It is a 1.2km parade along the Kuching Waterfront on 15th June 2024, a walk from Tun Jugah building to square fort, with 111 contingent and more than 3300 participants, wearing traditional clothing and showcase the rich diversity of the dayaks. The Gawai Dayak Cultural Parade 2024 successfully being held despite there is hot sun in the first half of the parade and a sudden change of weather to a heavy downpour in the second half of the parade. It told the strong spirit of the Gawai Dayak and the will to complete the parade, regardless of the challenges it faced.
The Gawai Dayak Cultural Parade 2024 proceed along the Kuching Waterfront.
Event : Gawai Dayak Cultural Parade 2024, Niti Daun 2024
Date : 15th June 2024 (Saturday)
Activities : Traditional costume parade and traditional dance performance, featuring the customs of the Dayak people of Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu. There are also other diverse ethnicity of Sarawak and Kadazan Dusun people from Sabah joining the parade.
Below is the video we took during the parade event.
Below are the previous Niti Daun events in Kuching City.
The Gawai Dayak Parade is a well known event in Kuching. People gathered from around the city to Kuching Waterfront to witness the amazing cultural diversity in display that is not commonly seen in cities. Families and Kids are seen attending the event. It is a educational and eye opening event where people can take photos with the costume paraders.
There are various roads being closed for the event just like previous years in preparation for the parade proceeding. No cars are allowed to enter the parade route since the day before the event to ensure a smooth parade.
The roads that being closed are as follows:
- Jalan Market/Jalan Masjid
- Jalan Gambier/ Jalan Power
- Jalan Old Court House/ Jalan Khoo Hun Yeang
- Jalan Carpenter
- Jalan Wawasan/ Jalan Lebuh Wayang/ Jalan Main Bazaar
- Jalan Padungan/ Jalan Bukit Mata
- Abell road traffic light junction/ Jalan Petanak
- Sri Aman roundabout/ Jalan Abell Junction
The huge LED screen showing the event.
Gawai Dayak Cultural Parade 2024 “Segulai Sejalai” “Indi’ Awang, Indi’ Asung” is officiated by the right honourable Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, Premier of Sarawak on the 15th June 2024, 2:00pm at Kuching Waterfront.
The main stage at the Square Fort at Kuching Waterfront.
The VIP seating area is prepared and decorated.
The starting of Gawai Dayak Parade is located at Tun Jugah Tower and the ending of the parade is at the Square Fort of Kuching Waterfront. The main stage and VIP seating area is already prepared and decorated since the day before. The area around the Square Fort is a wide open area suitable for large scale events like this.
People gathering along the street to witnessing the parade.
To ensure safety and smoothness of the parade, there are officers allocated along the parade route with metal barricades being set up. Visitors still can get a good photos of the parade along the streets. Photographers and medias from near and far came with their photo gears, and there are also vlogger that stream the event live on their social medias.
The parade is lead by the premier of Sarawak.
The premier of Sarawak join the parade along the 1.2km parade walk. The parade was launched at 2:15pm at the Tun Jugah Building starting point by premier of Sarawak and lead the whole parade to the ending at the main stage at square fort. Everyone spirit was high when the parade started.
The Bidayuh community leaders of Kuching contingent in the parade.
One by one the contingent will walk pass the main stage area and do short performance in front of the VIPs. There are many diffrent contingent that join the event, from community leaders, associations, NGOs and government bodies.
The Bidayuh community leaders of Serian contingent in the parade.
The Iban community leaders of Kuching and Samarahan contingent in the parade.
There are lots of different traditional costume that we don’t normaly seen in cities.
Winners of beauty pageants from various competitions came and join the parade.
The weather was hot and everyone enjoyed the parade with a smile. There are also traditional percussion musical instruments being brought in and perform along the parade. The whole street is instantly filled with traditional musics.
Half way through the parade, the rains starts with a drizzle then a sudden downpour with strong wind. The parade goes on despite the heavy rain and the spirit remains high. Paraders walk and dance in the heavy rain, complete the meaningful journey without delays.
By 4 pm, the parade completed successfully and everyone was happy to witness the great event. The gawai dayak cultural parade may be planned to be a annual event as it showcase the great diversity of cultural ethnicity in Sarawak that all live together in unity and harmony. We will be looking forward for a similar event next year, by then, see you there.
