Tabi basa & greetings everyone. In this post, I’d like to share about Serian Christmas Parade that took place on 8th of December 2024 at Serian town area, particularly the community hall.
Prologue
Christmas Parade is one of the annual event that is held throughout Sarawak. On 7th of Dec, Miri and Kuching both had their own Christmas parade. At Miri, 40000 people participated from various churches.
As for Serian, I am not sure how many times it was held. The emcee asked the crowd about it but no one seems to know. That’s where Bishop Datuk Danald Jute stepped in and told the crowd that tonight is the 2024th time.
The Christmas Parade this year was organised by Sarawak Church Society & St Helen Serian, Anglican church.
Jesus, Light of the World is the theme of Serian Christmas Parade 2024. The route is as follows:
The Arrival
I’ve arrived at the venue around 5.10pm with my sister & cousin, where there was only a small crowd. Took a quick trip to the toilet, only to find the Mara Building management has a good sense of humour.
BIlik Termenung = Pensive Room. Probably from the fact that many people would sit down and had a thought about life at the toilet. How ironic.
At the square, I can hear some of the performers doing warm-ups for their performance the evening. I took the opportunity to talk & capture the group photos of the unsung heroes of the night, Red Cresecent Society & RELA team.
Along with that also, I took the photo of the early birds that is resting there since the band performance is quite good as well.
Then there was a group of ladies in white, which I learned that they are the banner-bringers.
The eventgoers are sporting as well. When they saw a camera pointed at them, they will automatically smile & pose. Steady Serian.
Oh, we also have Babeh Santa.
The emcees then announced the program of the day, and the groups aligned themselves in accordance to their church. The funny thing is that some of the members didn’t realise that they are in the wrong group, and they were laughing at that fact while making their move to the correct group.
Emcee of the Night
I can’t recall the name of the main emcee, but I know he is a teacher from SMK Taee. His co-emcees are his students: Marita Tania & Pretty Calisyus (not sure about the spelling but that is how their names sounded like).
Performers of the Night
There were a few band performances of the night. One thing I noticed here in Serian, they love distortions. Meanwhile at Miri, usage of distortions during praise & workshop are seldom heard.
St Matthew’s Church, Mundai (I will write Team Matthew Mundai) performed first, singing a few Christmas song, including Away In A Manger, Silent Night, Little Drummer Boy, Angels We Have Heard On High, Mary’s Boy Child, all rock version (yes, with strong distortion), which is much to my delight.
After that, St Helen’s Church, Serian Team performed. They started their performance with When A Child Is Born, Joy To The World, Angels We Have Heard on High, Dia Bangkit Untuk Kami (in the tune of Cottonfields), O Holy Night.
Starting of the Christmas Parade
Reverend Stanley Q led the opening prayer. There was a short intermission by the emcee, emphasising the theme of the Christmas parade.
Then, Lundu team lead the Praise & Workship, which was happening. The crowd are excited with the song. Ku Kan Bangkit, I think was the name of the first song.
Worship song was Here I Am To Worship.
After that, Pastor Andin Brooke reads the Gospel of John 8:12, which is related to our theme, followed by a sharing by Bishop Datuk Danald Jute, where he shares about pelita pigo (kerosene lamp) and funny story about “kirok undung” (picking your nose), where the lamp is not without its side effect.
He shared that the world is in darkness, and Jesus is the light of the world.
Opening Ceremony
The Christmas Parade was officially opened by YB John Ilus, N.23 Bukit Semuja assemblyman in a inspiring speech about Christmas and Unity.
After the speech, the VIPs were invited to stage for the symbolic of candle-lighting where they passed the fire to the parade participants, in a symbolic way of sharing Christmas joy to those who hears the good news about the birth of Jesus Christ.
Fr Lazarus Swinie, Rector of St Theresa’s Parish, can be seen lighting the candles of the paraders.
Hampers were given to YB John Ilus & Bishop Datuk Danald Jute.
Before we depart, the VIPs were invited to go down and take a group photo. There were a lot of people attending.
Lighting of Christmas Tree
Then, the VIPs headed to the Christmas tree and lighted it up, in a countdown with the crowd. The confetti’s were used too to make it more interesting.
The Beginning of the Christmas Parade
The brass band kicked off the whole thing with performances of Christmas song. I particularly enjoy the bagpipe performance because it is seldom heard. In noticed that there are some bagpipe were operated by two person. Probably new user. That musical instrument is usually used by 1 pax.
Along the road, there were a lot of people. I dressed in black, to be discreet. But then some do recognised me and told me that they followed my soc-meds. Thank you for your support.
I experimented with closing on and off the flash because it tends to be hot when it is used continuously. That’s why you can see some of the pictures are without flash.
But after a while, I learned to take a bit longer interval between the shots.
That’s how I managed to get the shots better after that.
Indi, Duweh, Taruh… Smile!
For these paraders, in general, there are two main types. The first one are the one that smile when they saw me pointing my camera at them. The second group is the one that play it cool.
I usually take more photo of the first group. Energy received, energy given back.
Besides, smiling makes one much more attractive.
Birds, Birds, Many Birds
For some reason, the birds are also joining the fun. They were doing their carolling above us.
Spider Sense Tingling
From the first traffic light, I ran all the way to the next stop. Some told me that I was like a ninja. Dressed in black, and appears here and there. They just didn’t realised I sprinted a lot that night. That’s why a good shoe is so important for photographers.
Photographer has to be fit too.
I also realised that Peter Parker also join the fun.
We’re Halfway There
The next checkpoint was near the roundabout. As usual, I will take a stop & take the pictures of the beautiful soul that smiles back at me.
That includes the person who stands at the roadside, watching the parade.
The Last 400m
At the final leg of the parade, I took my time to rest and just enjoy the walk with the paraders. Besides, I took 2 rounds of paraders photo earlier.
This time I just take the images as I go along the road.
As we walked nearer to the Community Square, more and more people were watching from the road side.
We Have Arrived
Upon arrival, the brass band didn’t go the the square. But instead, they marched nearer to the Christmas Tree and played there, accompanying the paraders as they made their way to the square.
As you can see, there were a lot of people. Sea of People.
Closing Ceremony
The closing prayer was made in Chinese language by Reverend from Methodist Church.
After that, the St Matthew Mundai team lead everyone in an upbeat closing songs, Feliz Navidad & We Wish You A Merry Christmas, both in rock version, and everyone can be seen jumping to it on the square.
It was a good ending for everyone!
Epilogue
This is my first Christmas Parade at Serian and it was an enjoyable session, with lots of pictures captured. As mentioned earlier, I came there not expecting anything. But when someone told me that they recognised me, and told me that they followed my socmed, I am truly honoured. Thank you for your support & I hope you enjoy reading this until the end.
Until next time – Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Here’s my TikTok where I cover songs, mainly Bidayuh songs. Kan eken bala kita, asih lagi?
https://www.instagram.com/claudiusweson
