Bidayuh Priestesses:
Once upon a time in one village the female population is said to be dying one by one until the above decided to help or else the people there will be “extinct”.
Thus one day when one husband was very frustrated with the illness of his wife left her outside the house in an open space called “Awah” or verandah telling TOPA to take her and do whatever He likes, one female Guardian Angel was asked to take her up and initiate her to be a Priestess to save her life. She became the FIRST BIDAYUH priestess.
Ever since anyone who is sickly over a period of time failing to response to all type of treatment but more or less in semi comatose status will be determine whether an initiation process to become a Priestess or as in the case of my mother she was initiated by her parents at the age of two months plus because her two older female siblings died by the age of three months while all her older brothers survived. It was determined that the only way for any female child to survive is for her to undergo the initiation process before the age of three months.
It is sad to-day that parents allow them to die instead as they believe Christianity is closer to God design. So many have been allowed to die in a number of place.
Let us hope that the day will come when the community leaders will come to their senses not to be that cruel and will be prepared to shoulder the Bidayuh way of life as envisaged under what I term as TOPAISM. TOPA has shown us the way, why do we have to abandon it just because we do not really understand what our forefathers were doing?
Happy GAWEA season everyone. Remember to think about the tradition we are about to abandon.
a better future 
Not only the pristessess is precious, what is written down here is definitely a treasure .. Couldn’t care what race it is, I really feel touched when I looked at the picture…….
They need the support of their own children who would not been born had their mother died young from the sickness they had which has no medical answer except the “Initiation process” to become a Priestess. Although certain Fathers allow for some of them to return to priestess hood to survive, many Christian children of these priestesses have less understanding on the nature of their plight.
This is why I will be initiated to be a Bidayuh Priest to honor my mother who would have died like her two elder sisters at the age of three months plus. Her parents had her initiated as a baby of two months plus to save her life….. only because of the process she was alive to give birth to me. She died in 1965 when i was doing my upper Six.