Hari Gawai

Cassandra came to visit this afternoon, and Wilbur was very excited to spend time with her


Lucas then cooked us a yummy Kue Tiau dish


Ann had bought us some lemang - sticky rice so we also tried some of that


Ann came back with some yummy fries with salted egg mayonnaise


We were then able to give Cassandra her gifts



We then took the chance to recreate a photo Linda had of herself when she was 42

Then...


and now ...


We chilled out for the afternoon, catching up with each other and the blog, etc


The weather for the afternoon was a bit patchy


We visited Lucas's sister Rosalind and her daughters Irene and Anna-Maria


Sape' that Lucas's Dad Uchau Dilung used to play - he took the large one to play in many countries including the Sydney Opera House


Gawai is a harvest festival that lasts a month, and we were blessed to be in the Kampung when the closing ceremony was being held. On arrival, we saw many of the locals dressed in the Bidayuh traditional costume


Rosalind was very kind to have arranged seating for us where we were very close to the stage etc.


The Malaysian National Anthem



The children, all dressed in their traditional costumes, were heading back to their seats


Opening Dance


Joseph (the head of the village) spoke 


Followed by the Sarawak Deputy Minister for Transport


It was then dinner served by the local women's group, and while Bianca and Heidi went to get some food Linda was guided to a seat at a table that wasn't being used (by Lucas's Cousin).


After dinner, it was time for the Beauty Pageant for local mothers. Lucas's Cousin was number 2, and Bianca's second cousin was number 8



To raise money for charity, they had the Deputy Minister sing Karaoke and he requested in turn for the attendees to dance so of course Heidi obliged - she misses her dance classes!

This originated in Indonesia but is very popular here as it is simple to pick up. Reminded Heidi of the nutbush but without the kicks :)



Tusau's Grandson sang a song with another local



It was then time to find out the winners of the pageant. Lucas's cousin won best make-up


Bianca's second cousin received a finalist prize


The band that played much of the night



It was then the end of the ceremony and the rolling of the mat to put away for next year's Gawai





One more traditional dance to finish off the night




Aldstrong in his costume 


We then walked home with Constance, her Mum and Aldstrong
Cookie was waiting for us

Comments

  1. Ron B1 July 2025 at 10:27

    It's great you could go to the Gawai festival and meet lots more relos. Loved Lins recreation photo

    ReplyDelete

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