We'd pre-registered for today's showing, at the Borneo Cultures Museum, of a new documentary film on the Gawai Antu (Ghost Festival) that is celebrated by the Iban people.

The purpose of this ceremony, which is performed only rarely (once in a generation), is to honour the dead, receive their blessing, and release their spirits. Until the Gawai Antu has been completed, the dead are still dependent on the locality and people they frequented when alive, whereas after the ceremony they are able to move fully into Sebayan, the next world, where they will be self-sufficient and independent of the world of the living. (There are more details here.)

It was fairly clear we were going to be the only Europeans at the showing when we walked up to the registration desk, and were immediately identified...

But being unusual is sometimes useful. Before the film started, we were privileged to be shown round the accompanying exhibition by executive producer Barbara Dubah Jabu. That was a good introduction, and helped to underline what we saw later.

These miniature pieces of basketwork, crafted by accomplished weavers in a period of no more than 24 hours, symbolize the individual achievements and status of each individual dead soul. They form part of the tomb huts that are erected over the graves of the deceased:



Indai Billai is the matriarch of the spirit world. When the highly revered ceremonial tuak is made to honour her, the gates are open between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The tuak is poured into a ceremonial bowl, and placed high up on a stand to keep it safe from contamination:


At the culmination of the ceremony, this Tuak Indai Billai can be drunk only by a combatant (in this case a major with more than three decades' service in the army).


We found the film fascinating, atmospheric, and moving.

The celebration of this particular Gawai Antu was recorded at the Betong and Gensurai longhouse in December 2018. Over the course of many days, there is invocation and incantation, traditional poetry, ceremonial dance, and ritual cock-fighting. Offerings of food and tuak are made to the spirits. There's lamentation, but also merry-making. There's lots of food, and lots of tuak...

The sheer scale of the enterprise is mind-blowing (hundreds of guests will attend the key events), and I'm in awe of any community that can actually bring this off.

After the screening we met more of the people who'd made the film (including the woman who played Indai Billai, which must have been a bit of a scary thing to do...)

And then we tried out the Borneo Cultures Museum Restaurant (not open when we last visited).

Our feeling was that they'd pitched the price point a little high by local standards, and the space could have been more intimate and less functional. But there was absolutely nothing wrong with the food:



We'd been pleasantly surprised, on registering, to find that our free film tickets also entitled us to visit the rest of the museum galleries.

The special exhibition on shamans, whose role is to bridge the worlds of the living and the dead, seemed very fitting after what we'd seen before lunch:






We also took the opportunity to revisit some of the exhibits we'd seen last time, as our knowledge of Melanau and Iban cultures has increased (albeit fractionally) since then:









All in all, an unexpectedly rich day out. Very much appreciated.