SPAOH: The Gawai Dayak celebration is an opportunity to display the Dayak community’s rich traditional cultures and customs globally.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said it was important to showcasing lesser-known aspects of Dayak culture.
“Efforts must be made to include as many of them, particularly the less exposed ones,” he said, adding the necessity to preserve traditional oral traditions like the ‘Biau’ blessing chant, the ‘Renung’ traditional belief chants, and the ‘Pengap’ invocatory chant.
“Let us organise competitions for them as they are our ‘Pesaka Besai’ (very important cultural heritage),” he said when officiating a pre-Gawai Dayak gathering hosted by the Spaoh Longhouse Chiefs Association recently.
Uggah also urged future Gawai Dayak organisers to include competitions for these traditions and the ‘Ngajat’ dance in their programmes.
“We can then invite the winners to perform during our main gathering such as tonight. This way, we can contribute to preserving these traditions and passing them on to our future generations,” he added.
He was also pleased that the Iban traditional martial art of ‘Kuntau’ is still popular among the youth.
