Gawai

Over Gawai holiday, my parents, Winnie and I went to KL. This was apparently a ritual over the past few years. For those who don't know what Gawai is, allow me to explain the little that I know.

It falls on 1st June every year in Malaysia. It is celebrated by the indigenous groups in Sarawak: Iban making up most of the group, Bidayuh, Melanau, Orang Ulu etc. As a Iban myself, I really know nothing much of this rice harvest festival. I've also never tried tuak, the rice wine. This is the traditional costume for Iban:



Back in Secondary School in SMK Tabuan Jaya when I was the new student. The school was full of Malays, Ibans, Bidayuh etc.. Chinese were only a handful or less. So, when they saw I'm a Iban who don't speak a word of their language. Naturally everyone thought I'm stupid. An idiot and a disgrace. I hated it.

My grandfather is Iban, my grandmother Chinese. But we've always celebrated Chinese New Year even when my grandfather was still alive. He was the only one in our whole family who speaks Iban, and also Mandarin, Hokkien etc.

I'm getting side tracked here. I was planning to write about the KL trip. Next one..