British colonial government then began to consider recognising it by 1962. Michael Buma, a Dayak native in Betong, hosted the first unofficial celebrations of Gawai Dayak at his residence in Siol Kandis on 1 June 1963. The issue of the name of Dayak festivities continued until after the formation of the Malaysian federation, until it was brought to the State Council ( Council Negri) several times, and in April 1964, it was officially recognised. Initially, the Gawai celebration was to be called the "Dayak National Day", but the naming proposal was objected to by some government officials who feared that Dayak nationalism (especially chauvinism) would become the obstacle in the cultural celebration. In the State Council, a Sarawakian female Dayak politician, , who is also the first woman to occupy a seat in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly strongly fought for the festivity recognition together with Barbara Mendu Bay, but it was not officially recognised as a public holiday until Stephen Kalong Ningkan of the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) became the first Chief Minister of Sarawak where the public holiday is officially named Gawai Dayak Day instead. On 25 September 1964, the celebration was officially gazetted as a public holiday, and the first official celebration was held on 1 June 1965 and became a symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community since then, which is an integral part of Dayak social life.
Among the dishes that hold a special place in the festivity, especially among the Iban and Bidayuh, is ayam pansuh ( manok pansoh), a traditional chicken dish cooked in a bamboo stalk with , ginger, lemongrass, garlic, torched ginger flower, and galangal and roasted in an open fire, which infuses the chicken with a distinctive flavour and aromatic smells. Any remaining meat is preserved in salt and mixed with kepayang leaves and detoxified seeds. Wooden cooking implements are made from small tree logs. Pig heads are roasted on an open fire to be served hot with the traditional Dayak liquor, a rice wine called tuak, brewed at least one month before the Gawai Dayak. The drink is brewed from the glutinous rice from a recent harvest mixed with homemade yeast called ciping. Traditionally, tuak was made with rice milk only, but is now cut with sugar and water in a process called manduk. A stronger alcoholic beverage made by the Iban is langkau (also called arak tonok, "burnt spirit" by the Bidayuh). This drink is made by distillation tuak over a fire.
Some glutinous rice is cooked in bamboo nodes to soak up the bamboo aroma, such as pangkang (also called pogang). Normal rice will be cooked in pots at the kitchen hearth. The addition of pandan leaves also gives a special aroma together with smoke from the fire wood which gives a distinctive aroma. Some Dayaks, especially Orang Ulu, will wrap rice in long green leaves ( daun long) before steaming it inside a pot. When a longhouse agrees to host Gawai Dayak with big ritual festivals, they may need to plant extra rice and organise labour exchange ( bedurok). Rice may be purchased from towns if the festival is in a place where paddy farming is absent or insufficient. Traditional kuih delicacies are prepared from glutinous rice flour mixed with sugar. These kuih includes sarang semut (ant nest kuih), cuwan (molded kuih), and kuih kapit/sapit (twisted/folded kuih). The kuih can last well whilst kept inside a jar because they are deep-fried until hardened. Penganan iri (a discus-shaped kuih) are made just before the festival day and the making process are more easily than the former despite the kuih did not lasts longer since it is lifted from the hot frying oil while not fully hardened. The sugar used in the kuih making can either be the brown nipah ( nypa fruticans) palm sugar or cane sugar.
The inside walls of the longhouse are decorated with ukir portraying tree and wild animal motifs. Men with decorating skills make split bamboo designs. Women decorate living room walls by hanging their handwoven ceremonial clothes called Pua Kumbu and other handicrafts. The Orang Ulu are famous for their colourful paintings of the tree of life on their house walls and their house posts are elaborately carved. Highly decorated shields are displayed near the family room door. Heirloom jars, brassware, and old human skulls obtained during historical raids or trade sojourns, if still kept, are cleaned and displayed. Antler may be secured to the longhouse posts in order to hold highly decorated swords and other household items.
Highly decorated mats for guests to sit on are laid out on the longhouse gallery which runs the entire length of the longhouse. The act is called beranchau ("mat spreading and adjoining") which marks the opening of the Gawai. The Dayaks make various types of traditional hand-woven mats. There are reed mats woven with colourful designs, lampit rattan mats, bidai tree bark mats and permaidani mats. The walls of most family rooms and galleries are decorated with traditional blankets such as the woven Pua Kumbu and the tied cloth ( kain kebat) blankets which are made with unique Dayak designs. During the festival, women are keen to display the products of their skills and hard work at mat-making and hand-weaving. Some traditional baskets are also seen. Some sets of traditional musical instruments are also displayed in the gallery.
