the last days of gawai sowa rituals
For three days and nights,the people of kampung Duyoh beat the tradition gongs and drums in the boli gawai,a special house built to celebrate Gawai Sowa(harvesting festival).
The festival takes place once a year to thank the padi spirit,which the bidayuh community call eiang podi,for a bountiful harvest,
It also doubles as a ceremony to ask blessing and better cropping in the year.The bidayuhs believes ice is important because each grain has a spirit.
During Gawai Sowa,the spirit of the spirits of the villagers-both dead and livig-and their ancestors'are invited to dine in celebration of a good harvest.
The ritual is still practised by the remaining traditional priests(penyigar)and priestesses(dayung borih)from the community in bau and lundu districts.
The priests are disguished from the others by turban-style head gears and long white cotton overcoats trimmed with red.
The priestesses will dressin black,donning sipiah,a cap with a long,wide piece of cloth hanging down the back;silapai,a red sash ending at the hips;pangieh and sombon(necklaces)and porik(a silver belt)
This year,a total of a 16 priests and priestesses from kampong stass,serasot,duyoh,krokong and tugag gathered to perform the ritual.
On the first day,the priestesses made offering,danced and chanted prayers to invoke eiang podi and ask the spirit to return to the village.
The most-keenly awaited ritual for the kampung folks took place on the last day of Nyigal Nguguoh where the prietesses went into trance to call fourth eiang podi.According to belivers,if the padi spirit is happy with the offering,it will send a sign in which the cloth hanging from the altar will start vibrate and the padi grains(placed at the altar)will fall on it.
these days,only elderly penyigar and dayung borih perform this ritual,with their declining number,the age old religious ceremony could one day disappear as the younger generation have no knowledge of it.Moreover,according to a villagers,not everyone can become a penyigar or dayung borih as they are chosen by the padi spirit through a dream.
He said some people who had a such dream would get sick from unknown illness and they would only recover after the right ceremony was held.''so not many can become a priest or priestess"'the villagers noted.One of the oldest dayung borih is johei from kampung stass who been part of the ritual for 15 years.And tuak kandah,and elderly penyigar,is among the few left from original group chosen by the spirit many years ago.According to kandah becoming a dayung borih is not easy.During the intiation ceremony,as many as four pigs have to be slaughtered on the top of others ritualistic requirements."Those chosen must abstain from a lot of things before they can become a true dayung borih,"he said,
Salei,from kampung duyoh is into her first year as pinginang(helper)to the dayung borih,
The 49-year-old explained in order to quality as a dayung borih,she must not take certain foods or visit graveyard or attend funeral.Hern one-year absention period has ended but before she can take her place as full-fledged dayung borih,there are still some rules to follow but not as strict as the first years,s.
Festival committee Duking said gawai was held annually to celebrate a bountiful padi harvest.no matter what their belief,the villagers still come and witness the ritual and everyone hosts an open house on the last day of gawea sowa
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