Tribal Dancing in an ill-fitting hat: Mengkak Longhouse, Batang Ai, Sarawak, Borneo

 

Ah, it’s that time again! That is, time for another instalment of What I Wore on My Holidays. If you’ve read my post on the Longhouse Latrine and Dogs in the Nighttime, you will know I once stayed overnight in a longhouse with the Iban people of Sarawak. During the evening of my stay, we ate a meal which partly consisted of wild boar, which I understood had been hunted that day, and drank rice wine (tuak) and rice whisky (though not in huge quantities!). Entertainment was provided via percussive music played on a variety of gongs (I believe these are collectively referred to as an agung ensemble) accompanying traditional Ngajat dancing.

In the interests of being inclusive, the tourist is invited to join in with the dancing. Fair is fair, I suppose, and there’s an element of reciprocity in this, as having showcased elements of their traditional culture for the purposes of entertainment, the Iban people are no doubt amused to see the discomfited swaying of a self-conscious and clumsy foreigner. Just for added hilarity, Dancer No. 3 (i.e. me) was provided with some Iban head gear. Now, I have a rather large cranium (I was delivered by forceps as a result), and whilst I am sure this physical situation indicates the vast amount of brain power contained within (sadly I think it’s gradually seeping out somewhere now, though), it does mean it has often been difficult to find a hat that properly fits me. So it was that my dancing, uncoordinated and ungainly at the best of times, became even more tentative as I tried to prevent the carefully perched headdress from falling off and causing some kind of cultural embarrassment. Actually, I think I was a cultural embarrassment, really. Please savour the dreadful pictorial evidence, and enjoy photo and video footage showing how it really ought to be done.