Gawai Dayak

Gawai Day or Gawai Dayak, is a festival celebrated in Sarawak. It is both a religious and social occasion. Gawai Dayak literally means “Dayak Festival”. Dayak visit their friends and relatives on this day. Those far away receive greeting cards. The mode of celebrations varies from place to place.

The festival is celebrated on the 1st of June every year. However, it actually starts on the evening of 31st of May. Gawai Dayak celebration may last for several days.

On the evening of 31st of May, the ceremony to cast the greediness spirit away (Muai Antu Rua) is held. Then, offering ceremony (miring) is conducted. Thanking gods for the good harvest, guidance, blessings and long life is done through sacrifi cing a cockerel. At midnight spirit welcoming procession (Ngaluh Petara) is held. Then, the celebration gets merrier as people start singing and reading poems.

On the 1st of June, the homes of the Dayaks are opened to visitors. Cock-fi ghting, blowpipe skill demonstration, and ngajat competitions are held. It is also during this time of the year that many Dayak weddings take place. Today, it is an integral part of Dayak social life. It is a thanksgiving day marking good harvest and a time to plan for the new farming season or activities ahead.

Adapted from: Interlanguage: English for Senior High School Students XI             

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Elephants, Dog and Mice

 

I have never known a dog and an elephant make friends. Elephants will eventually become accus tomed to certain dogs in camps, and dogs learn not to bark at them and always to keep out of reach of the slash of a trunk or the kick of a leg. The hatred of elephants for dogs cannot easily be explained. It is possible that they are afraid of dogs biting their trunks, though I do not think such a thing ever happened. It has occurred to me that it might be an instinctive dread of hydrophobia, which is the dread of everyone who keeps a dog in camp, Burman and European Assistant alike.

Nevertheless practically every European Assistant keeps a dog and I have almost always had one myself. The elephants hate them and one is always losing one's dog, owing to leopard, tiger, bear and snakes. The tragedies of lost dogs are often an Assistant's first experience of real grief.

 It is easy to ask, why, under such conditions, do you keep a dog? But I know of no other existence where a dog is so necessary as a com panion to share every moment of one's life and to drive away loneliness.

 So far as I know, elephants don't worry about snakes, though the 'oozies' (drivers) believe that a number of elephants calves die of snake-bite. I have had this reported to me many times but in no instance could I find any proof. The Burmans believe that the hairs of an elephant's tail pull out very easily after it has been bitten by a snake. But, as this has also to be proved, I was never able to accept it as conclusive evidence that an elephant had been killed by snake-bite.

There is a widespread belief that an elephant is really terrified of a mouse. The idea makes an obvious appeal to the human love of paradox. But, if it is true, I can see no reason Elephants, Dog and Mice for it. It certainly cannot be because the elephant is afraid of the mouse getting inside his trunk, since, with one snort, he could eject it like a cork from a popgun. However, most fears are imaginary and there is no reason why elephants should be immune from such terrors.

Taken from Practice and Progress, 1994

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Nusa Tenggara

Nusa Tenggara is the name for the chain of islands which lies to the east of Bali. Including the islands of Komodo, Lombok, Flores and Timor, Nusa Tenggara spans a variety of landscapes, from tropical forests, high volcanic lakes and dry savannahs. The largest islands are Lombok and Sumbawa, with hundreds of smaller islands between. East Nusa Tenggara has 566 islands. The long northern arch of the island chain is the result of volcanic activity, whilst the southern islands are formed from coral deposits. Most of the eastern islands are arid, due to hot winds blowing from the continent of Australia and sparsely vegetated. The Western half of Nusa Tenggara is moister and has denser vegetation. The Northern part of the chain is known for deep lakes contained in the craters of extinct volcanoes, the most famous of which are the coloured mineral lakes on Gunung Keli Mutu in Flores

Taken from: English in Focus Grade VIII

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