P084 Preservation Of Departed Souls’ Rites (Gawai Antu) Among Iban Community In Sri Aman, Sarawak

Abstract

The lack of awareness for the new generations on preserving Gawai Antu Iban cultural practices is becoming a growing concern.  The younger generation is not exposed to this rite by their ancestors and then leads them to be lacking in knowledge pertaining to Gawai Antu's overall process.  Besides, today's generations are not keen to continue their ancestral traditions.  Tukang berayun's chanting is forgotten from time to time and not being practiced by tukang berayun's generation itself.  This leads to the culture being slowly forgotten and not being well protected.  This is due to absence of relevant records, documentations and lacks practice on the origin.  It is difficult for the future generations to prove that certain culture or tradition as theirs unless with proper documentations.  This research aims to investigate on the preservation of departed soul's rites among Iban community in Tanjung Bijat, Sri Aman Sarawak which specifically studies its overall practices, rites and traditions.  This research is qualitative, and series of interview sessions were conducted, and data was thematically analyzed to portray the overall practices of Gawai Antu, level of perceptions and suggestions to preserve the rites and traditions of Gawai Antu.  This research suggested that succesful preservation of Gawai Antu is associated to developing broaden networking with responsible association or body institutions on Iban cultures.  The results of the study suggested the important roles of the communities, agencies and ministries; can lead to the preservation of departed souls' rites for cultural knowledge among the Iban community especially in Sarawak.