The understanding of Iban's community towards practice of Miring and the sustainability of Miring practice / Camalia Banyan

Offering (Miring) rituals was conducted by Iban in order to give honour to Iban Gods (Petara), soul of Iban’s dead ancestors (Petara Aki-lni) and Holy Spirit (Orang Panggau and Bunsu Antu). Iban believe that if they did not feed the supernatural, they will not get any essential kindness in which may lead to disaster. There are three stages of offering in Miring which are Before Miring, During Miring and After Miring. This study was focus on Iban’s teenagers, adults and old generat m in Iban’s Community that live at Sarikei district. This research was conducted to identify the level of understanding of Iban’s community toward the practice of Miring and also to compare the effects of both demographic factors which were age and religion on the relationship between practice of Miring and sustainability of Miring Practice. Quantitative analysis which is questionnaires was used as a method of collecting data in the study. While for the test used, were descriptive statistics, One-Way ANOVA and T-test. Results from the finding showed that young generation were less interested to maintain the practice of Miring and Christianity causes the decline in practice of Miring. This will lead to the unsustainability of practice of Miring. It is undeniable that the practice of Miring cannot be sustainable in the future as many Iban converted to Christian and young generation are less interested to learn and practice Miring ritual. So, this research outcome provide policy makers with the information and data related to the practices of Miring rituals and the important of preservation of Practice of Miring to ensure the continuity of the heritage and culture of the Iban tradition so that future generation will have the opportunity to learn, experience and value their own tradition.