FOR the Indigenous people in the Heart of Borneo – or more commonly known as Dayak – June is the month in which they most anticipate. It is that time of the year, after long months of hard work, they finally get to sit down, relax and enjoy their bounty. The festival, known as Gawai, is celebrated on June 1 every year, to celebrate the harvest gained simultaneously the end of the paddy season in March or April of the year.
Each working men and women gets the chance to sip the ‘tuak’ (rice wine), eating while dancing and singing to the tunes of their favourite songs. The farmers get to enjoy their time after working so hard in the paddy fields, until around July, when the next paddy season starts. This is when the farmers would strap on their hats and start with land clearing. For centuries, the Dayak community has long been holding their Gawai celebration after the end of each farming season. Back then, as the community were animist in belief, the celebration was strictly based on Adat.
According to the Dayak Iban beliefs, piring (offerings) were presented to Petara, particularly Raja Simpulang Gana (God of the Paddy), to thank Him for the good harvest as well as to seek for another good harvest in the coming padi season. Gawai Batu (Wet Stone Festival) and Gawai Ngemali Umai (festival seeking protection for paddy field) were among the features of the main Gawai celebration. Both these festivals, held before the start of the padi season, involve inviting Raja Simpulang Gana to come and bless the paddy field. Other forms of Gawai, like Gawai Antu and Sandau Ari were also held during the main celebration.
Gawai Antu is held in remembrance of the dead while Sandau Ari has many purposes on why it is held. Sandau Ari could be held to make preparations to go on a warpath in the old days or it could mean to prevent attacks by evil spirits after continuous bad dreams. It could also be held to bless the pengaroh so that it will remain powerful. Over the years, much have changed on the objectives of Gawai Dayak celebration. But the fact remains that the celebration is centred on the Dayak’s customs and traditions, and no longer based on the Pengarap Lama (Old Belief ) of the Dayak community largely because of the adoption of Christianity as part of their life.
Nowadays, the celebration is not just solely about harvest, but also an occasion to celebrate other successes, such as parents celebrating their children having obtained university degrees or having passed with good grades in public examinations.
However, the tradition is still being practised till this day. Those living in the cities would drive for hours, or take flights back to their hometown for this celebration while those living in the village, would start making preparation at least two weeks in advance.
They would list out what is required and what to make. What is important during this festive season would always be the ‘tuak’ and the ‘penganan’ (Iban cakes and desserts). Apart from that, pigs will be brought home to be slaughtered prior to the celebration, before being cooked as delicacies. In the morning of May 31, families would visit the graves of their loved ones to present offerings and pray for their spirits to rest in peace as well as to clean the cemeteries.
At night, there will be a gathering at the main house, accompanied with a variety of food and drinks; children will be the most happy and noisy on Gawai eve, but for the men, they indulge themselves in drinking around the barbecue pits. Drinking and eating roasted meat, they talk about pretty much anything under the sun while the women are busy in the kitchen. On the stroke of midnight, the dayak would “ngirup ai pengayu” or gulp down the “long life” drink.
It can be plain water and soft drinks for children and women, but for the men, it is almost exclusively beer, tuak, whiskey or brandy. In the morning of the festival, the villagers would gather at the headman’s house/longhouse, bringing food and drinks to share with the others to celebrate the occasion. This is where one can see the dancing and singing skills of the villagers.
Some will be clad in their traditional outfit, entertaining the guests with the ngajat dance. The gathering normally lasts for the whole day. The start of the Gawai Festival is known as ‘ngancau tikai’, which means “the opening of the celebration”.
Instead of sofas and chairs, the Dayaks love their bamboo/stick mats; rolling it out on the floor, placing delicious goods on it while hands can be seen reaching out to try each and every. Each start has an end, and that is known as ‘ngulung tikai’. Keeping their mats for the next year, before starting their new harvest season. The concept of Gawai Dayak changed together with the modern society. Instead of just for the Dayak community alone, it adopts the open house concept, where other communities are welcomed to join in the merrymaking, just like the Hari Raya or the Chinese New Year.
The celebration was not always known as a public holiday. Before it was officiated, Datuk Seri Tra Zehnder, the first woman to head the Customs and Traditions Council of Sarawak in 1960s made an appeal to the colonial government to officially declare the day as a public holiday for the Dayak community to celebrate their festival.
Sarawak at that time was still a British Crown Colony and her appeal was rejected. After Tan Sri Stephen Kalong Ningkan became Sarawak’s first Chief Minister, he declared June 1 as a public holiday for the Dayaks to celebrate their Gawai in the 1960s.
