Tom’s Note: This piece was written in 1978 about the Gawai Mpijog Rantau Festival for the first clearing of the padi (rice) fields. It was supposed to be filmed by Professor Geddes who made a contribution of pigs, fish, eggs etc. worth RM1000 but the camera broke down. The article states the celebration was conducted entirely as it was in days of old.
The principal priest for the Gawai Mpijog Rantau was Raseh who was assisted by Mang Lampe and others
The Spirits
The chief purpose of the festival is to honour the spirit called Pulang Gana who, the Bidayuh believe, is the creator of the land and rivers and to ask for permission to make use of certain portions for padi production.
The festival also placates the following spirits:
Parintihin Abeh-Ajoh-the bad spirit of sharp edges of bamboo or tree stumps
Parintihin Matang-spirits who cause people to be cut or wounded.
Parintihin Rabuh-spirits who cause people to fall from trees
Parintihin Bantang Bireng-spirits who cause injury because of sharp wood or bamboo
Parintihin Sakang-spirits who cause people to be suddenly ill or cause incurable sickness
Parintihin Antag-Ijum– spirits who cause the handrails to fail
The sickness could compensate the pests and rats with certain offerings.
The following will receive blessing:
The padi fields so the soil will be fertile and getting rid of any sickness which would result in a poor crop.
The daily work on the farm and its workers.
The villages and the children
The spirits of the ancestors come and enjoy the feast and safeguard all the people.
The Preparations for Gawai
A large shelter is built where the paths from the padi fields intersect with the one to the village. The shelter was approximately 12 meters long and 6 meters wide. The materials were softwood and bamboo with thatched leaves for the roof.
The offerings comprised: 4 whole pigs, 30 Chickens, 20 gantangs of rice, 20 gantangs of pulut rice 3 to four jars of tuak wine, 12 jars of different sizes, two small gongs and two small cannon.
There were two decorated platforms for displaying the offerings at each end of the shelter. No. 1 platform was under Rasehs control with one man helping him to prepare the offerings with platform number 2 was under Mang Lampe’s responsibility.
Platform No. 1 under Raseh
The platform was decorated with 7 bamboos which were put upright around the platform for decorative purposes. The offerings were:
1 long bamboo tube containing wine, 1 whole live pig, 5 live chickens, 7 jars of various sizes, 1 small gong 1 small cannon. Rice and pulut rice to be added later. All these articles were arranged neatly around the base of the platform.
Platform No. 2 under Mang Lampe
Five bamboo plants which were a place for decorative purposes, 1 short bamboo tube containing tuak,1 whole live pig, 5 chickens, 5 jars of various sizes, 1 small cannon, 1 small gong ordinary and pulut rice would be added later.
The articles displayed by the five priestess
1 whole live pig, 10 chickens plus their baskets and bark containers.
About 50 yards away from the main gawai shed (Panyahan shed) 1 whole pig, 5 chickens, 5 small jars of various sizes, ordinary rice and pullet rice added later on.
The First Night
During the first night, the offerings (Tampih Pimubok) were laid out near platform one. The comprised of 5 pulut rice in bamboo tubes, 5 preserved fish 5 portions of rice cooked in leaves,5 portions of chicken and chicken livers with rice and 1 cook chicken with rice.
When the above offerings were ready, Raseh announced the prayer by waving a live chicken over all the articles near the platform and called t the spirits of all ancestors who prevent harm to come to the longhouse and all other spirits to inform gawai had begun.
Raseh continued by calling the spirits of the ancestors from six kampongs to the main gawai shelter to enjoy the offerings. When the prayer ended he said another prayer and offered a chicken liver to feed the earth. The purpose was to make the soil fertile with the chicken liver. He continued his prayer with the gods of fertility to make the rice plants most fertile, to make it grow well above the stumps and the logs, and to make it grow high so the wind will make the plants bend.
The Second Day
Early the next morning, the Priests Raseh and Mong Lampe blessed and prayed at the platforms to offer the live pigs and chickens. The priestess also said the prayers. The chickens were then killed.
