Gawai Dayak is here again. Many of my friends are mostly homebound; and so are my family members too. I choose to stay put in the city and try to lie low.
My last time homebound to Saratok for the festive season was in 2015 but there was no celebration as I was still in mourning for my late son Jay who was called to join the Lord in March. My eldest brother Edward Jelani, famed for his ‘Anang Ninggalka Aku (after Elvis’ Don’t Leave Me Now) recorded at Kuching’s RTM studio in 1963 and I finished two bottles of JD over the two Gawai days because our brother Jon was then in Bintulu.
Longhouses are the best venues for Gawai Dayak celebrations. After all, these community dwellings were the main targets of Gawai Dayak that was basically a kind of thanksgiving, marking a bountiful harvest and the end of a farming seaon before planning and commencing a new one – that was the main idea of the initiators led by the likes of Datuk Michael Buma, Dato Sri Tra Zehnder and others.
For the record on 1 June 1963, Datuk Michael Buma, a Betong native, hosted the celebrations of the first Gawai Dayak at his home at Siol Kandis in Kuching. More than a year later, namely on 25 Sept 1964, ‘Sarawak Day’ was gazetted as a public holiday. This holiday was first celebrated on 1 June 1965 which was considered as a symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community, making it an integral part of Dayak social life.
Celebrated both as a relgious and social festival, it was later renamed as Gawai Dayak for the Iban, the Bidayuh and the Orang Ulu ethnic groups as well as other non-Muslim natives of Sarawak. To them, it is a cultural festival of sort – that’s why it symbolises unity and racial harmony.
It must be reiterated that this festival is best held in the longhouses. This further enhances the relevance and usefulness of the longhouse as the best venue for a Gawai Dayak celebration, or for that matter, any festive celebration. City folks use Gawai Dayak as an opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city or other urban centres and ‘balik kampung’ (or pulai ke menua) for Gawai. This is something they look forward to annually or for some at least once in every two or three years. It adds up ingredients to one’s life, thus making life more interesting.
Gawai is also a time to renew family ties and union, as well as a time for bonding.
For many, it is a time to expand friendship and social life by ngabang (Iban word for visiting during festival) as well as a time to manifest true Dayak hospitality and generosity. This ngabang concept has become a One Malaysia thing as it also done during other festivals such as Christmas, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Deepavali and other religious, cultural and social fests in the country.
Ngabang between families in any longhouse is conducted as early as 30 May. But it is on Gawai Eve that the Gawai Dayak fest is at its best, especially in the longhouse. My own Kedap longhouse in Saratok that is blessed with 24-hour electricity supply by Sesco is among the few in Saratok that fully enjoy Gawai do. After the strike of midnight on 31 May, when Gawai is officially on, a good number of enthusiatic youths of Kedap will hit it by going around ngabang among themselves which would end around 5.00am on 1 June. By the first light hour of first Gawai Day, barely a soul would be spared of the ‘mabuk’ fever. That’s why, gawai in the longhouse is considered so special. City dwellers do not mind travelling up for hours on land or river just to celebrate gawai in longhouses.
For family members, Gawai is the best moment to strengthen rapport and ties among each other. Siblings gather with siblings, parents unite with their children; cousins get to know each other better and all members of the family bond among themselves.
The ngabang concept certainly plays vital role in uniting members of the plural society. Apart from enjoying the rice wine ‘tuak’ ngabang guests get to taste the authentic Dayak cuisines and hospitality. This year is probably the second time Ramadan month coincides with the gawai festive season after 1982.
My well decorated and talented late father-in-law who headed the Iban Section of RTM Sibu played host to a Gawai do in the government quarters at Lemon Road in Sibu that year. A few of his Muslim senior staff had to ‘tapau’ some of the Iban pancake and glutinous rice in bamboo for ‘berbuka puasa’ in the evening. A point to note – Ramadan doesn’t deter Muslims to ngabang during Gawai Day. So city or urban celebrants may expect some of your Muslim buddies to pay a Gawai visit.
Since I am left alone in the city during this Gawai, I’m planning to call on a few long-lost pub crawling buddies. Since they have no longhouse to take a retreat, most likely they will be available for a pint or two.
A friend suggested a week ago that we go for a cockfight. I told him better not to go or else you get rounded up and end up paying RM1,000 as police bond before the case is up.
For celebrants, I wish you a happy and peaceful Gawai. Gayu ku antu, nadai nama ku Petara. Bulih tuah bulih limpah, lantang senang nguan menua…oooohaaaa!!!!!
