Open House Tradition Brightens Up Gawai Dayak Celebration

Kuching, Malaysia - The Dayak community in Sarawak celebrated the Gawai Dayak Day on a moderate but merry note today, keeping alive the "ngabang" culture of visiting close family members and friends, irrespective of race and religion.

Besides the celebration, which is traditionally held on June 1 to mark the end of the padi harvest, Sarawak also observes two days' public holidays starting today to enable the Dayak community to return to their hometowns and longhouses for the celebration.

On Tuesday Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Abang Haji Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng and his wife attended the open house of several leaders from the Dayak community, including that of Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu at Jalan Wan Alwi, which was also graced by Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Jabu said the Gawai Dayak celebration was meaningful to the Dayaks in Sarawak because it marked the end of the padi harvest.

"I'm very happy that Gawai Dayak is jointly celebrated by the other communities in the state irrespective of culture and religion, in keeping with the 1Malaysia concept advocated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak," he told reporters here.

Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) president Datuk Seri William Mawan Ikom also held open house at his residence in Batu Kawa while state Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas held his at Taman BDC.

Source: http://www.bernama.com
Picture: http://melialissa.blogspot.com

Share

Write your comment !