The Malaysian version of Thanksgiving, or at least the Borneo version, is very much different than the American Thanksgiving. In Sarawak, we
Dayaks celebrate Thanksgiving in end May-early June and it is known as
Gawai (in Sabah, Thanksgiving is known as
Pesta Kaamatan).
The
Gawai is a festival to thank the spirits/Gods for a good harvest. Unlike how the American Thanksgiving revolves around turkey and worrying about the stuffing that goes in it,
Gawai revolves around rice wine (known as
"tuak") and worrying about how wasted/drunk you're going to be.
Okay, I was kidding about the getting wasted part. But after years of celebrating Gawai, it's hard to not get wasted during this joyful occassion.
Like Thanksgiving, as
Gawai approaches, the amount of stress and preparation increases. The house needs cleaning, food and cakes needs preparing, and the
tuak needs to be stocked up (and lots and lots of it, mind you). Most of the food and drinks will end up being consumed by people you barely even know or hardly even like.
Some of us will go to church on the eve of
Gawai while the more traditional ones will visit their ancestor's graveyard to clean the site and offer offerings to the dead. All sorts of rituals will take place. As I'm not involved in any of the rituals, I can't really tell you what goes on.
An offering to the spirits
I'm more involved in the drinking and dancing part which could last for days. There are so many friends to visit and each home that you visit, they will serve you tuak. So as you can see, it's kinda hard to stay sober when the host keeps shoving drinks into your hand (and it's rude to turn away the drinks offered to you).
Although the two Thanksgivings are different from each other, the meaning of it, however, is surprisingly similar.
It's about...
being thankful that you didn't get as wasted as you did the previous year.
It's about...
being thankful that you didn't wake up in strange places.It's about...
being thankful that your health permits you take part in this year's Thanksgiving.It's about...
being thankful that you have enough patience to not take a knife and stab the relative you so hate but just had to visit.
It's about...
being thankful for having so many friends to share Thanksgiving with (not to mention the amount of free food and booze you'll be getting).It's about...
being thankful for what a blessed life you have. At least you still have a life.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This post was written as a submission to Kat's Blog Competition. To enter the contest, blog about "What does Thanksgiving mean to you?" and post your entry by Nov 30th. Please visit Kat's Blog Competition for more details.
If you've enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my blog.