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Pergi ke Sebauh
By Leighton | June 5, 2007
Well, this week we went to Sebauh for Gawai. It was a ton of fun. We went to Tok and Nani’s Longhouse, some of our recent converts. They are a really cool family, and we got to spend the day with them. We ate their Iban traditional foods and watched them sing and dance and get drunk (alcohol is a big part of this Iban holiday. In fact, everywhere we went, we were almost forced to drink, because it is a part of their culture. But we of course turned it down and sweet talked our way out of it. It’s kind of scary when they are holding a sword and are drunk and the whole long house is watching too.). So anyways, it was a real experience. We also got the chance to go out on the songket and paddle around on the sungai. It was a ton of fun, but kind of scary, because the boat is really very shakey and we almost capsized numerous times. Haha. Elder Rowley has the worst balance in the world. One time we had to paddle upstream on the big river. It was so HARD! We went about 200 yards in 2 hours! One time we couldn’t stop laughing, so we drifted back about 25 feet because we couldn’t paddle. We paid for that one sorely, cause we got tons of blisters on our hands. Blisters where blisters had already torn off. We went to a Chinese Buddhist Temple on an island. The locals told us the legend. Translated, it goes something like this: There was a man who had a huge boat. In those days they used to boil cats until they turned to a rubbery paste, then eat them. Well, they were going down the stream in the boat, and they were boiling a cat. The cat started to jump around, and so all the people in the boat laughed. They laughed and they laughed. In Iban culture it is really bad luck to laugh very hard. They were laughing and laughin, except one, who admonished them to stop. They wouldn’t stop, so it started to rain. Really hard. And they kept on laughing. Then all of them turned to stone, except the one guy, and the ship sunk. The guy escaped, and later built the temple on the island created by the boat. That’s it. It is in the shape of a boat, but I don’t believe it.
Anyways, we also went to a Chinese Cemetery, which was pretty cool too. WE also got to see an Iban Wedding, but it was in a really rich longhouse. Most of the people there were graduates from college and could speak english, and they were really rich in comparison to other Ibans. The wedding was pretty cool. We had to go back up the street at night time, in the dark, and people were all saying there were lots of crocodiles there. So it was pretty scary. But we got home in one piece, but pretty sunburnt. IT was a lot of fun.
Most of our members are gone to gawai right now. Basically it is like their Christmas. It is the harvest festival, when everybody returns to their home for about 1 to 2 weeks, gets really drunk, dances and sings, tells stories, and gives gifts. It is a lot of fun for them. So most of our members are gone back to their kampungs, or original hometowns. Bintulu is practically empty now, and the flats, our area, is silent. There isn’t much to do, so we went home with them! Haha, but only the ones that were close by.
Well, that’s about it I guess. Church attendance was dismal, maybe 20 people came, including the white people (6).
Well, here’s some pictures for ya’ll. And I’ll try to post a video or two.
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| Sebauh, the Long-House |
And here’s the SlideShow: (this is a new experiment from me!)
Video of an iban dancing the traditional dance of Ngajat
On the way to the longhouse, where the wedding was:
Arriving at the longhouse:
Paddling in the River:
Topics: Bintulu | No Comments »