That was the last time I saw the rituals at my fathers village & I doubt the old ladies still alive.
When I saw this video, it brings a lot of memories. Not just about the rituals but a lot of forgotten teachings and stories from the older folks. Like how my grandma can predict the weather quite accurately by looking at the moon, the night sky or by listening to frogs or crickets.
Or how to camouflage yourself so the river spirit would not disturb you.
The spirits that roamed the jungle and how you should not fear them but regards them as human. That means greeting them as you entered their 'homes'.
Ages ago, when my ancestors worship a different type of God, a certain ritual were done by selected women or priestess to put up prayers for the well being of the village.
Nowadays, only sometime in June during Gawai and selected villages, the rituals are again done by selected few priestess.
But unlike before when these rituals are viewed in reverence and maybe a little anxiety, nowadays most of the younger generations viewed it in open curiosity. To be captured by their mobile phones camera and maybe if something interesting happens they could download it on Youtube. With, I think, a little bit of imagination the title would somehow says 'Strange pagan rituals in Asia' or,God forbids,'Sacrificial women in Haiti'.
Which are ridiculous but then again some people in Youtube are.
Some of the younger generations might choose not to watch it as they believed that it contradicts their Christian faith.
The Al Jazeera team however took up the task on showing a little side of this dying rituals. And the world watched in deep thoughts and fascinations as one more piece of humanity fades away.
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I beg to make correction as I believe I am qualified to, being a Bidayuh, whose village still practice adat gawia. and born into a family of adat gawia.
ReplyDeleteWe are not pagans. Only people without religion are pagans. Our faith is Adat Gawia.
The priestess are not selected. They are the chosen few. They have to undergo rituals, which they never wanted to in the first place, to be Dayung Borih. They are married to the spirit.
It could be because of the scarcity of pure women now, that no new women are chosen, to replace the dead priestess. Soon our Adat Gawia will be gone. Return to Sarawak, to Jagoi area every June and learn as much as possible about Adat Gawia, before these living encyclopeadia are gone.
Hi Tun, thanks for commenting. I have to agree I don't know much about Adat Gawia but just some fragments from old memories. Though those memories are priceless.
ReplyDelete... hmmm. That's some memory Jacque.
ReplyDeleteJust came across this blog. I was a U.S. Peace Corps teacher at Bau Government Secondary School forty years ago in 1970 and 1971. I remember fondly my time there. I learned a little Bidayuh while working in the school gardens with my students. I attended Gawai at Kampong Stass and remember well the women on the wooden swing singing the ritual songs along with all the gongs. I think I still have tape recordings from that time and some pictures.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I know Kampong Staas. It's one the village that still hold parts of the old Gawai tradition. Would love it if you could share it.
DeleteI was a Peace Corps Volunteer/agriculture in 1962-1964. Yes...I remember all of this. I had friends in all the villages around Gunang Singhai and in other parts of the district because I traveled a lot. This was during the Confrontation and also the year of the big flood. I have many photographs, of course, and actually published a couple of short articles in the Sarawak Museum Journal (as Lynn Patterson). I'm doing some memoir writing now and just hit on your blog trying to find out what has happened to the baris tradition and annual gawai. Thanks for writing something. I can't figure out where the video is...the one your refer to.
ReplyDeleteHi Lynn, really love to hear from someone who had a first hand experience on this. May I know which video you are referring to?
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