Orang Asli Temuan community’s Hari Moyang celebration is going virtual this year

A Temuan participant for the upcoming Hari Moyang virtual event prepares ingredients for a video of making the Temuan traditional dish 'paeh ikan keli'. Photo: Gerimis Art Project

At the end of each year, the Temuan tribe celebrates Ayik Muyang (Hari Moyang, or Ancestor Day) to honour and express gratitude to their ancestors for a bountiful year, a good harvest and keeping watch over them.

The celebration typically lasts a few days, and in past years, there had been various Hari Moyang events that were opened to the public.

But with the pandemic this year, part of the celebration will be shared online instead.

The online event will be available on Facebook Live on Jan 2 (Saturday) from 4pm onwards.

Traditionally, on the day before Hari Moyang, the Temuan community around the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve in Selangor and other locations will hold prayers (sembahyang kubur) and offer a feast to their ancestors on the altar. On the morning of day itself, everyone in the village will attend a cleansing ceremony.

The preparation of various Temuan traditional food will be in full swing on this day.

In the evening, they will perform the traditional sewang dance.

The audience can expect to see glimpses of all these covered in the Hari Moyang Virtual event, which is expected to run for approximately 90 minutes.

This event is part of the Pertahankan Hutan Simpan Kuala Langat Utara (PHSKLU) or Defense Of The Kuala Langat Utara Forest Reserve campaign, a move to protect the forest and prevent the degazettement of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve.

The Gerimis Art Project, whose work focuses on Orang Asli art and culture, is helping out with the Hari Moyang Virtual event.

“Everywhere around the world, indigenous rights are being robbed while they are also some of the most vulnerable communities to climate impacts. We want to highlight through the Hari Moyang Virtual event that forest loss is tied to cultural loss; that is why there is the urgency to protect the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve as the forest is their ancestral and customary land, plus their traditional food is sourced from the forest. In fact, their sewang performance songs are also inspired by the forest,” according to a joint statement from PHSKLU and Gerimis Art Project.