Palau..

Gawai Dayak celebration is coming soon but i will able to go back to kampung (village) due to no holidays. So, seems i will celebrate Gawai alone with friends that don't even know what is Gawai.. huhuuhu..

Not celebrating Gawai means no tuak drinking this year. Tuak is a kind of wine rice that must be served during Gawai (and other occasions too such as wedding and any occasions that Ibans need to entertain visitors). It is usually served on Gawai Day to symbolize long living. Tuak is known as ai pengayu (water that can lenghten life).Just made tuak (after 2 weeks)

Making of Tuak:
For every 5 Kg of glutinous rice you will need 5 kg of round 'ragi'(yeast) and 5 pieces of thin slice ragi. (round ragi for bitterness, slice ragi for sweetness). Glutinous rice is cooked and left to cool in a 'tapan' or any flat utensils. The yeast are pounded into powder and mixed with the rice after it has cool. This mixture is then left to ferment in any clean container (jar) for a week or so.
Cool, boiled water plus sugar(syrup) is added to this mixture. (10 kg sugar for 20 liters of water)

p/s: miss the taste of tuak and its palau (drunk) effect

Gawai Celebration

Iban have many festivals called 'Gawai'. There are the 'Gawai Kenyalang' (hornbill festival), 'Gawai Antu' (festival for the dead) and 'Gawai Dayak' (harvesting festival).

Gawai Dayak

Gawai Dayak is celebration for the natives races in Sarawak; the Iban, Bidayuh, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, Murut and a few more. Preparation starts very early. Tuak (rice wine) are brewed and traditional delicacies like penganan (cakes from rice flour, sugar and coconut milk) prepared. As the big day approaches, everyone will be busy with the general cleaning and preparing the food or cakes. On Gawai eve, glutinous rice are roasted in bamboo (ngelulun pulut). In the longhouse, new mats will be laid out on the ruai (an open gallery which runs through the entire length of the longhouse). The walls of most bilik (rooms) and the ruai are decorated with pua kumbu (traditional blanket).
The celebration starts on the evening of 31st May. In most Iban's longhouse, it starts with a ceremony called Muai Antu Rua (to cast away the spirit of greediness), signifying the non interference of the spirit of bad luck in the celebration. Two children or men each dragging a chapan or winnowing basket will pass each family room. Every family will throw some unwanted article into the basket. The unwanted articles will be tossed to the ground from the end of the longhouse for the spirit of bad luck.
Around 6 pm, miring (offering ceremony) will take place. Before the ceremony, gendang rayah (ritual music) is performed. The feast chief thanks the gods for the good harvest, ask for guidance, blessings and long life as he sacrifices a cockerel. Dinner will then be served at the ruai. While waiting for midnight, the folks gather and mingle at the ruai and berandau (talk/converse). Meanwhile, drinks, traditional cakes and delicacies are served.
At midnight, the gong is sounded. The tuai rumah will lead everyone to drink the Ai Pengayu (normally tuak for long life) and at the same time wishing each other "gayu-guru, gerai-nyamai" (long life, health and prosperity). A procession up and down the ruai called Ngalu Petara (Welcoming the Spirits) will follow. The celebration by now will get more merrier. Some will dance to the traditional music played. Others will sing the pantun (poems). In the town, the Dayak will gather at the community centres or restaurants for a enliven the evening.
Other activities that may follow the next day include cock-fighting, demonstration of blowpipe skills and ngajat competitions. On this day, 1st June, the homes of the Dayaks will be opened to visitors. In the longhouses, there is a practises called masu pengabang where guests will be served with tuak by the host before they can enter the longhouse. Dayaks will attend a church mass to thanks God for the good harvest. Gawai Dayak celebration may last for several days. Visitors are most welcome to the homes of the Dayaks during the festival.

p/s: Gawai Antu and Gawai Burong will be elaborated in the next blog..

till then..

My Long----------------------house

Now: 1.42pm Sat, 7th of March. I'm alone in my room because my roommate went back to Sarawak already. Oh i miss Kuching so much but what can I do, just sitting here in front of my lappy and trying to be in Sarawak mentally.. *huhhh how pity* So, here i am.. storytelling you about my house, my longhouse, the Iban longhouse.

Looooooooonggghouse? is this long enough? hehehe.. Anyway, while searching in the internet about longhouse, it is such a surprise for me that the Westerners are very interested in longhouse because they just can't imagine how hundreds of people living harmoniously under one roof. But then again, maybe because they live life individually, that's why they are impressed by our life style.

Facts about Iban long house:

1. Long house is not only can be found in Iban community but also in other Dayak community such as Bidayuh, Orang Ulu etc

2. It usually faces the river.
3. Chief of long house is called as tuai rumah. Any wrong doings or matters in the long house can be refer to tuai rumah.


4. Every rumah panjai usually has a few main parts, namely the bilik, ruai, tanju, sadau and dapur. Bilik is a family living room which is separated with other bilik by wall. Ruai is in front of bilik but no wall. So it is a big open space in long house. Usually it is used by the longhouse members to held activities during gawai festival or any other gathering. Sadau is the small space above the bilik and functions to store family possesions like mats, cane baskets etc. In the olden days, tibang (huge bins) that contains padi is stored here too. Tanju is adjacent to ruai except that tanju has no roof. It is unprotected from the sun because it is the place where padi that has been harvested is winnowed and sunned before being stored in tibang. Dapur is the kitchen.
5. As many of the longhouses are situated deep in the Sarawak forest, the only accesible transportation is by boat ride. The boat used is called perahu which is a long and thin boat.

Notice how thin the boats are?








Nowadays, many long house is modernised. The design might be the same as the old design but now you can easily find long house which is made of brick. These longhouses are equiped with modern electrical devices and usually easily accesible by cars.





As you can see, this what tanju look likes.. (Huhu...Astro?)






Members of the rumah panjai are chatting with each other at ruai..


p/s: Next time if you visit Sarawak, don't forget to visit the longhouse. We, Ibans love visitors... trust me.. See this picture, how Westerners enjoy our hospitality...

When a Boy likes a Girl - the Ibans way

When a boy likes a girl, in traditional Iban culture, the boy will ngayap the girl. Ngayap is a form of courting the girl and it is done during the night. The purpose of ngayap is to give the chance to the boy and girl to know each other better and to express their feelings which are usually not decent when to do during the day in the eyes of public.

What happen during ngayap is that the boy will creep to the side of curtain of the girl's room and awakes her. Then, the girl will come out and meet the boy. Both of them might stay until close to dawn if the girl like the boy too. There will be conversations and whether there is any sexual relationship, it will depend on the girl.
In Adat Iban, the boy is not allowed to ngayap continously, if it happens, the parents of the girl can bring the matter to the Tuai Rumah (leader of the longhouse) and the boy will be fined. And ngayap also only allowed to Ibans, if any other ethnics ngayap, the person is subjected to be fined under Adat Iban. Like wise, the Ibans should not introduce ngayap to other ethics as they will be fined also.
However, in this modern era, ngayap has lost its importance. Nowadays, flirting or courting happens during wedding functions, parties, gawai festival, social instituitions etc. But ngayap tradition is still well-known among Ibans and many Iban songs include the story of ngayap in the lyrics.