One of the traditions still practised by the Wehea Dayak community is Laq Pesyai. This is the opening ritual of the rice harvest festival or Lom Plai for the Wehea Dayak people. For the festival this year, our community development team in Muara Wahau District had the privileged opportunity to follow along during the rituals and events.

The community, both young and old, men and women, work together to ensure a smooth ritual to open the festival. Everyone strives to play their role and complete their tasks.

Read also: RICE HARVEST RITUAL OF THE WEHEA DAYAK

On the morning of Laq Pesyai, the entire community uses boats and heads to an area upstream along the Wehea River. The location of the ceremony is usually determined the day before. The first beat of the gong rings out to signal that the festivities will soon begin.

The men leave first to prepare the predetermined location. They work together to clean the area, build shelters called pea as resting and dining places, and make rafts for the closing of the Laq Pesyai.

The pea are made using natural materials without using nails or plastic ropes. The foundation of the pea uses cut pieces of large trees which are placed and directly embedded in the ground. Then, small wooden and bamboo sticks are neatly arranged as seating, assembled using rattan to bind them. 

Read also: THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN UPHOLDING WEHEA DAYAK CULTURE

Meanwhile, the roof of the pea is made from the trunks and leaves of the sugar palm tree, tightly arranged and decorated with pengsut or artificial tendrils made from shavings of glen tree trunks and young sugar palm leaves. Besides the pea, the men also prepare a charcoal stove for cooking a rice dish called nasi lemang in Indonesian or pluq in the Wehea Dayak language.

While the men prepare the location, the women prepare the necessities for the communal meal. The dish served during Laq Pesyai is called cokbleh or sokbleh, which is then served with pluq. Pluq itself is made from glutinous rice mixed with white coconut milk and palm sugar, then cooked in bamboo. The combination of sokbleh and pluq is even more delicious when eaten with grilled fish and psooh sauce, a typical Wehea Dayak sauce.

The prepared food is then served and arranged in the pea. The entire community, who have worked together, gathers to enjoy the meal. After the communal meal is finished, the men continue their task of making rafts. The rafts are made from large trees taken from the forest and tied together using rattan. 

Read also: RHOI HELPS KEEP NAQ LOM RITUALS ALIVE

Even though the community now uses more modern motorised canoes or ketinting, the making of rafts is still carried out to complete the Laq Pesyai ritual. The ketinting boats are also used to tow the rafts for the journey back. While the raft sails, the village elder strikes the gong again to signal that the Laq Pesyai tradition is over. Everyone, including our team who participated in the Laq Pesyai ritual, is marked with charcoal on their faces as a sign of having participated in this year's Laq Pesyai. 

Text by: Community Development Team at Muara Wahau, East Kalimantan