Kaul Festival (Melanau)

Kaul is a traditional festival celebrated by the Melanau community living along the coast area in Sarawak and it has been a tourist spot for the tourist. In the past, Kaul was held as a religious ceremony to appease the spirits of the sea, land, forest and farm making it the most important festival in the Melanau traditional calendar.

The festival is a ritual of purification and thanksgiving as well as one of the propitiation for good fortune. Today, it is more of keeping a heritage alive. Its marks the beginning of the Melanau calender which begins at the end of the Northeast monsoon.  Kaul takes place in third week of the month of April every year.

The festival site is on the right bank of the Mukah river estuary. During the week-long festival, activities include  stalls selling traditional foods, entertainment programs, traditional games. The highlight will be the ‘Serahang’ (decorated flat round basket made from sago leaf which raise on a bamboo pole) procession lead by local Melanau community elders.

Some of the activities  not to be missed include playing the giant swing (Tibau) and enjoying Melanau traditional food served on the log (Keman Baw Bateng also known as ‘Makan Beradat’ in Malay).

(a) Serahang

This is the most important part of the festival; bringing offering in a procession of boats to the river mouth to appease the ipok(spirits).

The lead boat carrying two men dressed as the ipok went ahead accompanied by musicians playing traditional music, the other boats filled with excited villages followed; I was thrilled to be able to get on one.

When the boats docked at the estuary, the Bapa Kaul (the ritual leader) led the procession to a tree and planted the seraheng, a special offering basket. He then began to chant and place small baskets of food in the middle of the seraheng; as offerings for the ipok.

(picture left: the land ipok and the sea ipok talking with each other. pic right: Bapa Kaul officiating the start of Pesta Kaul)

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(b) Tibau

The festival will not be completed without the adrenaline rush of young people swinging in the gigantic swing or the squeal of delight of young kids in a smaller version.

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Reference 
Lau, N. (2020). Mukah Kaul Festival 2020. https://sarawaktourism.com/event/mukah-kaul-festival/