Borneo is mainly popular among tourists because of its breathtaking natural beauty. From pristine beaches and lush rainforests to the most exotic wildlife, this Asian island has it all. This island is a haven for all nature lovers and has long been on their bucket list. But what many people don’t know is that the festival season in Borneo is also something that you must not miss out on. This is the best time to get an insight into the unique culture of the island.  If you love exploring new cultures but aren’t aware of the cultural calendar of Borneo, you are truly in for a surprise. The festival season in Borneo turns every town, city, and village on the island into a remarkable display of culture with glorious music, dance, and endless traditions. So, if you want to experience the true soul of Borneo, make sure to plan your holiday during the festival season. Here is everything you must know about this vibrant time on the island.  Is Borneo’s Festival Season Worth Experiencing? If you need a straightforward answer to this question, it can only be one thing: “Yes, Borneo’s festival season is surely worth experiencing”. This season is a window to the cultural soul of the island, where indigenous, Malay, and Chinese heritage combine. There can only be something exciting coming out of a combination of various rich cultures, and you will never regret experiencing it.  From celebrating history to modern entertainment, the festivals on the island are diverse and unforgettable. One day, you will get a chance to be part of centuries-old harvest celebrations, and the next day, you will be participating in modern art and jazz festivals. There is no better way to bring the communities together than these vibrant festivals.  During the festival in Borneo, you will get a chance to engage with the local traditions, see the region’s hospitality, and treat yourself to the diverse cuisine. The combination of ancient festivals and modern celebrations is unparalleled and will give you some of the most unforgettable memories of your life.  Best Time to Visit Borneo For Culture and Festivals You might know Borneo is a year-round destination. The nature that the island is known for is in its prime all year round, attracting tourists from around the world. However, the best time to visit Borneo for its culture and festivals is from May to August. Many of the popular festivals on the island take place during this time, and being a part of them will truly satisfy the culture geek in you.  Festivals like the major harvest festivals of the island and the Rainforest World Music Festival happen during this time. These festivals promise an unforgettable cultural experience. If this is what you want, plan your Borneo holiday sometime between May and August.  Top Festivals in Borneo Some of the top festivals in Borneo, along with their hosting dates, are listed below.  Gawai Dayak (June – Sarawak, Malaysia) This is the grand harvest celebrated by the Dayak people in June. During this festival, numerous traditional dances, music played on gongs, rice wine, and elaborate feasts showcase the local community’s hospitality and spirit. You will get a chance to experience the true Dayak lifestyle and hospitality if you visit one of the longhouses that open their doors to tourists during this festival.  Kaamatan Festival (May – Sabah, Malaysia) The Kaamatan Festival is another harvest festival, but it honours the Kadazan-Dusun people’s agricultural traditions. During this festival, numerous singing and sports competitions are held, in which communities participate and enjoy. Additionally, the Unduk Ngadau beauty queen is announced during this festival, which symbolises sacrifice and beauty, and is a prominent part of local culture.  Rainforest World Music Festival (July – Kuching, Sarawak) This music festival is now unknown to music lovers. During this festival, musicians from around the globe gather in the middle of Borneo’s lush rainforest. This is the festival when international music, indigenous tunes, rhythms, and cultural workshops come alive in the lush landscapes of the island. There are only a few festivals in the world as diverse, unique, and immersive as this one.  Chinese New Year (January/February – Across Borneo) As Chinese heritage also influences Borneo, the Chinese New Year here is truly unmatched and is celebrated throughout the entire island. From dragon dances and lantern festivals to firecrackers and lively colours all across the streets, the region is brighter than ever with countless celebrations during this time.  Hari Raya Aidilfitri (dates vary – Across Borneo) Borneo is also home to a significant Muslim community, and they celebrate this festival at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims also open their homes to tourists in the spirit of unity and forgiveness. They serve delicious feasts to all the visitors during this time.  Summing Up Festival season in Borneo is an absolute treat for culture lovers. This season is the invitation by the locals for the tourists to come and experience their rich heritage. Therefore, cultural travellers who want to go beyond the glorious beaches and lush rainforests of Borneo would love to visit the island during the festival season. If you are passionate about sharing cultural journeys, you can also write for us and contribute your travel stories. Before you decide on a time to visit the island. Make sure that you have an idea of the festivals that you want to be a part of during your time on the island. Only then will you be able to visit Borneo at the perfect time.

