Gawai Antu or "Nyungkup"

Gawai Antu or commonly referred to as "Nyungkup", as the name suggests, is a kind of festival to comemorate the dead or the final festival celebrated for the spirit of the dead. The Iban believes that, unless Gawai Antu is celebrated, the spirit of the dead is not yet settled or not peaceful in "batang mandai". The spirit would always come back unless the festival is celebrated. Normally, Gawai Antu is celebrated a few days after the main Gawai Celebration. The family of the deceased take advantage of the Gawai Celebration to celebrate Gawai Antu since this is the only time when most if not all the longhouse folks are coming home, hence more merrier.

Friends and relatives are notified and invited before hand to make sure they are able to come. A day before the festivals, the host prepare various types of foods for the visitors or "Pengabang". In the morning the "Pengabang" will come in big groups to visit them and they are always ever ready to receive them or "Ngalu Ke Pengabang". Traditionally, when the visitors arrived, the ceremony wll be started by performing a "Miring". But nowadays, since most of the Ibans embrace Christianity, they start the ceremony by reciting a prayer instead.


The "Pengabang" are then feasted with all kinds of delicacies such cakes, chicken, pork and so on. Not to forget "Tuak" as a traditional drinks which must be served to all "Pengabang". The eldest person in the group of "Pengabang" will then be required to perform a "Ngajat" around the "Ranyai Alu" and then at the end of the ngajat, be required to bring down all the drinks or food hanged around the "Ranyai Alu". These foods and drinks will then be taken home by the "Pengabang" and divided amongst themselves. Once this ceremony ended, the feasting continues, drinking, eating, ngajat and joking. Most of the "Pengabang" will be intoxicated due to excessive drinking, but they can refuse the hard drinks for health reasons. That is for the morning festivals.

During the night, the festivities continues. As a traditional practice, the "Pengabang" will present the host with some amount of money as a sign of goodwill. The amount is up to the visitors to give. This segment of the festivities is called "Ngabas Sungkup", whereby the host will count the amount of money they received from their "Pengabang". At the end of the night, normally late night, the member of the family of the host will be required to "Ngerebah Ranyai Antu" or bring down the "Ranyai Antu" by performing a "Ngajat" around it. According to their belief, it really takes courage and strong will in order to be able to bring down the "Ranyai", as it is filled with the spirit of the dead. Finally, the photos of the dead and the flowers which are hanged around the "Ranyai Antu" will be send to the grave of the deceased.

These brief notes are based on my experiences visiting or "Ngabang" during Gawai Antu in the longhouse.