SR-BV-04: SARAWAK CULTURAL VILLAGE

Here you can see the exact replicas of the houses of the seven ethnic groups. The largest ethnic group in Sarawak is the Iban people, who are famous for headhunting and live in a long house (the whole village lives in one building, each family has a room and a common corridor where guests are received and entertained), you can see skulls hanging from the ceiling. The entrance to the house is through a log with steps cut into it, and the roof is made of palm leaves. The Bidayuh Round Hunter’s House is built by head hunters to store skulls and recount their adventures. Only men were allowed to enter the house. There will be a demonstration of sugarcane juicing and grain cleaning. In the Orang Ulu longhouse, you will be able to see how tattoos are done and how skilled girls make jewelry from beads. The Chinese farmer’s house, which is built on the ground and not on stilts, resembles a real house compared to the other native buildings. Melanau’s high house is one of the most interesting because it is built on 40-foot stilts. This group lived by the sea and needed protection from pirates. The first floor has a living room, but if you go up to the second floor you can see the bedrooms. Perfect for tropical climates, the Malay hut is built on stilts and is a great way to entertain. The house has large floor-to-ceiling windows that bring in lots of light and fresh air. Try the traditional Malay games of Gasing (train) and Cangkak (board game). The Penan hut is the home of the traveling nomads, which they quickly built for a few weeks or a month, when they again went on their wanderings through the forests. Here you can learn how to shoot arrows from an air tube. Penan advice for shooting: “Don’t blow with your mouth. Blow with your chest and belly.”