THE Dayak ritual offering to the gods and dead ancestors known as “miring” is barred at longhouses and other areas under the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) in this year’s Gawai Dayak.

The traditional ceremony is allowed elsewhere subject to compliance with health and safety guidelines. The development and security committee is to decide where the ceremony will be held. Attendance is limited to 20 people, under a newly released SOP for the Gawai Dayak harvest festival.

Gawai Dayak falls on June 1.

The Dayak believe that if the gods and the dead are not fed, the living will not be protected from calamities.

The SOP also barred the Gawai eve revels that take place in the communal area of the longhouse.

Individual households may usher in the festival in their own respective “bilek”, or units.

Visiting is limited to a day on June 1 and only for close relatives.

Engagements, weddings, thanksgiving and traditional bathing of children in the river, which are held during Gawai, are prohibited.

So are cockfighting and traditional games.

Many Dayak who live and work in the major towns are not expected home for the festival due to travel restrictions. – May 21, 2021.