Women wear a handwoven cloth ( kain betating) worn around the waist, a woven beaded chain over the neck and shoulders ( marik empang), a rattan and brass ring high corset around the upper body, selampai (a long piece of scalp) worn over the shoulders, a decorated high-comb ( sugu tinggi) over the hair lump ( sanggul), a silver belt ( lampit), anklet, armlet, as well as an orb fruit purse. In the past, it was customary for Dayak women to bare their as a sign of beauty. Among the Orang Ulu Dayaks, stretched earlobes is also a standard of beauty, despite not widely practised among the newer generations due to the more popularly Westernised interpretation of beauty.
The Iban Dayaks believe in seven deities (the people of hornbill's nest, Orang Tansang Kenyalang) whose names are Sengalang Burong (the war god represented by the brahminy kite), Biku Bunsu Petara (the great priest, who is second in command), Menjaya Manang (the first shaman and god of medicine), Sempulang Gana with Semerugah (the god of agriculture and land), Selampandai (the god of creation and procreativity), Ini Inee/Andan (the god of justice) and Anda Mara (the god of fortune). Iban Dayaks also call upon the legendary and mythical people of Panggau Libau and Gelong, and other good, helpful spirits or ghosts to attend the feast. The entire pantheon of gods is cordially invited to the Gawai feast. Offerings to the deities are placed at strategic spots: the four corners of each family room for protection of souls; in the kitchen; at the rice jar; in the gallery; the tanju; and the farm. Other highly prized possessions such as precious old jars and modern items like rice milling engines, boat engines, or a car may also be placed with offerings. Any pengaroh (charm) will be brought out for this ceremony to ensure its continuous effectiveness and to avoid madness afflicting the owner. Wallets are placed among the offerings to increase the tuah or fortune of the owners.
Each set of offerings usually contains specified odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7) of traditional items: the cigarette nipah leaves and tobacco, betel nut and sireh leaves, glutinous rice in a hand-woven leave container ( senupat), rice cakes ( tumpi), sungki (glutinous rice cooked in buwan leaves), glutinuos rice cooked in bamboo logs ( asi pulut lulun), penganan iri (cakes of glutinous rice flour mixed with nipah sugar), ant nest cakes and moulded cakes, poprice (made from glutinous paddy grains heated in a wok or pot), boiled egg and tuak rice wine poured over or contained in a small bamboo cup. After all the offering sets are completed, the chief of the festival thanks the gods for a good harvest, and asks for guidance, blessings and long life as he waves a cockerel over the offerings ( bebiau). The cockerel is sacrificed by slicing its neck. Its wing feathers are pulled out and brushed onto its bleeding neck after which each feather is placed as a sacrifice ( genselan) onto each of the offering sets. The offerings are then placed at the designated locations.
The chief among them will then be requested to symbolically split open a coconut which symbolises the skull trophies traditionally treasured by the Iban Dayak because the skull is believed to present various types of valuable seeds for men, be they for farming or procreation purposes. In more elaborate events, the chief warrior will perform the symbolic act of clearing the pathway ( ngerandang jalai). He is then followed by his warriors in performing the symbolic act of hand-railing the pathway ( ngelalau jalai). Next, follows a procession by men and women, ladies, youths and kids in traditional costumes along the gallery in honour of the elders in the line up, normally three rounds depending on the length of the longhouse. One outcome of this procession is the anointing of a kumang (princess) and a keeling (prince). After this, some of the procession participants may go for the tuak contained in several medium-sized jar ( kebok or pasu) after paying a token of their appreciation to the respective owners who are normally expert brewers. This tuak is normally the pure liquid from the glutinous rice which tastes sweet but it contains a high concentration of alcohol.
