Ngajat

Types

Ngajat consists of several types, including:

Ngajat for those Iban is a welcome dance during Gawai Day, before the war and after the harvest season. In the old days the dance was performed after their return from the war.

Dancers stand on the circle and jump accompanied by the music. For Gawai Sandau Ari, a drum is played for the guests of honor.

In a variant, the dancer holds a wooden shield in his left hand and a sword in his right hand and dances facing the enemy with his body swinging to the left and to the right.

Musical equipment

Musical instruments include large and medium gongs (bebendai), drums or dedumba and a set of small gongs engkurumong. PEH is string instrument.

Clothing

Male dancers wear traditional costumes like 'mesh', 'Gagung' or bird clothes. Gagung is a kind of thick and hard armor made of animal skin such as bear, but not stitched on the sides. Dancers also wear hats decorated with feathers.

Female dancers dubbed "kumang", they wear clothes such as a headdress, hooks high on the chest, cloth tied at the waist, hands and feet bracelets and earrings.