Gawai 2017 (Part 2)

Okay, almost a month since the part 1. Lmao. Life happened. Or procrastination? Hmm.. Anyway, let's get to it.

31.May.2017

A footage of the way to our room in the longhouse from the main door.

It's the eve of Gawai. Mom is still not here, as she is still working. Lots of going on today, especially if you know what you are supposed to do. Slaying animals, cooking food, decorations, etc.

Here is a video of me and my cousin, Vivianna, collecting rice cooked inside a bamboo, made and gave by our aunt. The rice is good to eat with chicken soup and some fried pigs. And it lasted for two day or more.

Later that night, it's ngancau tikai (i don't know how to say it in proper English) but the purpose is so that people can seat on the ruai (longhouse's main living room?) when the celebration is happening. We were among the first to do so, so that's why you can see in the next video, we're busy recording people in the longhouse ngancau tikai (or tikar in Malay). We get things done before we play. That's how we play. Flip hairs.

After that, me, my sister and my brother went to a pray service. We don't know shit cause most of the people in the house is Anglican and we're Catholic. Some prayers are familiar but still. Have you ever saw that one episode where Mr Bean is going to a church and try to sing along but he only knows the "Hallelujah" part? That's me and my siblings. Lol. But we're praying to the same God, so I don't see the harm.

Obvs, we're in the back of the pack. No one will noticed you lip sync if their back is facing you. A tips right there. 

It was only 20 minutes service tho, after that we go back to our room and prepare for the countdown to 1st July. Putting the cookies that I myself made. Hubby material. Flip hairs.

The whole people in the longhouse gather around in the ruai while waiting for the 1st July, with foods and drinks. The tuai rumah gave some speeches about what we'll do during the celebration and how we should behave and everything. It's a good time to socialize with the people in the house too. Everybody knows everyone in the house. 

1.July.2017

Happy Gawai y'all! Here is a footage of us drinking to the harvest festival when the 12am hits. Man, my English is so bad. It's been awhile since I'm writing stuffs, my vocab is getting rusty. 

We didn't drink ai tuak for that 12am occasion cause we don't have one and tuak is not really my type. While we're sitting there and enjoying the food and drinks, i forgot the part where some people will go around and serve you alcohol. It's hard to say no cause it's Gawai after all. And me and alcohol is kinda like bestfriend, sadly. Me and Vivianna were the only one drinking alcohol that night. But only one sip, after that we ran back to our room cause I know, if I'm drunk, things will get messy and I have no one to take care of me. I'm talking about my other sis and my mom who still in the Miri at that time. They both took care of me when I was so drunk last Christmas that I blackout. Lol. That was such a bad experience. And here in Betong, i'm left with my sis and my brother. They don't know how to handle drunk me. Huhu.. So yeah, I need to control myself. 

Around 6am in the morning, my mom woke me up as she arrived from Miri that morning. Finally, our savior. Yay. We can eat good food from now on. Huhu.. 

Mom is back in the kitchen, i've been asking for her fried noodle, so she cooked one for breakfast. ❤

That afternoon, it's the start of Gawai celebration with Ngalu Petara, it's like welcoming the arrival of Iban's God to the house. It involved people in the house, circling the living room for about three times with fancy clothes. At the same time, each door served them with drinks, as shown in the video below. 

The group photo of people who did the Ngalu Petara. FYI, I would love to wear a complete Iban traditional outfits one day. I bet i look sexy in one. 

After that event, my mom abruptly asked us to go to our father long house which is like a 30 minutes drive from our house. Before there is a road between my mom longhouse and dad's, we used to walk through the jungle to go to dad's. The journey would take two hours by foot. It was tiring but adventurous. Luckily, now that we have road access, it will only take less than an hour. We planned on to visit dad's longhouse tomorrow but since mom got plan for tomorrow and we don't have anything to do that evening (actually, we do, where the people in the house ngabang every single room in the house that evening), we decided to go on today. 

We make a stop at Debak for some minor shopping. Dad always brought us into this jetty when we visited Debak. 

Both my mom and my dad have a big family. One on the most left, is my dad's little brother. Before he married, decade ago, he used to live with us in Miri. One of the most right, is my dad's only sister. What i love the most about my dad's side is their accent. If you want to know how the Betong's accent sound, come to my dad's longhouse. They're very thick. Love it. Give me a day there, I'm sure I will be fluent. Man, I don't even live there, I have some of that accent with me when I talk in Iban. 

This longhouse is super long. 64 doors in our house. Told my mom's childhood friend that I were doing Ngalu Petara in this house, and every door serving alcohol, 100% I will be drunk on the first round out of three. 

Every one in that long house is very welcoming. The vibes is different than my mom's. Maybe because the more, the merrier. One of the room that we ngabang, they're like the 50th door, told us that they feel sinu @ sad when they're apart from their friend who live in 10th door. They're so far away from each other, it feels like they won't meet as much as before, that prompt the sadness or missing feeling. Crazy. Lol. 

To be continued...