Special Event : Gawai Dayak Festival

Selamat Hari Gawai

Gawai Dayak is a festival celebrated by Dayaks and West Kalimantan in Sarawak which is officially public holidays on 31 May and 1 June every year in Sarawak, Malaysia. It is both a religious and social occasion.
The word 'Gawai' means a ritual or festival whereas Dayak is a collective name for the native ethnic groups of Sarawak and neighboring Indonesian Kalimantan who are the Iban also known previously as Sea Dayak and the Bidayuh people also known as Land Dayak . Thus, 'Gawai Dayak' literally means "Dayak Festival".

The mode of celebration varies from place to place. Preparation starts early. In fact, after the longhouse agrees to hold a big festival, the Dayaks may need to plant paddy in farms adjacent to each other and to implement a labour-exchange program called "bedurok" which is meant to ensure getting enough paddy at the end of the year in readiness for the big feast.

 Tuak ( Rice Wine) which is the traditional drink of Dayaks is brewed at least one month before the celebration obviously using the glutinous rice from the recent bountiful harvest mixed with home-made yeast for fermentation. The Ibans also make a stronger alcoholic drink called "langkau" which is equivalent to vodka whereby a fermented tuak is heated up with fire to vaporize the alcohol which is then cooled with water and collected in a container.

On the Gawai Eve, people will take sago, aping, sawit or coconut palm shoots which are mostly for making soup with meats and collect other vegetables like the wild miding fern, fiddlehead fern, bamboo shoots, tapioca leaves and Dayak round brinjals from nearby jungles, farms or gardens early in the morning.

 The celebration starts on the evening of 31 May.
 A ngajat dance contest may be held during this time at the ranyai tree of life. There are various types of ngajat traditional dance which are performed by ladies and gentlemen as mentioned above. The Iban male traditional dance is meant to show strength and bravery and may imitate the movements of a hornbill which is regarded as the king of worldly birds by the Iban Dayaks. The Iban female dance involves more graceful movements of their body, hands and feet.
 The ngajat dance is accompanied by a traditional musical set which is made of an engkerumong set (percussion), tawak (big gong), bebendai (small gong) and bedup (drum). The Orang Ulu music is played using the sape. Nowadays, the traditional musics and native songs have been recorded so can be played easily.


On the first day of June, homes of the Dayaks are opened to visitors and guests. An open house organized by the Dayak association or non-government organisation is also held on that day or several days afterwards. It is time to showcase their traditional foods and drinks, cultural performances, ritual ceremonies and the Dayak hospitality in general.
Normally during gawai, ladies and gentlemen wear their traditional colourful costumes called "ngepan" in Iban especially for welcoming guests before changing to modern clothes. The traditional attire set of Iban gentlemen include a loincloth (sirat or cawat), animal skin protective coat (gagong), headgear with peacock and hornbill feathers (lelanjang), chains over the neck (marik), silver armlets and anklelets along with a shield, sword and spear.


The ending of Gawai Dayak takes place around one month from 1 June which is towards the end of June. The closing ceremony is signified by symbolically rolling back a mat by each family within the longhouse. It is popularly known as "Ngiling Bidai" among the Iban Dayaks.
After all the celebrations and festival are completed, the Dayak people return to their normal life while those who work in towns and elsewhere will go back to their jobs to continue life as usual until the next coming festive seasons.

Ngajat Dance