Venue
Sarawak, Malaysia
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Gawai Dayak Festival, Sarawak guide
Longhouses open their doors for Gawai.
In short
Gawai Dayak falls every year on 1 and 2 June, with the eve on 31 May. Iban, Bidayuh and other Dayak families return home, lay out offerings and share rice wine after the midnight gong. It suits travellers who can arrange a respectful longhouse visit; go with an invitation or a reputable guide.
Gawai Dayak is Sarawak's harvest festival, the night the Iban, Bidayuh and other Dayak peoples thank the gods for the rice crop and open their longhouses to guests. Families come home from the cities, offerings are laid out room by room, and rice wine follows the gong at midnight.
For a visitor it is the rare chance to see a longhouse at full strength, with every family room occupied, elders leading prayers and young people dancing late into the night. It is a family occasion first, and the warmest welcome goes to those who arrive as somebody's guest.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Where: Kuching, Malaysia
Held: Every year
Type of event: Cultural Events, Folk Festival
Currency: Malaysian ringgit (MYR, RM)
Time zone: Malaysia Time, UTC+8
Language: Malay
Map
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Drinking tuak at a sensible pace
Hospitality at Gawai is counted in glasses. A welcome at the longhouse door can mean several drinks before you have even sat down, and every family room you visit pours another.
- A small sip honours each glass. Nobody expects you to finish them all.
- If you do not drink alcohol, say so at the first glass, plainly and with thanks.
- Elders remind the house to keep order before the celebrations, and longhouse custom fines fighting, quarrelling and drunkenness. Pace yourself.
Gifts, shoes and following your host
Bring something small for the family: biscuits or sweets are right. Take your shoes off before entering each family room. During prayers and offerings, stand where your host places you and copy what they do.
- Never touch or step over the offering sets laid out in the room and on the gallery.
- Check with your host before pointing a camera at anyone in the middle of a ritual.
- Christian households often say a prayer in the family room in place of the offering. Join quietly or wait on the gallery.
Clothing for a hot night on the gallery
Early June in Sarawak is hot and sticky, and the eve runs well past midnight. You will spend hours sitting on mats beside elders, so dress in light clothes that cover shoulders and knees and are easy to sit cross-legged in.
- Carry water and a good insect repellent.
- A small torch helps on longhouse steps and ladders after dark.
- Pack a change of clothes; ngabang visits carry on through the next day.
What happens on the day
- 31 May, around sunset
Muai Antu Rua
In many Iban longhouses, winnowing baskets are dragged past every family room; unwanted odds and ends go in and are thrown off the end of the house, taking greed with them.
- Dusk
Miring
The gendang rayah drums sound and each family sets out its offerings. The chief waves a cockerel over them before it is sacrificed. Dinner is eaten on the gallery floor.
- Shortly before midnight
Ngalu Petara
A procession walks the gallery to welcome the spirits, the gong is struck, and the tuai rumah raises the Ai Pengayu toast for long life.
- After midnight
Ranyai and ngajat
The tree of life is raised in the gallery and the dancing starts. Few people sleep much.
- 1 June
Ngabang
The round of visits.
- End of June
Ngiling Bidai
Each family rolls up its mat to close the season.
Finding a longhouse host for Gawai
Gawai happens behind longhouse doors, so the first job is finding a host. Dayak friends are the surest route. Failing that, homestays and a few Kuching tour operators keep long ties with particular communities and can place you with a family for the eve. The Bidayuh longhouse at Annah Rais, about 60 km from the city, runs a homestay programme and is the nearest of the well-known options. Town associations also hold open houses, which need no introduction at all.
Spend at least a night in Kuching either side of the trip out. The Waterfront is the city's evening walk, lined with food kiosks, and Padungan, which takes in Chinatown, has most of the larger hotels and the nightlife. Both suit an early pickup.
Book everything early. In the final week of May a large share of Sarawak heads home to the villages, and seats on rural flights and buses vanish first. Set aside a full day for the journey out and another for the return, because plenty of longhouses lie hours from the city by road or river. Aim to reach your hosts before dusk on the eve. You will be settled before the offerings start.
Festival food, tuak and the celebrations in Betong
Gawai cooking starts days ahead. Families forage for midin fern and bamboo shoots. Poultry is killed on the morning of the eve, and whole pig heads go over the coals. The dish to look for is ayam pansuh, chicken sealed inside a length of bamboo with aromatics such as lemongrass and torch ginger, then set over an open fire. Pangkang, glutinous rice steamed in bamboo, comes with it, and trays of kuih follow, among them sarang semut and the flat, round penganan iri. Tuak has to be brewed at least a month before, from glutinous rice and homemade yeast.
