Gawai Celebration at Kampung Gumbang

The village is situated about 40 km from Kuching, somewhere in Bau District. The village is called Kampung Gumbang. It took us about 15 minutes drive from Bau District to reach the village.

The village folks are busy preparing the feasts for the Gawai on the verandah of the house and accompanied by some uninvited kids.

The round building is the communal place for the village folks. It is called the ‘Baruk’. In the olden days, the  village folks would normally use the building as a place to meet and discuss on the welfare of the village folks. Now, the villagers prefer meeting up at a nearby village's grocery shop while enjoying 'Tiger Beer'. The Baruk had become the remaining heritage of the Land Dayak community.

The caretaker of the ‘Baruk’ is carrying the headless slaughtered pig to the Baruk as preparation for the Gawai Ritual Ceremony.

The chief of the Dayak community (dress in blue/red) is seen discussing with the village folks on matters concerning the welfare of the village folks. He is a retired doctor by profession. I figure that he might advice the villagers to quit smoking and not to drink too much ‘tuak’.

The ‘Baruk’ is built on stilt, higher above the ground. In the olden days the Baruk would be a good place for the village folks to defend themselves from the attack of the enemies and wild animals. Beside that the tall building would be quite cool and windy during the days. Most of the villagers who were making excuses of not going to the farm would hang out at the Baruk.

The design is still preserved till the present time as Land Dayak unique architectural heritage. I assumed even the design of Petronas Twin Towers are inspired by the Baruk.

The old lady is trying her talent in playing the musical instrument the ‘brass gong’. She should stop, it’s horrible. Maybe she should consider attending the music school for the elderly. I think the blinds would play better than her.

The pig is cut to pieces in the Baruk. The slaughtered pig have to be cut in the Baruk in order to show to the Spirit of the ‘Padi’ that the villagers are not cheating on him. The ‘Spirit’ shares will be hooked on the roof and the balances will be brought back by the caretaker to be barbecued for drinking session. The villagers hope that the spirit would grant them a better harvest next year.

I guessed the spirit must be quite greedy. The villagers have to offer extra offerings in order to win the heart of the spirit. The offerings like the rice wrapped in leave and chicken are also hooked on the roof.

The young assistant of the caretaker is seen suspiciously sneaking out for people outside the Baruk. Maybe he planned to take the spirit’s shares.

Most of the houses in the village still preserved its original architectural as in the olden days. They are built on stilt, along the hill slope of the village. It is typical for the Land Dayak to choose the higher ground as in the olden days the Land Dayak often became the victim of head hunting activity among other ethnics like the Sea Dayak which is also known as the Iban. Hence, they will be able to stay away from those ethnics and at the same time easier for them to defend their village. Nowadays, the location helps a lot in getting them stay connected with ‘Digi’ and ‘Celcom Broadband'. I assumed there are lots of bloggers from the village.

 A typical Land Dayak’s houses would often have the verandah, as to enable the villagers to dry their harvested padi. Now, it remained there for the villagers to spend time playing poker.

On our way back home, a friend of mine asked me to shoot few more photos of the Baruk. However, it is not due to his appreciation of the building but just to check out for the good looking ladies up there.