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.