Men from each household then went to each rice field and collected soil samples. The priest then said a prayer, Pulang Gana, the spirit owner, for permission to use the land for rice farming. Pulang Gana then asked the other spirits to move out because the land was to be used for farming.
Five sets of betel nuts for chewing were set out. These were for the spirits who taught the Bidayuh methods of farming, building and how to read the omen birds. These two prayers had to be performed at each of the five proposed rice fields. The whole group returned and processed to the gawai shelter where they were welcomed by the young girls to the sound of beating drums and gongs. The sample of soil and plants were then presented to Raseh. Raseh then questioned the men about the omen birds and then place the soil into a large jar and prayed over them. These activities went on for quite a long time and most people went home for supper afterwards. They would return later that night for the Ngaru antah gawai.
Preparations for the nights’ offerings were as follows; Julang Kerja: 12 bamboo containers of cooked pullet rice, 12 bundles of cooked rice wrapped in leaves, 12 small bamboo tubes filled with rice wine, four bowls of raw pullet rice, four bowls of raw ordinary rice, two bundles of cooked pigs liver, one half a slice of cooked chicken. These sets of offerings were set for each category of spirits listed above. At platform two, the priestesses then offered eight gawai offerings.
The groups included offerings include priests who said the prayers, the spirits of the grandfathers and grandmothers of all the people, the spirits who live in the flatlands near the rivers and the children and grandchildren who accompanied their parents and grandparents to the gawai festivities. There were offerings for the spirits who destroy the padi fields and harm the people in the village so they would not do it again. While this was going on, the people were drinking rice wine, dancing traditional Bidayuh dances, telling stories and song contests between the men and women. The jocularity went on till dawn.
The Third Day
At dawn on the third day, the pigs were killed and dressed which took most of the day. Offerings of pork were made to the two priests and five priestesses. These included pig legs and sliced pork. Some of the priestesses called the spirits from the longhouses over to eat and socialize with the people. If there were no offerings, the spirits would get angry. The people then took home most of the food before returning to the shelter.
While all were assembled the men went out into the forest and brought back an orange coloured fruit in the shape of a head. The women would try and grab it away from them. The dancing and passing of fruits lasted about twenty minutes. The men would dance with leaves which acted as shields. When the dancing ended, the fruits were dashed to the ground and chopped to pieces. The reason why the fruit was chopped was because they were not real heads and had to be destroyed.
Before the ban on headhunting, the men would return with the dried skulls of their enemy. It was a custom of the Bidayuh to celebrate the enemies heads. All the women in the longhouse helped to welcome the new heads with dancing and the sound of gongs. The heads were passed from men to women who might be their wives or lovers so women could dance with the heads.
To protect the people from evil spirits, a separate ceremony was held about 100 meters away from the main platform. The following was used in the ceremony:
1 small pig, 1 small jar, 1 small plate, four bowls of rice placed on top of each other, 1 live chicken.
A small platform was erected and the above articles for the Antu (ghost) ceremony were laid around it. The priest said a prayer and blessed the articles with a live chicken. The prayers informed the ghosts that the ceremony was underway to soothe them. After the priest said the prayer, two gawai helpers killed the chicken and the pig while a young girl cooked the rice. The offerings were arranged in four separate groups.
An offering laid on the platform: 8 bamboo containers of cooked rice, 8 tubes of tuak (rice wine) 8 bundles of leaves with cooked rice, two bundles of cooked pig liver with rice, 2 bundles of cooked chicken liver with rice, one-half slice of smoked chicken, 1 pig leg. Another place was set with 12 of the above for the workers another and the same for the Keja Tampa. The Pinyasak Gawai offerings included 4 bamboo containers of cooked pulut rice, 4 bundles of cooked rice wrapped in rice, 2 bowls of ordinary rice placed atop of each other, 1 bundle of cooked chicken liver with rice.
When the priest completed two hours of prayer, the people shared in eating the offerings except those in the Julang Keja which was reserved as payment to the priest.