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Are you familiar with beads? Have you ever come across ancient ones? Generally, beads are well-known objects the world over. Some of them are believe to have existed for over 100,000 years! They are usually employed as small decorative objects and come in variety types of shapes, sizes and colour. Beads can be made up of stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood and pearl, and are later collaged together with threads or strings. Despite being previously mostly known as jewellery, beads in modern times are more related to art and craft.    History tells us that the use of beads indicated social status, wealth and power amongst the natives of Borneo. Narrowing it down to the Sarawak area, original beads there were made out of wood, shell, stone, glass, wild boar and leopard teeth and also bones. It can be said that beads in Sarawak are quite unique as they are related with the region several ethnic groups. The ethnic influence played a major part in the pattern and technique of beads making, with each ethnic groups having different patterns and meaning of their beads, commonly used as jewellery and also sawn into traditional clothing. To give you a few examples, beads in Iban communities – Iban is the largest ethnic group in Sarawak – are used in a traditional piece of clothing (Ngepan Iban) called Tango.  A tango is worn on a lady’s shoulder and is an essential part of women traditional dress. Bidayuh ethnic group uses beads as the necklaces, while the Orang Ulu group mostly uses beads in headbands, traditional dresses, hats and accessories such as reed baskets. Most of these beads are worn by natives during Gawai Festival. The yearly Kuching Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is mainly a celebration for culture, and as beads and culture are inseparable, the festival Craft Bazaar showcases a great range of beads made ad used by Sarawak indigenous people. There you can see both beads belonging to the past, and beads used in modern times, sawn onto handbags and modern times clothings. I am a local and I have visited Rainforest World Music Festival craft bazaar every year in the past five years. I admit I really admire the beads made by my own ethnic people. Sure, the variety of beads around the world is quite wide, but Borneo beads design and colours and patters are so unique, you will not be able to find a match anywhere else. Similarities perhaps many, but never exactly the same. In fact, Sarawak takes the beads business quite seriously by organising a Beads Conference: https://greendaun.com/borneo-international-beads-conference-2017/ – This internationally acclaimed Beads Conference has seen many countries participating over the years, and is highly recommended for those who love beads, or want to know more about them. There will also be a special craft bazaar in conjunction with this event, showcasing many traditional and contemporary beaded jewellery on sale. Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is back this year from 12 to 14 July – for tickets and program click HERE. This will be your chance to visit the Craft Bazaar, open daily from 10,30 am to 8,30 pm, and grab some interesting specimen. For Sarawak Tourism Board website and events, click on https://sarawaktourism.com  Unique Sarawak beads are waiting for you!

