HAPPY GAWAI BIDAYUH 2002 TO ALL

Posted by Charles on May 25, 2002 at 12:37:11:

HAPPY GAWAI BIDAYUH 2002 TO ALL

By CHARLES Fri 24 May 2002 (C) Britong Noodle News (BNN)

I know that by now most of you have gone back to the kampung or take leave oledi for the approaching Gawai. I think this is the time when a lot of us - the live, breathing and kicking Dayaks, or Bidayuhs in particular - will be pondering on this big question:

SHOULD WE CELEBRATE GAWAI?

My definite answer is 'Yes', yes and more yes. The Chinese have their Chinese New Year, Malays Hari Raya and so do others. And so should we. Gawai is a traditional celebration for us Dayaks. (I do hope using the present tense for this descriptive and collective noun is still applicable B4 - notwithstanding the recent state assembly sitting.) In a way, through Gawai we are asserting our dayakness and keeping the spirit of dayakism alive. Remember that Gawai festival has been officially gazetted at the state and national levels for our clans - it does not matter whether we call it Gawia, Gawea, Gawei, Goliek or Garuok!!

Traditionally, our parents and forefathers organised big and mini gawais to mark the different phases in their annual padi farming calendar. Gawai times were the times for them to thank the gods and seek their blessings for future undertakings - be it farming, fishing, headhunting or ngayaping. Or maybe, having Gawai was just their lame excuse to get drunk and slaughter 'em chickens and young black pigs!!

Okay, let me talk a bit about myself in relation to Gawai. I remember in my young and tender days, we kids really enjoyed the rituals that went with this very pagan and animistic event. We were mesmerised and thrilled by the graceful steps of groovy women in red and men in black-red-white boogeying to the beats of rejang beuh and other traditional numbers. While the adults were busy gambling, cockfighting or ago-go-ing to the fake sounds of The Beatles or Moody Blues, we kids played with rubber bands and beat gongs using gong-sticks that we prepared from coconut branches days in advance. Gawai really breaks the monotony of our village life, it brings a town-like atmosphere to our part of the world. (The other exciting time in the kampung, with a carnival-like atmosphere, is the fruit season - where we 'nyatu', or look for durians, day and night - getting cash when we sell our durians and other fruits.)

However, I was still small when we embraced this new religion of the white men and moved to a farming area - where the intrepid missionaries who dared tread our shores built our church, school and dispensary (clinic). Our family stopped observing the rituals of our animistic forefathers, including celebrating gawai and observing the rituals - we just joined in the eat-eat and drink-drink parts when we go to the kampung and visited relatives. The white men's religion freed us from some of the strict and restrictive customs of 'adat nyamba' - like being curfewed in the kampung after Gawai and not being able to go to the farm or garden any time we like. My father used to say that these 'pantangs', or rules and regulations, were affecting our productivity in the fields. The white men's religion is easier and more practical to follow, he convinced us.

But after some years, when most of the kampung folks have been christianised and outside guests started to visit during the Gawai times, our family started to re-celebrate it - initially on a small scale, like just preparing food without the pagan or animistic rituals. Then, when our kampung finally decided to follow the crowd led by the Ibans by gawaiing on June the first, this traditional festival was celebrated on a grand scale and on equal footing with Christmas by those of us of the new religion in our 'new village'. Certain aspects of the old religion are also being put back into practice. For example, in the morning of Gawai my father will ask us to pray for the souls of our grandparents in front of their framed pictures - complete with pogang/lomang, grundung and red-yellow-black-white rice. Also during Christmas morning we also do this thing. Likewise, our kampung church had incorporated some of our traditional rituals in their Anglican rites and liturgies. So now, when asked which one I celebrate - Gawai or Christmas, I will always proudly say 'both'. And the strange thing is, I don't find this contradictory or humiliating at all.

Yes, those were the days. Thereafter, sometimes I miss Gawai, sometimes Christmas. Most of the time I miss both. Oh..., absence really makes the heart grow fonder. Last year I went back to the kampung for Gawai 'en famille'. The eating, drinking, house visiting and other merry-making were really enjoyable. But I was 'frust' when the cultural showcase that I promised the kids did not materialise - I told them that there would be non-stop gong-beating, berejanging grandmas who would give us grundungs like Santa Claus and many hanging skulls on the altar adorned with the old Sarawak flags and Baginda Kwin's portrait. Where have all the rituals gone? Maybe I was expecting too much, or trying to recreate the dogone days from a child's perspective of a bigger world.

This year, I'm afraid the Gawai celebration will be distracted by an equally pagan ritual in the faraway lands of the Japanese invaders and Korea - 22 adult men chasing after and fighting over one ball.

So, before I go, let us ask and try to answer more questions on this gawai thing.

IS GAWAI REALLY CELEBRATED BY ALL BIDAYUHS?

Before giving further views to support or reject Gawai, try to answer this important question - Is Gawai widely and equally grandly celebrated by the Bidayuh community? Well, some areas celebrate more than others. Within an area, some kampungs celebrate in a grand manner, some just so-so. The rule of thumb is, "the degree of celebration and commitment towards Gawai in a Bidayuh kampung is inversely proportional to its distance from the nearest town or city" (Charles 2002). Meaning to say, the more up country, the grander. So if you really want to get drunk, go to the more up country kampungs. At nearby kampungs, you'll be lucky to watch a football tournament or kampung sports meet during Gawai. Unless, you know so-and-so is having an open house and cutting his cock!!

