Festivals

Gawai Dayak Festival

Every year, the natives of Sarawak or commonly known as the Dayaks, celebrate Gawai Dayak festival on June 1. According to history, up till 1962, the British colonial government refused to recognise Dayak Day and Gawai Dayak was only gazetted as a public holiday on September 25, 1964 in place of Sarawak day. The festival was first celebrated on June 1, 1965 and has since became the symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community.

Gawai Dayak is celebrated to give thanks for the good harvest and a time to plan for the new farming season or activities ahead. In preparation for the festival, the Dayak community will brew tuak or rice wine, an alcoholic beverage synonymous with the community. They will also be making lemang or glutinous rice steamed in bamboo as well as other mouth-watering traditional dishes and cakes. On the day of the festival, the Dayaks will hold 'open house' where relatives and friends will visit their houses to join in the festival.

To our Dayak readers, it is still not too late for SDI to wish all of you Selamat Hari Gawai, gayu guru gerai nyamai!


Pesta Babulang

Pesta Babulang is celebrated by the Bisaya community of Sarawak. Recently, Limbang town, situated in the northern part of Sarawak, hosted the festival and attracted thousands of people coming from all over the division and from neighbouring Brunei. The crowd was entertained by various activities including buffalo races, beauty pageants and food fairs. Speaking at the event, Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk James Dawos Mamit said the festival should be turned into a state-level event and that his Ministry would give an annual grant of RM40,000 to the Sarawak Bisaya Association to organise the festival yearly.