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The harvest time has finally reached West Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia, where the Dayak people celebrate together the so-called Gawai festival (or harvest festival). Borneo is a land full of biodiversity, and it is famous for the animals icons of this island: the orangutan and the hornbill. The Dayak people are the inhabitants of this special place. These people are highly tolerant of other beings and are blessed with a unique culture characterized by a special togetherness, as well as being well-known for the magic science employed by their ancestors. West Kalimantan is populated by 3 main tribes being the Chinese, the Malay and the Dayak. Each of these tribes has its own festivals, and Gawai, an event held every year in the West Kalimantan provincial capital Pontianak, is one of the biggest festivals in the province. During Gawai festival in West Kalimantan, various kinds of competitions are held, and participations to these are also open to Dayak people not originally from West Kalimantan Province tribes. Dayak participants that gather in Pontianak are from all over the place, in particular from Sarawak, Brunei Darussalam, Central Kalimantan and East Kalimantan. Competitions held at the Gawai festival include regional dances, playing blow pipe, tattoo making, pig catching, beads competitions, crafts-making, traditional spinning top, traditional singing, story-telling and more. No wonder thousands of tourists come to visit over and over every year, and their number is soaring. In addition, Gawai festival-goers can try popular west Borneo dishes such as Bir Pletok, Choi Pan and Aloe vera on ice, as well as visiting tourist sites such as the equator monument, monasteries, palaces and a Dayak house. How to get there: You can fly to Pontianak from several locations after your international flight, including the nearby Bali or Jakarta. Join a Central Borneo Guide tour, browse www.centralborneoguide.com Central Borneo Guide is a tourism guide service that was set up by Yun Pratiwi, a local Dayaknese woman from Central Borneo. The main idea of their service is to help local and international tourists to visit and to explore the Indonesian Borneo. They specialize on culture, nature and on the local Dayak ethnic people. Tourists can get full advantage of Central Borneo Guide experience and knowledge of local culture, which provides them a memorable experience not easy to match. Credit photos by Apriyadi (from Spirit of the Hornbill dance academy)

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According to a tribal Bidayuh belief Kuih Dam traditional cookies (or Deram in the local language) were prepared in ancient Sarawak to be served for ancestral spirits of those who had passed away. During those times, the Bidayuh people were mainly animists, believing in subtle beings. Today, in line with the passing of time, with the several technological advances as well as with the fact that most Bidayuh people have been converted to Christianity, the tradition has changed. Kuih Dam cookies are now served outdoors right before Gawai Dayak Celebration, which falls yearly right after the harvesting season, between the months of May and June, as well as as an afternoon tea-time snack. So let me share a little more about this savoury delicacy that can only be found in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, the land of beauty and wonders. It was during last year while serving in my reporter’s position that I managed to track and interview a cookies maker known as Miah Aheng. Miah is nearly 60 years old, and she has been making Kuih Dam since she was young. Miah stated that for her, Kuih Dam cookies is synonym with the Bidayuh people as they are made of rice flour, Bidayuh’s staples food. In the old days there were no cakes, biscuits and cookies around, so Bidayuh’s ancestors used rice – the most ready ingredient they had from the paddies, and whatever other available ingredients they could find in nature to make the cookies. “In the past, people’s lives were hard, there was poverty and there was no such a thing as a store in most villages. My ancestors kept trying to make cookies with what they had, until one day they mastered the practice” – said Miah Aheng. Apart from a good skills, making Kuih Dam cookies is not an easy process, which requires a keen interest, determination, patience and lots of practice. Miah still remembers her first attempts: “Oh my god! At first it did not work. After two or three attempts I was so fed, and the cookies could not cook let alone be eaten, that I got angry and threw all the flour on the floor. Once I had made 3 kg of dough that did not want to cook at all, and each time I put the cookies in the hot frying pan, they crushed in the oil. I tried again and again, same result. It took me several attempts and years to master the practice, only reaching perfection last year”! When I asked Miah what drives her to making cookies, she told me she did it for the love of her beloved father, who really enjoyed eating the cookies. “Ever since my mother had passed away, father kept on mentioning about these cookies. Yet, nobody in my family knew how to make them”. So it was thanks to the love for her father that she learned how to make Kuih Dam. Miah has come up with a special recipe for the cookies, and she now wishes to cook them not only for her family, but also to sell them for those keen on trying. I believe not many young Bidayuh people know about these traditional cookies. Miah’s efforts in making Kuih Dam should be followed by the young generation in order to keep the tradition away from extinction. RECIPE For those interested in making Kuih Dam, this is the way: INGREDIENTS 2 kilograms rice flour, 2 kilograms palm sugar – gula apong or gula merah 1 cup of flour, Vegetable oil. First of all, soak the rice in water for at least 8 hours. Then drain it and pound the rice in a wooden pestle and mortar – locally called as Aruh in Bidayuh language – until it is very fine. The rice should then be sifted together with the flour. Add in palm sugar or gula apong in the bowl and blend all together. Let the dough to rest in the bowl for a few minutes. Once ready, take a bit of it and make a circle; then knead it, making three holes in the uncooked cookies. Get your pan to a sizzling hot temperature and fry the cookies until your Kuih Dam are ready. Remember your hands should be oily while mixing the ingredients, so that the dough does not come out sticky. Happy cooking!

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