Naik Dango

Hi, guys. This is my trip to go to Siding sub-district in Bengkayang regency. Along with this, I have few questions for you.
Have you ever heard about Naik Dango? Do you know how it is differ from Gawai Dayak?
Or, if you have it so in your regency, do you know how is it celebrated in my place?
Hmm... If you think it is interesting enough to spend your time for a sweet smile and seat, just move forward and enjoy it!


Do you know what Naik Dango is?


Well guys, Naik Dango is a traditional ceremony in delivering pleasure and thankful to Nek Jubata (God). It is a ceremony of satisfying paddy crops

which is held by Dayaknese in West Borneo. Naik Dango is also used for begging a better crop in the next session of farming season and protection toward matters and disasters.

Do you know that Naik Dango is rooted by a local myth?

Naik Dango was rooted from the myth of The Origin of Paddy surrounding Dayaknese in West Borneo. In this myth, the story began from a stalk of Jubata’s paddy which was stolen by a bird. This paddy felt down onto Nek Jaek (Grandma Jaek) hand that walked around the Gunung Bawang (mengayau). Carrying no head but a stalk of paddy made Nek Jaek was scoffed by the people. Moreover, her willing to grow this plant made her asked terribly to go away from the village. In the way back to Gunung Bawang she met Jubata and got married. Their son, Ne Baruankg Kulup, was the one who finally introduced paddy to replace “kulat” (a kind of mushroom; eaten by Dayaknese before they known about paddy) because he liked to play “gasing” with human being. This habit made Ne Baruankg Kulup asked to away from Gunung Bawang and got married with human. For the people surrounding the village (Dayaknese), this tragedy, after all, was seen as a generous heart of Jubata to human being.

Do you want to know more about Naik Dango?

In general, Naik Dango is a traditional ceremony which is fulfilled by nyangahatn(delivering magical word spoken with rhyme in pray) to Jubata for the paddy crop. This ceremony divides into pre-ceremony (the day before Naik Dango) and during ceremony. Both parts is mainly filled by nyangahatn but in pre-ceremony the pray is sent in order to ask for Jubata’s permission to do Naik Dango while the next day it is sent at three different times and place; (1) in Sami (to recall the spirit of paddy to come into Rumah Betang), (2) in Baluk/Langko (to gather paddy spirit into lumbung, the place to storage the crops), (3) in Pandarengan (to bless the rice so that it will be exist in a long lasting period of time and will not be running of stock too fast).

In local ceremony, Naik Dango is held in each representative area of the chief of regency tribes in case that the variation of cropping season for each place. In collective ceremony, on the

other hand, Naik Dango is commonly held among Dayaknese (Bidayuh, Kanayatn, and Iban) in one place as the top celebration on 27th April in every year (Gawai Dayak; big celebration after Naik Dango ceremony collaborates with traditional arts, games, and galleries). For Bengkayang regency, the place commonly taken for this moment is Samalantan sub-district instead of this place is Pusat Dewan Adat of Bengkayang regency. Not with standing, the collective celebration in the International border area such as in Siding sub-district, the member consists of Dayak Bidayuh from Indonesia and Malaysia. At the end, this celebration is useful in strengthening the emotion and relationship among Dayaknese wherever they are.


Well, everybody, for me this celebration is quite interesting to be seen. Besides, you can find a lot of traditional foods such as poe or salikat or lemang (pulut rice cooks in the bamboo), tumpi or cucur , bontonkng (cooked rice packing with a tropical forest leaf in the size similar to a cupcake), and more. For the people who want to taste a traditional beverage, you also can find tuak or arak there (fermented drink made from pulut rice and yeast). Getting interested in? Find the sweetest girl above for more information! :)



Posted by Ratna Wulandari
Reference: www.ensiclopedy-budaya-indonesia.com