Gawai Dayak (; Bidayuh: Andu Gawai; ) is a form of harvest festival celebrated on 1 and 2 June annually in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia.
It is observed annually on the month of June by the Dayak ethnic groups to mark the end of the rice harvesting season and gratitude for all the blessings, harmony, sustenance and luck the tribe has received. The festival is also celebrated by Dayaks in neighbouring West Kalimantan, Indonesia on the other date, although it is still not recognised a public holiday by the republic, as well as other Dayak (particularly Iban and Bidayuh) diaspora all around Malaysia, Indonesia and abroad.
The festival is celebrated with various symbolic decoration and family and other social gatherings activities such as beauty pageants of Pekit Kumang (Dayak/Iban female), Dayung Sangon (Bidayuh female), Keligit (Orang Ulu female) and Miss Cultural Harvest Festival (female), Pekit Keling (Dayak/Iban male), Dari Pogan (Bidayuh male), dance performance of Ngajat, Pencha (sword dance), Kuntau (martial arts), and other arts and crafts performances together with the availability of food stalls throughout the festivals.
Etymology
The Gawai Dayak term comes from Gawai meaning "festival" or "ritual" and Dayak a collective name for the indigenous peoples of Sarawak, Indonesian Kalimantan and the interior of Borneo. In the Iban language, the festival is called Ari Gawai, while the Bidayuh refers to it as Andu Gawai. During the Gawai Dayak, roadside billboard or banner greetings such as Selamat Hari Gawai Dayak "Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai, Lantang Senang Nguan Menoa" which is translated to "Wishing you longevity, wellness, and prosperity", is commonly found around Sarawak during the festive season.
History During the Brooke era, the celebration of Dayak festivities was only celebrated according to the traditions of each of the Dayak sub-groups since it was not officially recognised as a national public holiday by the Brooke kingdom like Christmas, Eid al-Fitr (Hari Raya Aidilfitri), and Chinese New Year holidays. This was continued until the administration by the then British Crown colony government of Sarawak which considered the day as both "Dayak Day" and "Sarawak Day" for the inclusion of all Sarawakians as a national day, regardless of ethnic origin, where it became both a religious and a social occasion since the 1950s despite still being without any official recognition as a public holiday. There is a strong perception among the British colonial authorities at the time that the strong agitation for a "Dayak Day" will draw the Dayaks to communism by the infiltration of the leftists among them. Despite this, a gathering organised among the Dayaks for the colonial government to recognise the Dayak Day didn't start any communist meetings; instead, it led to more pressure on the government to recognise the ethnic celebration day.
First mooted by radio producers Tan Kingsley and Owen Liang, the British colonial government then began to consider recognising it by 1962. Michael Buma, a Dayak native in Betong, hosted the first unofficial celebrations of Gawai Dayak at his residence in Siol Kandis on 1 June 1963. The issue of the name of Dayak festivities continued until after the formation of the Malaysian federation, until it was brought to the State Council (Council Negri) several times, and in April 1964, it was officially recognised. Initially, the Gawai celebration was to be called the "Dayak National Day", but the naming proposal was objected to by some government officials who feared that Dayak nationalism (especially chauvinism) would become the obstacle in the cultural celebration. In the State Council, a Sarawakian female Dayak politician, , who is also the first woman to occupy a seat in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly strongly fought for the festivity recognition together with Barbara Mendu Bay, but it was not officially recognised as a public holiday until Stephen Kalong Ningkan of the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) became the first Chief Minister of Sarawak where the public holiday is officially named Gawai Dayak Day instead. On 25 September 1964, the celebration was officially gazetted as a public holiday, and the first official celebration was held on 1 June 1965 and became a symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community since then, which is an integral part of Dayak social life.
Celebration activities
Gawai Dayak is celebrated by ethnic Dayaks, as well its sub-group in the state such as Iban, Bidayuh, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, and Orang Ulus, and the celebration lasts for the whole of the month of June. 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, where necessary. The mode of celebrations of Gawai Dayak vary from place to place and preparations begin early with the three major Dayak communities of Ibans, the Bidayuhs and the Orang Ulus celebrates the occasion in their own distinctive way. Throughout the festive, activities such as hosting prefestival thanksgiving dinners and open house gatherings, cultural shows, female beauty pageants of Pekit Kumang (Dayak/Iban female), Dayung Sangon (Bidayuh female), Keligit (Orang Ulu female) and Miss Cultural Harvest Festival (female), male beauty pageants of Pekit Keling (Dayak/Iban male), Dari Pogan (Bidayuh male), as well as the setting up of food bazaars are held.
Food and drink On Gawai Eve, sago and heart of palm (upa aping) will be gathered for the preparation of soups and stews, this also includes vegetables such as bamboo shoots, Dayak round brinjals, wild midin fern, fiddlehead fern, and tapioca leaves either from the nearest jungle, farms or gardens. For the Dayak tribes that live in interior parts, they may organise a hunting, trapping, fishing and more for meat, fish and vegetables that'll be served for the festival. After the gathering of plants and vegetables early in the morning, the poultry is slaughtered. Both the meat and fish can be preserved with salt in a jar, or smoked over a firewood platform above the hearth. Enough meat is cooked in mid-aged thin-walled bamboo logs to make a traditional dish called pansoh or lulun in Iban language. The meat is first mixed with traditional herbs like lemongrass, ginger, bungkang leaves and salt.
