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By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING June 14: City boy of mixed Bidayuh-Iban parentage, Carlester Layang, might be just 11-years+old, but he already knows what being a good host means and is proud of his ancestral roots and identity.
When met recently, Carlester, in full traditional Iban attire, said he liked to be a host and welcome visitors or ‘pengabang’ to his mother’s longhouse Rumah Panjang Engkranji, Layar, Betong, to celebrate the Gawai Dayak Festival.
“I want to be nice to people and share what I have with my friends, just like in school. I hope young people like me can share with adults too. My parents and grandfather told me to good and polite to people so I followed (their advice),” he said.
“We want ‘pengabang’ to come and join the Gawai celebration as it is once a year, and we have plenty to eat and drink. We must be kind to our guests, and they must learn to eat and drink our traditional food.
“Our Dayak food is very tasty and cannot be found in the city, so they must try and eat them. Today, my parents said there is a bus full of them, and I heard the ‘pengabang’ have come all the way from Kuching,” he told DayakDaily.
Carlester was met at his mother’s longhouse after welcoming guests invited by the Sarawak Tourist Federation (STF), which organised a three-day-two-night stay at the longhouse in Betong from June 9-11. Participants got to experience the Gawai Dayak Festival and sample the rural way of life.
Carlester revealed that he loved all the traditional things and liked the traditional Iban outfit bought for him by his parents.
“I like this Iban attire and I am like ‘Bujang Berani’ (warrior), and if I take a photograph, I will show it to my friend,” he said.
Carlester revealed that he lived in Kuala Lumpur and attended a Chinese school, SJKC Subang.
“I can speak Mandarin ,Bahasa Malaysia, English, Iban and Bidayuh,but I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up,” he added.
Carlester encourages his young Dayak peers to wear traditional clothing and to develop a liking for it.
“If everybody can buy the clothing, then everybody can wear it, but I don’t know how much it costs. It is just beautiful,” he opined.
He further revealed that he likes eating the traditional ‘kuih’ (cakes), made by his grandmother and aunties.
“In Kuala Lumpur, I don’t know where to get this traditional ‘kuih’, so I eat as much as I can here during Gawai. Next year, I want to come back and eat more. And I like ‘kolo mee’ too,” he said.
His father, Wilfred Danny, said that Carlester liked being around older people, and his best friends are his grandparents.
“I encourage him to respect the elders, be nice, be polite and hospitable to people, especially guests. I don’t want my children to lose their identity but Carlester loves all this Dayak regalia and traditional clothing. So we buy for him,” he added.
“We encourage Carlester and his siblings to learn the Dayak customs and traditions so they know their heritage and values to be good people.
“If we don’t teach them from young, our customs and traditions will slowly disappear. We must inculcate these values now when they are young. This Gawai Festival is the best occasion for this,” he said. — DayakDaily