Another important activity is the singing of traditional poems. These include pantun, ramban, jawang, sanggai and pelandai. Any honoured guests to longhouses may be asked to break open a coconut to symbolise the actions of Sengalang Burong (the god of war) which also means victory for the well-being and protection of the communities. In the actual cleansing of the freshly taken heads, the troop leader would eat a bit of the brain with a piece of a glutinous rice before proceeding to throw away the rest of the brain using a piece of rattan swirled by him inside the skull and to slice out the flesh using his war sword. This coconut-splitting ceremony is a sign of respect and honour to the guests being offered to do so. Other merrymaking activities which may extend to the next day include blowgun ( sumpit) contests and traditional games such as arm wrestling ( bibat lengan), small log pulling ( betarit lampong), rope pulling ( tarit tali) and foot-banging ( bapatis) with some also engage in cockfighting. In modern settings, sports include football, sepak takraw (rattan kickball) and futsal. Other parlour games are played such as egg rolling, plate passing to the tune of taboh music, running in Gunny sack, and balloon blowing, while karaoke and joget dance are also popular.
Bidayuh Dayak dances include the tolak bala (danger repealing), a dance performed before the harvest to ask for blessing and protection of the community; the totokng dance that is performed during the harvest festival to welcome the paddy soul and guests; the langi julang which is performed at the closing of the harvest festival to thank gods for bestowing good health and a rich harvest; and the eagle-warrior fight dance performed after the harvest season. Hands are held outstretched imitating the movements of the as they flap their wings during their journey. The eagle eventually falls unconscious so leaving the warrior victorious which is performed especially by men seeking for a female partner.
Speeches are made such as the jaku ansah (sharpening speech) which introduces the guest of honour. The guest of honour is received with a miring offering ceremony outside the longhouse. Upon approaching the longhouse ladder, the guest of honour is asked to open a fort ( muka kuta). This is represented by slashing a bamboo fence with a sword and a poem. Then, at the foot of the longhouse ladder, an animal is speared ( mankan). In ngalu pengabang, guests led by ngajat dancers and followed by the band, process to their seats in the longhouse gallery. After that, a guest prayer ( biau pengabang) is recited by a talented speaker like the headman or the lemambang bard while he sways holding a chicken over the heads of guests. Before the guests are offered foods, a special speech ( muka kujuk in Iban) to open the traditional cloth covering over food containers is recited.
After eating, the families of the longhouse are visited by guests. A short longhouse may have ten to thirty family rooms while moderately long may have thirty to fifty family rooms. A very long longhouse may have fifty to one hundred family rooms. It is common for Dayaks to recite and discuss their genealogy ( tusut in Iban) to reinforce kinships. In the activity called bantil (persuaded drinking), women offer drinks to men to help them overcome shyness. Men traditionally reject the first offers as a sign of respect to the host. Women sing a traditional poem called pantun while offering tuak. In the activity called uti, a special guest is asked to open a coconut placed on a ceramic plate using a blunt knife without handling the coconut or breaking the plate. The coconut offered to be split open by ordinary guests tells of someone's heart and fate: white flesh is good and black flesh is bad.
Ritual feasts of the Saribas and Skrang region include Gawai Bumai (agricultural festival) which comprises Gawai Batu (whetstone festival), Gawai Benih (a paddy seed festival), gawai basimpan (paddy storing festival), and Gawai Burong (a bird festival). The bird festival is performed earlier in the festive period to avoid spoiling of rice wine by the spirit Indai Bilai if the entombment festival for the dead ( Gawai Antu or Ngelumbong) is also held within the same longhouse. In the Baleh region, the Iban ritual festivals include the Gawai Baintu-intu (wellness festival), Gawai Bumai (farming festival), Gawai Amat (proper festival to request divine supernatural assistance), Gawai Ngelumbung (tomb-building festival) and Gawai Mimpi (festival based on dream messages from the spirits).
Fortune related festivals include a Gawai Mangkung Tiang (main house post hammering festival) for any newly completed longhouses; Gawai Tuah (fortune festival) which comprises three stages such as Gawai Ngiga Tuah (fortune seeking festival), Gawai Namaka Tuah (fortune welcoming festival) and Gawai nindokka tuah (fortune safekeeping festival) and Gawai Tajau (jar festival). The health-related festivals which may be performed are the Gawai Sakit (healing festival) which takes place if the belian rituals, sugi sakit (supernatural cleansing) or renong sakit (supernatural curing) are unsuccessful. For most of these traditional festivals, sacred invocation and incantations called pengap or timang are performed throughout the night(s) by a bard ( lemambang) and his assistants or a manang (healer).
|
|