Also, the younger generations may not celebrate it as wholeheartedly as their elders used to even though they are staying in the kampungs.

HOW MUCH SHOULD WE SPEND TO CELEBRATE DURING GAWAI?

It depends. Are we in the mood to celebrate? Can we afford to? Is this a priority even if we can afford? Will be be crying to the banks and chaesd by our creditors after Gawai?

WHAT FOOD OR DRINKS SHOUD WE SERVE DURING GAWAI TIME?

Well, since there is no such thing as a dry Gawai (or a buih-less JNP), then what is Gawai without chap langkau, chap apek, Tiger, Orang Jepun and Vat 69? But, if dry is what you want, then so be it. Let's get the mathematics straight - a bottle of Johnnie Walker (not the smuggled or duty not paid one) will get you many cartons of 7UP or Coca-Cola, enough to serve all the guests. And a kilogram of white pig's meat is equivalent to biscuits and cakes for half of your guests, minus the Milo. Calculate the savings yourself.

Also, chicken, pork and pekasams of any species were the compulsory menu for Gawai. Just one small problem though - some may not be that halal so will cause a bit of a problem for some of the guests. But, even if you go all the way to ensure their halality there is no guarantee that the food will be touched.

Conclusion - most of the gawai expenditure goes to food and drink. Thus it would be nice if we just use the cheaper ones. Furthermore, the ones we traditionally serve are not good for our health and safety - intoxicating, cause vomitting, affecting driving concentration, high-cholesterol, cancer-causing, etc. Replace with prahok or udang gagau. That's the advice you get if you ask a medical doctor or a religious adviser. But for us, we just want to know one thing - will we get the kicks and have a good time??

SHOULD THE FOCUS BE ON RITUALS OR DRINKING DURING GAWAI?

As mentioned beforehand, Gawai was a ritualistic event, where our forefathers gave thanks to the gods and seeked their blessings for future undertakings. The drinking was just a distraction. So yes, please put back the rituals for our younger generations to view. Round up all the available dayung borises and ask them to perform. Well, jackaroo and AP, interested in joining the rejang team? Drink and perform also can.

Maybe we should just perform the traditional dances and chantings without attaching any religious belief - hence avoiding any conflict with our beliefs in our respective new religions.

SHOULD DANGDUT BE BANNED AND WHAT LANGUAGE TO USE WHEN DRUNK DURING GAWAI?

I don't really know whether we should continue to let dangdut be the sole genre of our Gawai karaoke sessions and speak Indonesian Malay during Gawai. But let's face the fact that we've been using other languages even during Gawai since time immemorial. Now, we see black pig eating Malay-speaking cousins from town during Gawai. Last time some of us were speaking English. Now they joget to the moon and stars with Iban, Malay and Indonesian songs. Last time they were screaming 'Smoke on The Water' and humming 'Nights In White Satins' and swearing to each other in English, arguably drunk.

So for me now very difficult to say. At one time I advocated a common and official Bidayuh language using the name Man Sung Koi. Some agreed and of course some objected. Hence, I have to use English now, following the popular saying of 'if you can't beat them, join them'.

For Gawai this year let me propose one thing. Why not adopt Iban as the official and unifying language for all the Bidayuhs and announce it this Gawai? Solves our common language problem. Why? There are more of them than us, and they already have one official and unifying language - valid from Sematan to Lawas. Many of us are fluent in that language - like GOG, Pidilam and so many others. They can teach the rest of us, like me, to speak the language. Very fair for the majority of us - we all start from the beginning. Why Iban? So what? All this while we have been speaking someone else language - Malay, English, Iban, French or Khmer.

IS GAWAI GETTING TOO COMMERCIALISED?

It has to be. Commercialisation means sponsorship, leading to reduction of cost. But win-win situation or zero sum game? The government is using our culture to introduce us to the world and to attract others to come to us as tourists. Does that mean we are being exploited? No, if we in turn manage to use this opportunity to promote our culture and get financial benefit in return. So, start selling hampers, organise cultural events, sell cheap legal booze, food, rental space, advertisement and all that.

ANY GOOD ASPECTS OF GAWAI SPENDING?

Yes, there are positive aspects of our Gawai celebration in terms of spending. It was not our tradition to give out duit Gawai. Thus, we save cost. So please, do not start giving out black packets, to imitate the red and green packets of other cultures. Some even have Gawai trees. But I can forgive that - just a modification of our 'sadis' or 'sanggar', i.e. altar of offerings. Also, as compared to some cultures we are not competing to change or upgrade our curtains, sofa set or TV and CD/DVD/LD just before Gawai. And don't start this materialistic war, please.

THUS, WE SHOULD CONTINUE TO CELEBRATE GAWAI BECAUSE

It means we have a celebration to call our very own
It strengthens the tali sillatulrahim and bond among us through 'ngabang'

Sekian, amanat gawai saya pada tahun ini.

"Happy Gawai Bidayuh 2002 To All - Scratching Teacher Stall Pleasure"

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