KUCHING – The Dayak Catholic Cultural Organisation (DCCO) of the Iban ethnic from St Joseph’s Cathedral hosted a Gawai Dinner at Christian Ecumenical Worship Centre on the 27 May. The dinner was graced by His Grace Archbishop John Ha with more than 1,500 people attending. The theme for this year’s Gawai celebration was “Holy Spirit, make our families your home.”
The Organising Chairlady, Elizabeth Sagat in her welcoming speech said that although they are no longer paddy planters like their forefathers, they still celebrate Gawai as Dayak’s cultural practice. She expressed her joy of being able to share the culture and tradition with everyone present especially Fr Simon Poh in his untiring support for the occasion.
In his speech, His Grace Archbishop John Ha praised those who had come a long way for the Gawai celebration and to be together with each other. “We are the church,” he added, and thanked the Chinese brothers and sisters for supporting the event. After the speech, His Grace beat the gong three times to mark the beginning of the celebration. He was then presented with an Iban vest and kain selampai by Elizabeth Sagat in the presence of Simon Jacob, the DCCO Chairman and Wilson Kayan.
Guests were entertained by traditional ngajat dance, ngetas ranyai, live band De’ Kimura the police band from “Pelapor” with lucky draws.
Also present were Msgr William Sabang, Rev Fr Albert Jacobse, Fr Gerard Victor (OFM), Fr William Lee (OFM), and Fr Augustine Jepy.
On 28 May, the Gawai Thanksgiving Mass was presided by His Grace Archbishop John Ha and concelebrated by Msgr William Sabang, Fr Simon Poh, Fr Jerome Juleng, Fr Lazarus Swinie and Fr Joseph Chai at 6 pm at St Joseph’s Cathedral. The Mass was attended by both Dayaks and non-Dayaks.
In His homily, His Grace explained that both Gawai and Pentecost are harvest festivals. “When we celebrated Gawai, the harvest festival, we remember that we celebrated not just the cultural feast, but [we also celebrated] all the blessings that we receive from the Lord… especially the harvest of new life,” he added, “that makes us children of God, [and] our families God dwelling place.” He ended his homily by wishing everyone a Happy Gawai.
The Mass ended with a cultural dance.
Matthew Mark Dangus and Audrey Yu
