Grandma & her Bidayuh Horse Warrior Ancestors

 

Source: depositphotos.com

The story of Bidayuh horse warrior was first told by my late Bidayuh maternal grandma.

When I was around 10, I was quite attached to Grandma especially during school holidays. 

I would stay with Grandma in Poh Kwang Park in Kuching 3 or 4 weeks either with my younger sister or myself, or together with Uncle Lim’s kids whom Grandma were taking care of when he was in Bintulu.

Uncle Lim worked with MAS where he was constantly been posted outstations especially to earlier remote Bintulu township where airport was in the middle of the town itself! As he still preferred to make Kuching as their permanent home, as such, he did not want some of his older kids to relocate with him as he moved to outstations.

As usual to my late paternal Grandpa in my earlier childhood, Grandma main hobby or sole entertainment at that time in the 1970’s, was going for Cathay’s movies near the Kuching Central Bus Station. Popular movies at that time were from Bollywood, Western Cowboys movies & Hong Kong Kung Fu films from Shaw Brothers.

That was the time I was exposed to her Bidayuh stories or legends including the Horse Warrior tale.

The legend of Bidayuh Horse Warrior was told by Grandma several times as I could recall; she even mentioned how brave & heroic her ancestors were in the Siniawan jungle!

It was quite natural that in my childhood time elders narrated their family stories to their younger one with a mixture of memory & imagination, and the influence of media such as movies were intense! 

No doubt, most stories, happenings & the like was passed down generations with such manners as most people were illiterate, acquiescent & simple, and through time some true happenings transformed to legends, especially from foreign modern influences, popular media such as the Western Cowboy movies were of minimal competition.

As I grew up, I came to understand that horses do not roam in tropical rainforest including the Sarawak tropical rainforest as it is not their habitat. I was surprised Grandma seldom talk about Head Hunting stories!

Source: culture trip


The history of Sarawak is short, especially written history; the history, culture & heritage in this land has being documented, maybe, in just less than 200 years.

Histories could be said were written by those who conquered & won the wars or had dominated the losing culture or regimes.

As in our Sarawak history & most parts of colonies’, earlier histories were mostly documented by Western colonists.

For many of us, the local resident of Sarawak, we have the responsibility & initiative to maintain our own culture & heritage. Cultural influence or invasion by other dominant entities in our time is even more predacious than that of as in Grandma time, we may end up telling our younger generations stories as Grandma’s Horse Warrior legend! 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zinc Roofing, Monsoon & the Fxxking Nites

Image
Kampong (village) life is a customary scene in many parts of Malaysia/Malaya and British Borneo, including Sarawak, before & after the War (World War II). As with the post-World War II economic boom, similar to other parts of the World before the mid-70s recession, the era of economic growth progressively helped Sarawak to transform from a rural Kampong lifestyle to a more urbanised standard of living. Many older residents still can remember the earlier Attap roofing (thatched roof using nipa palm leaves) and changes to zinc roofing in the 60s & earlier 70s. There were various nostalgic moments in those poor & happy old days as my older relatives used to recount in beer sessions. The one those old men kept repeating was the story of Zinc roofing & the Monsoon rains. Family size was big in those days, and many families lived in the same roof. There were not much entertainments at nights and most nights were quiet, especially after s
Read more

Raw Pork Fat Sandwich

Image
A slice of bread spread with lard - Source: Wikipedia In our time where obesity & overweight are common, and heart related disease remains top killer; many are cautious on excessive fat intake, and therefore it is even unthinkable to take in uncooked animal fat or raw pork fat. Source: mirror.co.uk During the 19th century & early 20th century, lard or rendered pork fat was popular & used similarly as butter in many parts of Europe & North America. In fact, in certain regions or time where vegetable oil or dairy fats were rare, lard was usually used as a substitute, as in WW2, or consumed as a spread on bread. The Ukrainian Salo, cured pork fat, is sometimes eaten raw, even during the slaughtering; the warm fat may be taken with a dip of salt & a shot of vodka. Ukrainian Salo - Source: tasteatlas.com In China, lard has always been a cooking staple for many centuries. A traditional simple Southern Chinese rice cuisine (or lard rice豬油拌飯) is the used of lard mixing with
Read more

Tua Pek Kong, Kuching - the Feng Shui Legend

Image
The Kuching Tua Pek Kong Temple was once seated on the best Feng Shui location in Kuching; as according to the Feng Shui principle, a hill at the back, a small and smooth flowing river in front (the lost Sg Kuching), and the best front view of the highest peak in the area, Gunung Serapi. The temple was built more than two centuries ago, long before James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak, arrived in Kuching. Like most Chinese temples, the temple prosperity affected and associated highly to the businesses, emotion and activities of the local Chinese community in the early days where majority were followers of Taoist related faith. It was also one of the few buildings that survived the 1884 the Great Fire of Kuching, where most Chinese believed was due to good Feng Shui. It was said that after the 1857 Chinese Insurrection in Bau, a gold mine township nearby, the Brooke Administration was worried about the Tua Pek Kong dominance and its influence to the local Kuc
Read more