MODERNITY THREATENS RITES AND RITUALS OF ANCIENT PRACTICE [DAYUNG BERIS]

  Visit some Bidayuh villages during one of their Gawai festival for an opportunity to witness a dying ritual. As Christianity penetrates into the interior, it is only the older generation that practise the old adat, an ancient form of animistic worship that is no longer taken up by the younger people. Therefore, in the villages, the older Bidayuh women are central to the original meaning of gawai as they don their colourful traditional costumes during the various festivals celebrated by the believers.
These female mediums possess the knowledge to perform the rituals and rites for the festivals. They are the ones who conduct most of the Gawai ceremonies. Without them, some of the festivals would no longer be performed as they may be meaningless for the young.
These female medium or tukang gawai are known in the local dialect as tukang beris. They carry out a form of worship so old that when it first came to the Bidayuh society no one knows. It was so long ago that nobody can pinpoint the actual date. According to oral folklore, it was believed that way back then, a sick Bidayuh woman called Nyamba was taken to kayangan by a kawangan woman named Sindu Bawang.
There, Nyamba was treated and given the knowledge to treat other women by conducting certain rites. Nyamba was then sent back to earth with powers no one else possessed. From then on, Nyamba carried out her responsibilities of curing the sick, besides teaching ordinary women to become tukang beris who can conduct the Gawai rituals.
During the annual Gawai Pedi, more commonly known as the Gawai Sewa, tukang beris play important roles. They are the only ones who can communicate with the outside world and this they do for two sleepless nights - enchanting traditional prayers.
Gawai can be divided into two main categories, that is the Gawai connected with paddy cultivation and harvesting and the other is Gawai for curing the sick. In both these categories, the dayungs play a major role.
During the Gawai associated with padi planting, the dayungs chant traditional prayers, perform age-old dances and help prepare all the things needed for the occasion. During the ceremony, they leave the Remin Gawai (prayer house) to perform rites at a special platform on a nearby stream. On this platform, they communicate with the simengi pedi or rice spirits, asking for a good harvest the following season.
At night when not chanting prayers, they perform traditional dances to entertain the simengi pedi. Though perhaps hardly entertaining to the younger generation, the dances must be entertaining enough for the simengi pedi to ensure a good harvest.
The other category is the Gawai for curing the sick. Besides communicating with the other world, the tukang beris are also capable of communicating with the soul of the sick. Wondering souls must be saved and brought back to the sick person so that he or she can be well again.
Among the grand occasions for curing the sick is pinya. Four or five of these tukang beris are needed to perform it, together with a few male tukang gawai (shaman).
Though the men are present, the real force are the dayung beris. In fact, about eighty percent of all the proceedings are carried out by these female tukang gawai. It can only be assumed that they must have some healing power as the ceremonies have been performed through the ages, through the request of believers.





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