After this, the people rejoined the main event. Prayers were then said for two hours and then the merrymaking began and lasted till dawn.
The Final Day
In the early morning, there was a special dance called Ngilangi Samang Panyang. A long bamboo tube containing tuak wine was passed around between all the people who danced with the pole and drank from it. Around the top, another tube (samang panyang) preserved fish, pork and other food was tied around it as an offering to the spirits.
In another ceremony, a man carried out a special dance holding up two small bamboo tubes which at the start of the dance were empty. During the dance, the spirits fill the tubes with fragrant liquid which is medicine to make the people of the longhouse healthy. These spirits live on a mountain in the upper reaches of the Simunjan river. They were at one time all human beings. When they went to live on the Simunjan River, they made promises to produce medicine in the form of oils. The liquid which comes into the tube is afterwards poured into a bowl containing some of the blood from the pigs and chickens which had been sacrificed. It is used at the end of the feast and dribbled on the heads of all the people who have participated in the festival.
At about 9 a.m. the ceremony known as Nantang Sungkoh Biri-ang took place. A font of bamboo is made as an offering to the sky spirit. This is a challenge, issued by the women on earth to the women spirits for a cockfight. Several women stood on one side of the font of bamboo while men stood on the other. A live chicken was used. A person on one side would take the chicken, dance back and forth with it and then throw it to the other side where attempts were made to catch it. The cock was supposed to fall to the ground sometimes because that meant that spirits who dwell in the sky had lost. After the cock had been thrown seven times back and forth and dropped the bamboo was cut down and thrown away. When it was cut down, peoples souls would fall to the ground. The priestess ran forward before the souls could run away. If the souls were not recovered, some of the people might soon fall and die. All of the souls were captured.
Another performance called the Nantang Mpuram took place.
A long piece of the plank was placed on the open ground and a mpuram vine was placed on top of it. Then a man and a women would dance over this plank to and fro seven times. Each time they met, the woman tickled the man with the Mpang stick she was holding. After the seventh pass, the man gave a loud shout and then threw the mpuram vine away. This performance is to cure sickness caused by antu Pontianak. The sickness takes the form of testicle inflammation and when it occurs the mpuram vine is boiled down and the solution drunk by the sick person.
This was followed by the Nantang damar and the Nantang biliung ceremony. A long bamboo set with a row of lighted damar torches and seven upright metal blades was laid on the ground. A man and a woman danced to and fro over it seven times. After the seventh pass, the man cut the bamboo and the pieces were thrown away. The women scrabbled on the ground where the bamboo had lain to catch and souls that may have been released from it.
The last ceremony was the Omon Berawan, the blessing with sacred water. Two priests with bowls of liquid dipped the priests sting beads into the bowls and dribbled the fluid on top of everybody that had attended gawai. The closing prayer was as follows:
” One, two, three, four five six, seven, point to us OH! guiding spirits of Perinteng Sijangkan, the god of our mother, the god of our father, the god of our grandmother, the god of our grandfather. Come here and let us be together to dribble the diamond water, the holy bead water, the most precious of all water kudi, Gimah and Gumagi water, silver water gold water as well as the yellow root siyu jangi water. let us our them together on the top of the heads of all the old and young children, to make them healthy and fresh and free from all sickness.
Let the medicine penetrate inside their bodies to make the flesh grow like the anthills, the veins to grow like the roots of trees called nunuk Jawa which gives fruit for the birds.
Let those who receive the holy birwan water be always in good health and the best health because they have been anointed with the blood of the pig eight rants in size and the blood of the fowl with long curved spurs for the replacement of their blood which has spilt when they were failing or as a result of being frightened.”
The people then left the gawai shelter and returned home. Taboos are observed for the rest of the day and night and the following three days and nights. On the fourth day, people may go to their new rice fields to start cutting grass and to clear for planting.
From: Bidayuh Gawai Mpijog Jaran Rantau festival for the first clearing of the padi fields and the padi field track held in Kampong Tapuh in July 1977 in the Sarawak Museum Journal December 1978
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