THE KAUL FESTIVAL
THE KAUL FESTIVAL (PESTA KAUL)
The Melanau are considered among the earliest settlers in Sarawak. The name Melanau was not used by the Melanau to refer to themselves until recently. They call themselves a-likou meaning 'people of the river'. Legend has it that the name Melanau was given by one of the Sultans of Brunei to the inhabitants of the coastal swamp flats and riverbanks of central Sarawak.
The best-known festival celebrated by the Melanau is the Kaul Festival (Pesta Kaul). Originating from the animistic beliefs traditionally held by the Melanau, the Pesta Kaul is held annually, usually in March or early April, as a purification and thanks giving to appease the spirits of the sea, land, forests and farm.
This festival is celebrated by the Melanau people living in the coastal settlements in Mukah, Sarawak. Through the festival, the Melanau people offer their thanks to the spirits for keeping them safe through the monsoon season and ask for a good bounty on their fishing trips.
Today, however, the Pesta Kaul is celebrated more as a cultural festival, rather than a religious one. One of the highlights of this festival is the Tibow, a traditional giant swing sometimes 20-feet high, from which youths would dive down to catch a swinging rope.
The Tibow, the death defying 20-foot high swing, here youths dive from a high bamboo scaffolding and catch a swinging l rope as it reaches the height of its arc. First one, then two and eventually eight young men hanging in a clump from the giant swing as it soars above the beach.
Pesta Kaul is about more than giant swings, it’s a colorful festival with a flotilla of highly decorated boats, beach games and lots of delicious Melanau food. Traditionally, during the monsoon, the river mouths were closed.
Villages would be palei or taboo for days before Kaul. No one was allowed to leave or enter and people underwent purification ceremonies during Kaul. The highly decorated fishing boats move down river carrying the seraheng, a flat round basket raised on a bamboo pole. It is placed on a riverbank while the Bapa Kaul or leader of the ceremony invokes the spirits and pours water over the offerings.
In the past the sick and elderly would gather by the ‘seraheng’ so that the water poured on the offerings would fall on them and wash away all evil. Today the ceremony is of social rather than religious significance.
After the ceremony there are games on the beach, displays of Melanau martial arts, dancing and eating. The festivities do not stop with sunset, they just move to the Melanau houses built on rivers and streams where there are cultural performances and non stop feasting. The attractive native dwellings give the fishing villages near Mukah, the air of a bamboo Venice and their hospitality is legendary.
The festival would not be complete without its boat racing. These boat races range from dugout boats to 40-horsepower motorised boats. For the men who participate, money isn’t everything. They prize recognition and esteem far more than banknotes.
Today most of them are Catholics or Muslims and often of the two religions in the same family live in the same house, but they still celebrate Pesta Kaul with gusto.
The old animist religion may not be practiced these days but the legend live on… LAN BERAMBEH KE SARAWAK!
