KUCHING — It is common nowadays to see live cultural dances at thanksgiving Masses or gatherings in the Catholic Church. Faced with controversial views, Kuching Archbishop Simon Poh has shared some guidelines to ensure fidelity to Jesus Christ is paramount. Cultural dances cannot be used without a clear worship of the Lord Jesus.
Dances of the Bidayuh, Iban, Orang Ulu and Chinese are allowed to be used to express our Catholic Faith. We can worship Jesus through our respective Cultures.
Inculturation
Dialogue with neighbouring religions/faiths is called INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE. In the same understanding, we can understand INCULTURATION as a DIALOGUE with CULTURES. This is with the aim of presenting Christ and the Gospel in an “incarnated” manner, using the symbols, music, art and dance in our cultures. Pope John Paul II gave us two criteria for Inculturation in Redemptoris Missio n.54:
a. Compatibility with the Gospel. Values that are not compatible are to be rejected.
b. Keeping communion with the whole Church. Bishops, as custodians of the Faith, are to discern and give the approval for these inculturated expressions through culture.
Guidelines for Gawai Dayak Inculturation
As we come to understand the importance of expressing our Faith in local cultures, traditional costumes, decoration, dances, hymns, etc, are being used. During Gawai, the most common being dancing around the bamboo altar (Bawal in Bau) or Ranyai tree (in Iban areas), accompanied by the beating of gongs. This has been inculturated in our Church events. However, we need to avoid ambiguity and giving the impression that Christians are offering food to spirits or even worse, summoning the spirits of old. For us ultimately, all our worship, dance and music, have to be directed only to the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Kuching, the following guidelines are to be followed when these dances are carried out by Catholics in Church function or Gawai dinner:
1. In the bamboo Bawal, Christian symbols are to be placed: A large standing Crucifix, two lit candles, an opened Bible (on stand). These are to be clearly visible. Put a bamboo Cross on top of the Bawal or Ranyai tree.
2. This symbolises that we are gathered by and around Jesus, the Word of God and the Light of the World.
3. On the ranyai tree, card with names of 12 fruits and seven (7) gifts of the Holy Spirit may be hung together with items on the ranyai tree, to be harvested. We harvest the fruits of Holy Spirit for our community.
4. All offertory items (new rice, lemang, tuak, etc) where possible are placed at a level below the enthroned Bible. This is similar to the liturgical offertory of gifts where items presented are placed at the foot or around the altar.
5. During Gawai Mass, at the thanksgiving dance, dancers move in a circle around the altar. At the close of the dance, it is proper that they approach the altar, lifting their arms up toward the centre of the altar to give praise to the Lord Jesus. This Thanksgiving Dance leads the worshipping community to give thanks to God after receiving Jesus, the Lamb of God, sacrificed on the Altar of the Cross.
6. Priests are to instruct the dancers that their dance is more than a culture performance. In fact, they are leading the congregation to give thanks to the living Christ at the altar, whom we have received in Holy Communion. Dancers are encouraged to consciously express this worship and thanksgiving through their dance and music as they move reverently around the altar at the Sanctuary.
