Celebrating Sarawak's tribal arts and culture

Sarawak has a variety of cultural identities and expressions that define the various tribal communities.

Each tribal community portrays its emotions, beliefs, norms, and values through its respective cultural expressions – depicting features of the environment such as the flora and fauna.

They maintain a sustainable balance between human activities and the preservation of the environment – for the environment provides them with the source for their survival, nourishing their lives.

These cultural idioms manifest their functional, aesthetic, and ritualistic expressions in the various modes of living of the people. Rituals form the basis of the tribal paganistic communities of Iban, Kenyah, Melanau, and Bidayuh that invoke and placate various animistic spirits that they believe govern their lives.

The Malay community, however, does not have such rituals – only supplication and prayers of thanksgiving to Allah.

But all these communities exhibit common cultural traits, albeit peculiar to their own identity. Among these common denominators are the celebrations and observance of rites of passage of birth, marriage, and death, in which their respective beliefs formulate the protocols for these occasions.

For example, the Iban honour these spirits through various rituals and celebrations, such as Gawai Burung, Gawai Antu, and pay respects to the spirits of the forest when clearing lands for tugal (planting rice) and the spirits of the river when observing the bathing ritual of newborns.

The Ibans attribute most of their life processes and functional and aesthetic expressions to the mystical spirit beings of Orang Pangau Libau Gelong, Sanglang Burung, Dewi Kumang, and Pahlawan Keling – to whom they pay homage.

Likewise, the Kenyah, besides placating other spirits, make offerings to their god Tenangan Persilung Luan – whom they believe created man and his environment.

Traditional beliefs and superstitions guide the Kenyah life process, such as land clearings. Among the superstitions – or local wisdom – is the dictate that they must abandon any land-clearing activities and move to another location if they hear birds in the area. It is respect for the environment to preserve the trees on which the birds make their nests.

For both the Iban and Kenyah communities, rituals are also performed for the construction of shelter and agricultural activities, as well as procuring sustenance from rivers and the forests. For example, the site for building a longhouse depends on the approval of the spirits – in this case, the presence of an eagle. Agricultural activities must also be blessed by the spirits through the performance of rituals, as in the case of tugal.

Secular and ritualistic artistic manifestations are integral to their life expressions. These include dance, music, and crafts. The music of these communities is mainly percussive in nature, with a chordophone (sape) and an aerophone (selingut) included in the Kenyah musical ensemble. The Malay community’s musical instruments consist mainly of frame drums (rebana), the chordophone (gambus), and the violin. These musical ensembles accompany dances and singing.

The dance expressions are varied; examples are the ngajat dance, which is synonymous with the Ibans, datun julut with the Kenyah, zapin and lakon beradap with the Malay community, langgi dulang of the Bidayuh community, and mengarang menyak of the Melanau community. There are many other dances representing each community, and all their vocabulary imitates animal and bird movements, hunting, planting, and combat activities – or pure physical ensemble and solo dance movements, eliciting an emotional response rather than portraying natural or man-made activities.

Crafts, both functional and aesthetic, are an integral part of all communities, with each one defining its form, shape, and functions that identify the individual community. Among these items that are found in almost all communities are mats, textiles, weapons, and gold and silver jewellery.

Mat weaving is an important craft of the Malay, Bidayuh, and Iban communities; textiles in Iban (*pua kumbu) *and Malay (kringkam) communities; beads in Kenyah, Kelabit, and Bidayuh; while weapons form an integral element in all communities. For example, the parang ilang and nhyabur (used for headhunting in the old days) of the Iban and parang pepebas of the Malays.

On the other hand, urns or tajaus that are part of the Iban and Bidayuh culture are not made by local artisans but imported from abroad. Tattoos or kelingai (body decoration) are restricted to the Kenyah and Iban.

The dances, music, and crafts define the artistic skills of the tribal communities of Sarawak. However, these skills, traditional beliefs, and lifestyles are being challenged by the modern way of life that emphasises materialism.

Such influence undermines the cultural ecosystem – changing the people’s lives and beliefs, thus eroding the traditional values, ethos, ethics, and morals.

Modern thinking and urbanised imperatives have challenged the traditional norms and replaced them with a westernised cultural landscape and mindset.

This has a negative impact on traditional beliefs and cultural expressions – which would eventually go into oblivion. There is a need to temper and preserve the traditional cultural ecosystem and belief system, sustaining them for the benefit of future generations.

The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.