Task 1

The Iban emerged, traditionally, from Kalimantan, Indonesia. They entered initially via the Batang
Ai, Kapuas, namely the SarawakKalimantan border, among the popular legends and history of ethnic
inclusion. In the north portion of the Lupar and Saribas River, Dayak Iban's initial displacement is
dispersed. On the Hulu Batang Lupar via the Kalimantan border leading to the Rejang, their
displacement has taken place since the 19th century. Sri Aman is accompanied by Kapit, Kalaka
(Saratok), Mukah, Miri, Betong, Baram, Song and Sarikei, the main Iban settlements. Much of the
Iban also turned to Christianity. While many have converted to Christianity, cultural and sacred rituals
such as "Sandau Hari," "Gawai Batu," "Gawai Burong," and "Gawai Antu" are still preserved. Among
the Iban, this ceremony is still performed. Gawai Dayak, Gawai Burong, Gawai Antu, Gawai Tuah,
Gawai Betambah Bulu and Gawai Batu are among the forms of Gawai that are celebrated by the Iban
community. On 1 June each year, Gawai Dayak is celebrated, while Gawai Burong is held to worship
Singalang Burong as a war deity. When the villagers have just moved into a new longhouse, Gawai
Mangkung Tiang is held. Gawai Kenyalang is held to mark a person's achievement in his or her life.
The Iban, who had traveled far and achieved popularity, will celebrated Gawai Betambah Bulu.

One of the ethnic groups that is rich in culture and customs inherited by their ancestors is the Iban
community in Sarawak. The miring rite is one of the customs that is still in use by the Iban culture up
to now. Miring is a ritual offering to bless or order to stop any danger, or to pray to their deity. The
true aim of the Miring Rite is to bless, defend, and add to humanity pleasure, unity, and harmony.
Miring typically takes place before an important operation or after a catastrophe or mishap happens.

The ancient religion of Iban is based on the principles of pantheon, soul and dream, ceremonial
service and festivals, cults such as paddy cultivation and healing, and the bird omen and augury
scheme rituals. In Iban society, the world of the gods, petara includes several benevolent forces that
have control over the workings of natural phenomena. They are the tree-top gods and the earth's gods.
During the Gawai festival, both of these gods are invoked in prayer and incantation. Such gods are
strongly anthropomorphic and are portrayed as having specialized positions and powers. Three main
gods signify excellent aspects of Iban traditional ideals, while the Iban Pantheon is complex:
Singalang Burong as a deity of war, Simpulang Gana and Selampandai. The meaning of a phantom or
antu relates to their deity. Antu or petara refers to the same thing in the past as any other form of
divine force that can provide men with support and good will. In a lot of respects, Petara supports
people. During the miring ceremony, Petara can be worshipped with piring (food offerings) as an
acknowledgment from man.

The longhouse society is the principal congregation or body of people who engage in typical
ceremonies in the traditional Iban religion. The Iban pay close attention to relationships between
longhouse members for this reason. Children are urged to honor their elders of the village and behave

1
decently in compliance with traditional adat and their community's values. By the same time, all
secular rules and ceremonial injunctions are closely linked, and the Iban will live harmoniously with
each other and win the favor of the gods and spirits if they obey the rules and worshipped the gods.

The longhouse headman, or tuai rumah, is the chief protector of the customary adat. Most of the heads
of the longhouse are descendants from the founders of previous migrations who originally arrived in
the area where the group they have jurisdiction over is situated. The headman's job is to look after the
affairs of his anak-biak, or followers, and he is supposed to know every part of traditional adat as a
matter of courtship. If a disagreement is directed to the headman, with the aid of the Tuai Umai or
Tuai Burong (farm chief or augury specialist, respectively) and other village members who are well
versed in traditional adat, he will try to resolve it. The Tuai Burong is a specialist in different ways of
augury, as well as being well versed in his community's genealogies and culture.

The augural God is linked to the Iban in Iban culture by the marriage of the seventh daughter of
Singalang Burong. It was Singalang Burong's son-in-law who revealed the divination to the mortal
Iban. The Deity of the World is also known as Pulang Gana or Simpulang Gana. Petara has a wife
called Tanah Tumbuh Endu Serentum Daya Chenalang Tanggi Buluh. This God is the God of
agricultural land abundance to grow rice and is also said to have given the Iban people a good land so
that they get a good harvest. Selampandai or Sempandai is a man who produced petara who lived in
the land of Perai Tinggal Teresai Ujan Ngerunung, meaning a very fertile mountainous area. Humans
interact by dreams with spiritual beings. Dreams in reference to miring also have important
significance. The dream is a meeting place for individuals and their petaras. Supernatural forces
appear in the supernatural in the human dream to communicate to humans some hint or warning that
in any step they must be vigilant. Iban has very firm convictions about Petara's nature and many other
unbelievable powers. Dreams are one of the ways human beings can interact with the divine world.
Via ceremonies, festivals, or gawai, they may also engage with the spirits.