Among the dishes that hold a special place in the festivity, especially among the Iban and Bidayuh, is ayam pansuh (manok pansoh), a traditional chicken dish cooked in a bamboo stalk with onions, ginger, lemongrass, garlic, torched ginger flower, and galangal and roasted in an open fire, which infuses the chicken with a distinctive flavour and aromatic smells. Any remaining meat is preserved in salt and mixed with kepayang leaves and detoxified seeds. Wooden cooking implements are made from small tree logs. Pig heads are roasted on an open fire to be served hot with the traditional Dayak liquor, a rice wine called tuak, brewed at least one month before the Gawai Dayak. The drink is brewed from the glutinous rice from a recent harvest mixed with homemade yeast called ciping. Traditionally, tuak was made with rice milk only, but is now cut with sugar and water in a process called manduk. A stronger alcoholic beverage made by the Iban is langkau (also called arak tonok, "burnt spirit" by the Bidayuh). This drink is made by distilling tuak over a fire.
Some glutinous rice is cooked in bamboo nodes to soak up the bamboo aroma, such as pangkang (also called pogang). Normal rice will be cooked in pots at the kitchen hearth. The addition of pandan leaves also gives a special aroma together with smoke from the fire wood which gives a distinctive aroma. Some Dayaks, especially Orang Ulu, will wrap rice in long green leaves (daun long) before steaming it inside a pot. When a longhouse agrees to host Gawai Dayak with big ritual festivals, they may need to plant extra paddy and organise labour exchange (bedurok). Rice may be purchased from towns if the festival is in a place where paddy farming is absent or insufficient. Traditional kuih delicacies are prepared from glutinous rice flour mixed with sugar. These kuih includes sarang semut (ant nest kuih), cuwan (molded kuih), and kuih kapit/sapit (twisted/folded kuih). The kuih can last well whilst kept inside a jar because they are deep-fried until hardened. Penganan iri (a discus-shaped kuih) are made just before the festival day and the making process are more easily than the former despite the kuih did not lasts longer since it is lifted from the hot frying oil while not fully hardened. The sugar used in the kuih making can either be the brown nipah (nypa fruticans) palm sugar or cane sugar.
Decoration of the longhouse
The longhouse is cleaned, repaired and repainted by cooperation amongst its residents. The longhouse is constructed as a unique place of living and worship. Its main post (tiang pemun) is the designated starting point of all the building materials (pun ramu) and must remain intact. Timber and wooden materials for repairs are obtained from nearby reserve forests (pulau galau or pulau ban) or purchased in towns. A pantar (long chair) may be built along the upper area of the ruai (gallery). The seat is raised and the tanju (verandah wall) is used as the backrest. Some old wooden longhouses (rumah kayu) are renovated with concrete and bricks to make a terraced structure (rumah batu).
The inside walls of the longhouse are decorated with ukir murals portraying tree and wild animal motifs. Men with decorating skills make split bamboo designs. Women decorate living room walls by hanging their handwoven ceremonial clothes called Pua Kumbu and other handicrafts. The Orang Ulu are famous for their colourful paintings of the tree of life on their house walls and their house posts are elaborately carved. Highly decorated shields are displayed near the family room door. Heirloom jars, brassware, and old human skulls obtained during historical raids or trade sojourns, if still kept, are cleaned and displayed. Deer horns may be secured to the longhouse posts to hold highly decorated swords and other household items.
Highly decorated mats for guests to sit on are laid out on the longhouse gallery which runs the entire length of the longhouse. The act is called beranchau ("mat spreading and adjoining") which marks the opening of the Gawai. The Dayaks make various types of traditional hand-woven mats. There are reed mats woven with colourful designs, lampit rattan mats, bidai tree bark mats and permaidani mats. The walls of most family rooms and galleries are decorated with traditional blankets such as the woven Pua Kumbu and the tied cloth (kain kebat) blankets which are made with unique Dayak designs. During the festival, women are keen to display the products of their skills and hard work at mat-making and hand-weaving. Some traditional baskets are also seen. Some sets of traditional musical instruments are also displayed in the gallery.
Traditional dress
Men and women may wear ngepan, the traditional costume, especially when guests are arriving. The traditional dress of men is a loincloth (sirat or cawat), animal skin coat (gagong), peacock and hornbill feathers (lelanjang) headwear, chains over the neck (marik), silver armlets and anklets along with a shield, sword, and spear. Historically, Dayak men are decorated with tribal tattoos (kalingai or pantang in Iban) which signify their life experience and journey. A frog design on the front of the man's neck and/or tegulun designs on the backs of the hand indicate the wearer has chopped off a human head or killed a man in military combat. Most of the designs are based on headhunting and other spiritual significance.