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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Irau Binuang 2012 (Part 1)

Last week our family had the chance to spend three nights in Binuang, one of our favorite villages interior.


This time we brought our good friend, Joy's house helper, Abi, along, as she has never yet had a chance to see the interior of Kalimantan.  All eight of us piled into a 206 and flew the one hour to Binuang on Thursday morning.


It was a great time we had, joining good friends from Binuang and surrounding villages who had gathered to celebrate Irau--a cultural festival and coming-together to celebrate traditions, play games, and discuss the best way forward for the future of their next generation.


In addition to plenty of games and activities, there were all kinds of delicious foods.  We never, ever went hungry.  One evening the very-hard-working ladies put together a fantastic display of a wide variety of traditional food from the jungle--many from times past.  Our family got to try all of it, including some that I'll share in a later post.


But the staple foods for the four-day celebration included plenty of water buffalo and pigs.  All said, at least 15 pigs and 5 water buffalo were killed and eaten during the course of Irau 2012.  Below, after killing a water buffalo, the men are covering it in a fire to burn the hair off the hide.


There was also plenty of beautiful cultural dancing and music and dress.



The first day I dropped Joy and Abi and the kids off, and then I had to fly all day to help bring people in from other villages.  When I stopped back in the village for lunch I found Joy and Abi in the large communal kitchen, chatting it up with all the ladies and helping to cut up sayur for the evening meal.


Each time one of our planes would land, the drums would kick in and the newcomers would be welcomed by traditional music and a group of beautifully-dressed ladies from the local welcoming committee.


We always love being interior, and this time was no exception.  It was a grand time, and we have so many good memories and pictures to share.  Check back soon, as I'm sure I'll do several posts showing other fun things we did while in Binuang for Irau 2012.


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