In carrying out their everyday tasks, the Iban culture is often driven by omens. The seven son-in-laws
of Singalang Burong are the Iban omen birds. The highest deity and the god of war is Singalang
Burong. These ominous birds are Ketupong, Beragai, Embuas, Papau, Pangkas, Bejampung and
Kunding in terms of seniority and power. Ketupong is married to Endu Dara Tinchin Temaga, Beragai
to Puchung Pengabas, Endu Letan Berpulas to Embuas, Endu Ketunsong Ngembai to Papau,
Kechapong Pulas to Pangkas, Endu Kechapah Dulang Midong to Bejampong, and Dara Patri Langit
to Kunding. All these birds, except Kunding, are day-birds. Kunding, meanwhile, is a night creature.
The Iban treat these birds' calls as an omen. The calls of these birds disturbed the everyday farming
practices of the Iban and even while they were out hunting.

The Iban culture is very interested in the omens of birds. They believe in all sorts of signals or omens
that are known to humans as a form of warning. The Iban typically believe in omens which occur in

2
their lives. Every sign should be honoured with the ritual of miring, which supplies their deity with
offerings. The aim was to defuse or neutralize the situation between humans and their gods that
existed. The Iban claims that by doing so, it will bring luck, prosperity and riches to their lives. While
the animals bear a positive sign, miring must also be encouraged so that individuals get a double luck.
However, it should not be considered evil, whether its ill will or good, but it should be accepted with
ceremonies given. The Iban claim that if it's a negative omen, it would turn into a positive symbol if
it's celebrated with miring ceremonies. Anything tragic occurs if people do not obey the petara orders
they received by dreaming or are not inclined to hold the offering ritual when they receive positive or
bad omen from petara or other spiritual forces. Thus by providing rituals to calm the situation, the
Iban people must worship their petara.

Another noteworthy culture of the Iban is miring. In Saratok, Iban believes that offering ceremony is a
way to thank God for their blessing and support apart from avoiding unnecessary accidents. The aim
of miring ceremony is to bless people, protect society, and bring prosperity, unity, and harmony. The
practice was conducted in ancient times before a party of men went down for a war or recognized as a
ngayau expedition or when Iban decided to discover new places to create a new longhouse. Before
major events were performed or after the event of the tragedy or unwelcome items happened to the
longhouse, ritual was held.

The number of attendees for a gathering will be up to thousands, including many communities,
depending on the importance of the ceremony. During Gawai Dayak and Gawai Antu, grand miring is
usually done. Miring is practiced in modern times to host important visitors, such as cabinet officials
or dignitaries. Often it involves slaughtering pigs as a sacrifice during the miring ritual to the gods and
the spirit. Usually, the legs of the pig are fixed to a wooden pole or inserted inside a gunny sack. A
dagger or warrior sword would be used by the Iban to cut off his throat. Instead of having the entire
pig as an offering, only a limited amount of the blood of the pig is put on a plate along with other
offerings such as rice and egg. The offerings are then placed on top of a temporary altar that is
normally made of bamboo. Instead of tossing it out the slain pig was usually a feast for the people.

A general pattern of rites is used in the festival of all gawai. Next a bebiau that requires invocation
and rooster-waving is made and accompanied by sacrificial offerings. Finally, the prolonged singing
of the holy texts by ceremonial specialists or bards is the most important aspect of the festival. In the
lives of humans, Petara can manifest either by human dreams or by signs produced by living beings,
such as animals, birds and insects, or through certain natural phenomena.

It also takes some skill and knowledge to plan the piring. White glutinous rice, black glutinous rice,
white rice, banana, tobacco, boiled eggs, betel leaf, areca nut, salt, cooking oil, pop rice, and rice wine
are part of the piring method. Typically, by putting it on a piring, the Iban worship or present food to
the extraordinary force. Worship involves doing a rite in this sense, such as offering ceremony, and

