Sarawak Culture PELAH HAWA Traditional Kayan Wedding

Gallery

The Planning of Weddings According to Social Strata

Panyin

For the Panyin class, the beads to be presented would be the Lukut Halo' or the Ketubong Surat which are black in colour or the green coloured bead (inu' kelem). The four beads will be strung together in a combination as thus: two black beads and two yellow beads or one black, one green and two yellow beads. For this group, the parang ilang given lacks the animal hair decoration and it is called malat15. The bakin or spear and four sarongs complete the ensemble.

string of four beads bakin

Once the engagement tokens have been presented, the woman is required to display all the items presented by the man by hanging them on the walls in her amin16. This is to show to other men that she is already promised as a bride to someone. All of these engagement tokens will be kept by the woman for life.

In return for the engagement tokens given to her by her future husband, the woman gives the man the hong inu or sunhat. For the Maren and Maren Uk, the honorific bird feathers could be put on the hat but this is not allowed for the Panyin. When the man is travelling, he will wear the sunhat. Otherwise, he will hang the sunhat for display in his amin. This will also send the message that he is promised to be married to someone.

sunhat sunhat

For the wedding, the bride would also prepare a special sunhat. The design would be very elaborate and it all depends on the creativity of the bride as to how she wants to decorate the hong. The prohibition is only the presence or absence of honorific bird feathers stuck on the hong. For the Maren, the number is eight; for the Maren Uk the number is four and none for the Panyin.

In the olden days, once this is completed, the Maren Uma will conduct the melah sapet betrothal ceremony by holding the malat buk / malat and the string of beads, and say "I melah sapet the two of you so that you can be together." With these words pronounced, the betrothed couple can then start living together.

According to the current traditional Adet Kayan-Kenyah17, the engagement shall not last more than six months. Any extension of the engagement period must be notified to the Maren Uma.

  • 15 Ordinary multi-purpose working parang
  • 16 A room or apartment unit in the longhouse containing all members of the household and their property.
  • 17 Adet Kayan-Kenyah, op.cit, Chapter IV, item 98, p.166.