People think that I must be a very strange person. This is not correct. I have the heart of a small boy. It is in a glass jar on my desk.
– Stephen King, American author
Many decades ago Gawai Tajau, a festival to honour Iban precious and highly priced jars, was a much-awaited momentous joy.
Those were the days when lemambang (bards) were still around and available. But not all bards could perform the deed in accomplishing the festival.
Only those with special training and blessed by the deities were eligible to do the sing-song chant – the era when old beliefs were given preference to Christianity.
In the Melupa basin of Saratok only three bards – who were also cousins – were anointed by the deities via their own dreams for their respective eligibility to lead other bards in performing the rituals of Gawai Tajau.
They included my own father Salok Jembu (1910-2002) plus his two first cousins and peers Dundang Enchana and Ujih Untan.
They not only led the Gawai Tajau sing-song chant but also led the Timang Jalung bards for Gawai Antu.
Ujih and Dundang did record the Timang Jalung (chants over rice wine tuak) in RTM whereas my late dad never recorded the chant but instead he was the first Iban to record the sampi chant, thanks to his cousin Gerunsin Lembat (later Tan Sri Datuk and Sarawak State Secretary) who was attached to Radio Iban, Kuching in 1955.
When dad was invited to lead his group of bards to perform the Pengap Gawai Tajau (a sing-song chanting) circa 1960, I was too young to understand. They were just blurred memories.
However, I was later told by dad something on jars and related fest rituals to honour them. First of all he told me that jars were very vital in Iban society of old. Those who committed offences or crimes were punished by fines using jars as payments.
For example, if one’s harmful act led to a death, one would be punished by giving a tajau or two to the bereaved family as compensation for the death.
And the type of jar used as recompense would be determined by the elders. This was a typical situation during the headhunting days.
Another instance was the requirement for war leaders to have lots of worthy tajau as warriors would only follow a leader with well-known wide ownership of jars.
For our Iban community we consider the guchi jar as the most important. It is a small jar but has the highest ritual value. We have an ancestral guchi now kept by my distant cousin in upper Krian.
It was given to our ancestor Manang Belabun by a crocodile elder as a tribute for curing his daughter by him (Belabun) many generations ago.
It was also meant as a symbol of pact between crocodiles and the shaman Belabun that they should not harm each other – when seeing crocodiles, all Belabun’s descendants should utter a sentence as safety precaution and I did this once in 1985 while fishing on Krian River below Saratok town.
Other jars with high ritual values include Sergiu, Ningka Pertanda, Menaga, Rusa, Salang-alang, Alas, Panding and Jabir.
Only these jars are used as benchmark for values or amount of fines for offences pertaining to contraventions of funerary laws and restrictions and other acts.
Ningka has the highest value while Jabir is the lowest in terms of value. This hierarchy is only applicable in the Saribas and Krian basins.
In Rajang basin a punitive deed is paid in Mungkul, whose value is one ringgit being equivalent to a Mungkul.
For example in 1967, my eldest brother Edward who brought a girl (without permission) from Bawang Assan to Saratok was fined Mungkul Lapan (RM8), which was considered a big fine in those days (the girl became his wife).
In Saratok of old, only two or three families were known to own the Tajau Singa Raja from Ming Dynasty.
My family owned one – bought by my maternal grandma Kejuang Meling from a vendor (who carried it from Kalimantan, Indonesia) for 100 dollars (Rajah Brooke currency) circa 1930.
Dad had to sell it for RM15k to a collector in 1973 as we needed cash for my expenses to start studying Lower Sixth in Methodist Secondary School Sibu. I found out in 1990 that such jar was valued at S$2 million in Singapore.
Nowadays festivals are usually celebrated by Iban community based on needs and economy. Apart from Gawai Tajau, others include Sandau Hari (Mid-day Rite), Gawai Kalingkang (Bamboo Receptacle Festival), Gawai Batu (Whetstone Festival), Gawai Tuah (Fortune Festival) and Gawai Antu (Festival to Honour Dead Relatives). Most have been toned down to reduce cost.
For Gawai Antu, there are various versions. I have been to many including in Bintangor and Julau, both of which were without the Timang Jalung as opposed to those in Krian and Saribas basins.
