Gawai Dayak Festival

By Audrey Barry

Gawai is an annual festival celebrated by the Dayak natives in Sarawak, Malaysia, on June 1 and 2. It is a public holiday in Sarawak and is both a religious and a social occasion.

Rituals and offerings carried out by village elders.

The festival – an important part of Dayak social life – is best observed in a longhouse where traditional practices of rituals and offerings are carried by the village elders.

It is said visitors must not refuse a cup of “tuak” or rice wine offered from the elders which tantamount to disrespect.

Gawai is a rite of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. Traditional music instruments, gongs will be played accompanied by traditional songs sung by the elders dressed in their traditional costume.

Iban costume

In general, as the festival day approaches, everyone will be busy with general tidying up, grave visiting, paddy drying and milling, collecting and preparing food and final house decoration.

On the first day of June, Dayak homes are opened to guests for a month. This practice is called “ngabang”. Open houses may also be organised by Dayak associations or non-government organisations.

A month prior to Gawai, most of the locals would prepare the tuak or rice wine. This famous concoction is made of glutinous rice collected from the recent harvest mixed with home-made yeast and is left for fermentation. Another stronger brew made by the locals is called “langkau” (clear waterlike form), whereby fermented tuak goes through a process of heating and condensation before it is collected in a container.

Dayak home opened for guests for a month

Special dishes of vegetables such as wild midin fern, fiddlehead fern, bamboo shoots, tapioca leaves and Dayak round brinjals from nearby jungle, farms or gardens are prepared.  Chicken meat is cooked in bamboo logs to make a traditional dish called “pansoh”.

A traditional dish of chicken cooked in bamboo logs, called “pansoh”.

The meat is first mixed with traditional herbs like lemon grass, ginger, tapioca leaves and salt. Any remaining meat is preserved in salt and left for fermentation, which will be eaten raw. Some glutinous rice is cooked in bamboo logs, which is famously known as lemang and it is a must-serve dish.

Bidayuh costumes

Gawai festival – first celebrated on June 1, 1965 – has become a symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community, but it is losing its traditional appeal as many Dayak natives have moved to work in the cities. Today, it is more of a gathering of family and relatives sans its cultural practices.