3
the Iban uses a special blanket called Pua Kumbu that acts as a badge or icon to signify that the Iban
have performed or adored the extraordinary powers. In Sarawak, Iban communities often prefer to
live along the major rivers. This adds to the variations in the available and ultimately used food
services to include offerings. The ingredients used in food offerings differ according to the position of
Sarawak's numerous river systems. Betel leaves, areca nuts, salt, tobacco, white rice, glutinous rice,
bananas, eggs, penganan iri, rice, cooking oil and rice wine (tuak) are part of the food provided in
Saratok, Betong. By frying a mixture of flour and sugar in hot oil, penganan iri is made. The popped
rice (letup) would be hurled in all directions by the end of the offering ceremonies. At the completion
of the ritual, the popped rice will be washed. A chant (biau) will be pronounced by the ritual specialist
while waving a roaster over the offerings. Petara (god) is a divine entity which exists in this universe,
according to the beliefs of the Iban. Pengap and Timang (incantation) are often done during sacred
ceremonies to be worshipped and adored through miring ceremony (offering of foods). The worship
ritual is also a religious ritual for the Iban people, in which it is time to submit to petara and other
divine forces, purpose, wish or prayer.

Iban Betong communities do not use rendai and tumpi (rice or sago cakes made by pressing the flour
into a hot pan) in their offerings, unlike the Rejang River valley district. Sago (sagun) is on the other
hand, a very important ingredient for offerings in Saratok. Eggs are however the primary component
required for the offering ceremony. This is because the egg is the symbol of both human life's fertility
and the beginning. An entire egg is included in the offerings in certain places, such as in the Batang
Rajang basin. Although they just need to break the eggs into tiny parts for Iban Saratok, the idea is
still the same.

If the offers are nine-fold in the Batang Rajang Basin (piring turun sembilan), nine eggs will be
offered on every nine dishes. (piring turun tiga) Most of the offers are three-fold. An offering
ceremony made between family members, for instance, only prepares three-fold offers. But it takes a
five-fold (piring turun lima) to deliver ceremonies which are held in the hall (ruai). A plate of indu
piring (main offering plate) should be placed on each offering of more than one and it must be placed
on a metal tray called Tabak. The metal tray holding the offerings is covered in traditional Iban
blankets (Pua Kumbu).

For conclusion, in Iban culture, the offering ritual not only adores the presence of extraordinary forces
to overcome the different crises or problems encountered by people, but also acts as a gathering place
for the Iban community. It strives to exchange perspectives, brainstorm opinions, share insights and
experiences, as well as secrets for a better life. The offering ritual is also carried out by the Iban
people who inherit the values of heritage in today's times. In addition, since they are very effective,
there are still Iban individuals who have professed Christianity but still do the offering ceremony.
This is because it is possible to address any dilemma or crisis that exists in the life of Iban community

4
by offering ceremonies held at regular fairs. In addition, through the rite of offering ceremony carried
out in the traditional festival, they may also take advantage of all the advantages or add to the existing
products.

Task 2

Iban community is the largest ethnic groups in Sarawak. This ethnic is rich with cultures and
traditions that still practice in some parts of Sarawak. Due to this uniqueness, I decided to share this
ethnic groups for my assignment.

In completing this task, I need to do some planning. First, I started with the draft of the topic. I choose
Iban culture as this culture is very interesting to me. I do some readings from magazines, journals and
videos on Youtube to complete this tasks. From my readings and study, I found out that Iban
community in Sarawak and some parts of Kalimantan is one of the ethnic group that rich with cultures
and beliefs. One of the challenges that I faced to complete is the usage of technology. I asked for
helps from my friends to set up the video. Another challenges that I faced is the language. Some of the
language, I am not familiar with it. To overcome this challenges, I asked for helps in translating some
of the words from my Sarawakian friends.

For me to complete this task, I also need to prepare the timeline draft. I need to adjust my speech as
well as the given time. I cannot talk too much as this will be time consuming. I need to figure out as
well the creativity aspect of my videos. I want to attract the attention of my viewers. I do this by using
different language tones as well as hand gestures. Creativity and innovation is very important as I
want to attract the attention of my viewers. I do not want them to feel bored watching my video.

This video could be done better if I had the help of preparing and setting up the recording as well as
editing the video. Video editing skills is not my things. The noise and other things can be heard
sometimes during the process of recording this video. But, recording this video is a good things. It can
improve my confident levels as well as my oratory skills.

When I show this video to one of my friend, she suggested that my body gesture should be more
confident and enticing. She commented that my topic is very interesting topic as there is not much she
knows about Iban cultures. By sharing and recording this video, she was able to learn something new
from it. Perhaps, she suggesting that when recording this video, I can add some of video clips that
displaying the Iban culture in Sarawak.

On completing this video presentation, I feel that this task is a good thing to do. It helps me to learn
more about other cultures as well as my level of knowledge of using technology. For future task, this

5
video presentation should be maintain as it is good for the students to polish their skills as well as
knowledge in certain areas that they are interested in.

2793 Words