Now, that's serendipity..: Highlight of my Gawai 2012

So our Gawai 2012 festival has ended. And what a celebration it was! Most of our family members do not live in the longhouse per se, so just being there, and observing the activities during gawai it self have always been a treat.

My cousin who always took it upon himself every year to organise and coordinate events and activities involving the longhouse folks around this time, had always been more than happy with the response so far. However this year, he was not too happy with the response he was getting and made it clear.

In show of support for his effort, the younger ones (cousins) decided to jump in and participate in Kumang and Keling competition.

Since I no longer belong in the 'maiden' bracket, I no longer qualify. But hey, we must support our cousin, no?.. Here are some pictures taken during the preparation.

Here's me with one of my younger maiden cousin who participated in the competition; getting her all pretty up in her costume.. We both had problem try to get the coin belt hooked.{Thanks to my inexperience in sorting out what goes where}. But after much perseverance on my part and holding her breaths for the umpteeth of time without fainting and being extremely patient with my cluelessness, on her part; we succeeded.{Yay!}

Now this is how the expert does it.. My grandma and my younger sister..

My nephew outgrew his shyness this year and said he wanted to participated too.. So one of his uncles helped him get ready. What's a war hero without their tattoo, eh? Check out my nephew's tattoo.. He wanted one too, as he was inspired by an orginal he saw on one of his many uncles. So my cousin tattooed (gel-linered, to be precise) him..

Here's the young man with another contestant. There were only the two of them in this category, so no prize in guessing who won. :D

The line up of contestant and winners.

My nephew, cousins, sister and her friend..

Aah.. And here is the highlight of my gawai this year.. My lovely angels and their equally lovely family came for a visit.

I am still reeling from disbelief from this visit. I would only come back to the longhouse, once a year and mostly during gawai. To have my angels visit me during gawai and to have dinner on a table that my late grandfather built was so surreal. One of them and her family even stayed a night..