IBAN PEOPLE

Overview
Iban people is a dominant tribal group in Sarawak as almost of them is one-third of the population. Due to their history as pirates and fishermen, they are also known as the “Sea Dayaks”. 

Traditional Costumes                   

The traditional costume for woman consist of a vest-like top beaded with multiple colours, accessorize with silver necklace, bracelets and anklets , and a silver headdress called “sugu tinggi.” The traditional costumes for male consist of just a piece of long cloth wrapped around their waist, and a headdress decorated with colourful feathers. They will wear these traditional costume and dance during festivals.

Significant festivals include the rice harvesting festival Gawai Dayak, the main festival for the Ibans. Other festivals include the bird festival Gawai Burong and the spirit festival Gawai Antu. The Gawai Dayak festival is celebrated every year on the 1st of June, at the end of the harvest season, to worship the Lord Sempulang Gana. On this day, the Ibans get together to celebrate and they are visiting each other.

Dance

Their dance is called “Ngajat dance”. This dance is performed accompanied by the tabohand gendang, the Ibans’ traditional music.

Ngajat dance serves many purposes depending on the occasion. During Gawais, it is used to entertain the people who in the olden days enjoy graceful ngajats as a form of entertainment. Iban men and women have different styles of ngajat. The ngajat involves a lot of precise body-turning movements. The ngajat for men is more aggressive and depicts a man going to war, or a bird flying (as a respect to the Iban god of war, Singalang Burong). The women’s form of ngajat consists of soft, graceful movements with very precise body turns.

It is emphasize on their body movements and they uses their tribal musical instruments to give music and rhythm to their dance moves. The dance moves might seem easy but it is actually very difficult to coordinate the movements of your body with the music.