A single shared date is younger than most guests assume. Each community once fixed its own harvest rites. Michael Buma held the first unofficial Gawai at his house in Siol Kandis, Betong, on 1 June 1963, and Stephen Kalong Ningkan was Chief Minister when Gawai entered the state gazette, on 25 September 1964. The first official celebration came in 1965.
The Iban and Bidayuh are the largest groups keeping it, though Orang Ulu peoples such as the Kayan and Kenyah celebrate too. Look along the gallery for the Pua Kumbu cloths the women hang for the occasion. Shields and heirloom jars often come out on display as well.
Getting there
Flying in
Kuching International Airport is about 11 km south of the city, with the most flights from Kuala Lumpur, plus Scoot and AirAsia from Singapore and Royal Brunei from Bandar Seri Begawan. Check entry rules on our Malaysia visa page; Sarawak runs its own immigration check on arrival.
Into Kuching
Grab or Maxim, or the fixed RM30 coupon taxi, about 20 minutes. BAS.MY routes Q14 and Q15 leave arrivals hourly.
In the city
Local buses charge a flat RM1, and tambang boats cross the Sarawak River for the same.
To a longhouse
No bus to Annah Rais; a taxi is RM90 to RM120 each way. Agree in advance who covers the last stretch, and fix your ride back before you leave, since ride-hailing is hard to summon from a rural longhouse.
Where to stay during the festival
The next date is 31 May 2027. Book your room as soon as your dates are fixed, since rooms close to the festival are the first to go.
Weather and what to pack
Early June in Kuching is hot and humid, between the monsoons. Average highs are about 32°C and lows about 24°C, with around 255 mm of rain in the month, often as afternoon storms (1991-2020 normals).
Worth packing
- A small gift for your hosts (sweets, biscuits or drinks)
- A sarong or light layer to sleep on the gallery
- Insect repellent
- Slip-on shoes: footwear comes off inside the longhouse
- A torch
Car hire in Kuching
Airport transfer to Gawai Dayak Festival, Sarawak
Met at arrivals and driven door to door to Kuching.
Restaurants and food in Malaysia
Places to eat in Malaysia before or after the celebrations.
Nancy's Kitchen
13, Jalan KL 3/8, Taman Kota Laksamana, Seksyen 3, 75200 Melaka, Malaysia
Cuisine:NyonyaPeranakan
- Dine-in
Nasi Kandar Line Clear
177 Jalan Penang, 10000 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Cuisine:Nasi kandarMalaysian Indian Muslim
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Teksen
18 & 20 Lebuh Carnarvon, 10100 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Cuisine:Penang ChineseZi char
- Dine-in
De.Wan 1958
Level 2-2, The LINC KL, 360 Jalan Tun Razak, Taman U Thant, 50400 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Cuisine:MalayMalaysian heritage
- Dine-in
Dewakan
48F Skyviews, Naza Tower, Platinum Park, 10 Persiaran KLCC, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Cuisine:Modern MalaysianTasting menu
- Dine-in
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
It is the standard Gawai greeting, usually printed after Selamat Hari Gawai Dayak on roadside banners. It wishes the reader long life, good health and prosperity.
Iban households call seven deities to the miring, among them Sengalang Burong, god of war, Menjaya Manang, linked to medicine, and Sempulang Gana, who looks after farming.
A spirit made by distilling tuak. It is much stronger than the rice wine itself, so treat any glass of it with care.
Yes. Dayak communities in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, keep it on a different date, though it is not a public holiday there. Dayak groups living in Peninsular Malaysia hold their own events, including joint Gawai and Kaamatan gatherings in Petaling Jaya.
Traditionally the women line the ladder and hand each guest a sequence of named drinks, from ai tiki to ai basa, a ritual known together as nyibur temuai. A short speech introduces the guest of honour.
The traditional dress families put on when guests arrive. Men wear feather headdresses of hornbill and peacock with silver armlets; women wear a handwoven kain betating, a rattan and brass corset and a tall decorated comb.
It is called uti. A guest tries to split a coconut resting on a plate using a blunt knife. White flesh inside is read as a good sign, black as a bad one.
Blowpipe contests, arm wrestling, log pulling and tug of war are the traditional ones. Younger people add football and sepak takraw, and karaoke and joget dancing are popular too.
Yes. Pre-Gawai events run in town during May, before city families head home, and Kuching stages parades and food bazaars around the holiday.
Both give thanks for the rice harvest, but Kaamatan belongs to Sabah's Kadazan-Dusun and related peoples. Its holidays end the day before Gawai starts, so one Borneo trip can take in both.
Booking
It varies a great deal. A short longhouse has 10 to 30 doors, each a family room, while the longest run to 50 or even 100.
Timing & weather
Mostly, but expect gaps. Some stallholders at the Sunday Market close for the festival, since many traders go home to their villages.
Usually, yes. The music festival is normally held in late June at the Sarawak Cultural Village outside Kuching, while Gawai visits carry on in many villages through the month.