Conclusion and Reflection

We, the group members of Kadazandusun felt very happy and glad to have this opportunity to attend such great and beneficial cultural class. During this 2 weeks period, we have learnt a lot from the talks, presentation from each group, as well as the wonderful performance brought by the students.

Although we have to stay after school for this program and sometimes we felt really tired in the afternoon, but all of us still contributed our energy and hard work for the PowerPoint slides preparation and drama performance.

Thank you :)

Performance (26/11/2015)

Performance Preparation

Reasons to Preserve Our Culture

1. Communal Support 
-Those that identify strongly with a certain heritage are more often likely to help others in the same community.

2. Connection to Social Values, Beliefs and Customs 
-Identify with others of similar mindsets and backgrounds.Cultural heritage provides an automatic sense of unity within the community.

3. Historic buildings are physical links to our past.
-Without that, we'd erase the stories of our past, as if our ancestors never existed.

4. Heritage preservation provides job opportunities
-It is more labour-intensive and is also good for the environment as fewer building materials are required to refurbish old buildings.

5. Historically significant buildings contribute to our country's cultural and economic well-being
-More tourists, means more revenue for the country to continue to achieve a developed status.

The Heritage Cycle by Simon Thurley

Taboos

Birth

• Mother cannot eat buffalo meat or she will age quickly.
• She may not wash her hair for a month. If she washes her hair before that, it may cause her to be mentally impaired when she is older. 
• Do not cut her fingernails, the wind may come into her body and make her sick.

Pregnancy

• Not allowed to wander outside for the children born would be ill with skin diseases or walk away from home.
• Must not ridicule any animals or handicapped person, the baby may be born to such traits.
• Must not step over the rope to which a buffalo is tied as the birth of the baby will be delayed to ten or eleven months.

Death

• No one must do any kind of work on the day of the funeral (eg: planting rice). It brings misfortune. 
• While the body is still in the house, all occupants must stay awake. Whoever fall asleep will be doused with water. The purpose of keeping awake is to watch out for the devil (a large bird will try to fly away with the body). 
• Prevent a cat from jumping over the outstretched corpse, if this happens the dead man will be transformed into a dangerous and terrifying giant.

Marriage

• Cannot cancel engagement. If not, the one who cancel it need to pay all or half amount that have been discussed.
• Before the bride and groom are allowed step into the house, the host family man / woman singing or "SelakohanSinding". ‘SelakohanSinding’ is welcoming new bride.
•  Anything that related to engagement must be settled during morning time. Not during evening and night.
• Engagement date is fixed by the agreement of both parties. The days are not in the odd number of odd and in a good month

Pesta Ka'amatan - Sabah's Very Own Harvest Festival

The Pesta Ka’amatan is Sabah’s very own, joyous and exuberant rice harvest festival. Not so long ago most of Sabah’s indigenous peoples were mainly agrarian folks and subsistence rice farmers. This, they had been for times immemorial, and they have emerged as proud and valiant people with their very own social orders and religious belief systems in which the Bobohizans, the female shamans of Sabah, played a paramount role. The Pesta Ka’amatan, the rice harvest and thanksgiving festival remembers those times in an era where customs and traditions are changing much too fast. If you want a glimpse of Sabah’s many ethnic entities, and capture the true spirit of the mystical “Land Below the Wind”, this is the time to visit us!

The Importance of the Harvest Festival in Sabah

For Borneo’s rural agrarian-based population the rice harvest festival, or Pesta Ka’amatan in Sabah, is intricately connected with rice cultivation, and with the cycle of life. Rice is Sabah’s golden crop, the grain of life, and the Pesta Ka’amatan marks the end of the planting cycle. It is closely associated with religion, culture and social order. People gather in villages to thank God and the spirits for a good harvest and pray for blessings for an even better harvest the following year, very much like other harvest and thanksgiving festivals throughout the world. The life of the peoples of Borneo, not so long ago essentially that of hunters, gatherers and subsistence rice-farmers was a hard one. Preparing rice-fields, be they flooded such as the Kadazan danau, or on steep hills in the interior was an arduous task that was the responsibility of the men. The womenfolk’s’ work was not less backbreaking: clearing fields and collect firewood, weeding, looking after the seedlings, planting and finally harvesting the ripe crop. Aside from the period between harvesting and the new planting season, the work was continuous. But it wasn’t just the labour-intensive nature of rice-cultivation that caused such veneration for the cereal. Not enough rice meant famine. Over thousands of years of rice farming superstitions and taboos sprung up, and no one thanks God for rice more gratefully than the humble farmer who does not know fertilisers and herbicides.

Historical Background of the Pesta Ka’amatan in Sabah 

Since times immemorial it has been the traditional practice of the natives of Sabah (the Kadazandusuns and Muruts in particular) to hold a yearly harvest celebration. Historically and traditionally, the Ka’amatan Festival was usually held at the first sighting of the full moon immediately after the harvesting season. The appearance of the full moon was commonly referred to as the period of tawang (literally: full moon). During the tawang the natives made strict observances and would refrain from hard labour. Instead, they would rest to hold a village celebration that could last for two to three days.

In the district of Tambunan, as in many other areas, the preparations for the Pesta Ka’amatan involved everyone, young and old. The men used to organise group hunting expeditions to provide enough meat for the celebrations, while the women organised themselves to produce enough rice for making rice wine (tapai) and for cooking on the day of the Ka’amatan celebration.

At village (or kampung) level, the eve of the Ka’amatan Festival was lead mainly by the Bobohizans, the ritual specialists paying homage and offering thanksgivings to Bambaazon, the rice spirit, for the good harvest. Then, on the first day traditional sports took place, and on the second day communal reunion through feasting, drinking, music and dancing.

The Ka’amatan Festival is particularly significant as it marks not only the occasion to honour Bambaazon and to thank God for the bountiful harvest and his generosity in prolonging life on earth. It is also an occasion where the promise of friendship and brotherhood is renewed through mutual forgiveness. 

The Kadazan Ka’amatan Festival is perhaps the most indigenous and grandest Festival in Sabah. Merry celebrations are held at all levels, commencing with the kampung (village) level, then district level and climaxing with the state level celebrations on 30th and 31st May.

Customs and Beliefs

Pesta Kaamatan or Harvest Festival is a unique celebration of Kadazandusun society. It's a celebration to honour the Rice Spirit - Bambaazon or Bambarayon and giving thanks for yet another bountiful year. The festival begins on the first of May at many district levels. The rites and customs of the Pesta Kaamatan is a tribal practice of Kadazandusun and also Murut peoples. The Bobohizan or Bobolian who are the High Priests or Priestesses (depending on the district/area undertaking the preservation) will conduct the ritual. In different districts, the priests or priestesses may be addressed to differently, for instance in Tambunan district they are known as Bobolian, in Tuaran as Tantagas and in Penampang as Bobohizan.

It is believed that rice in whatever form embodies Bambaazon that must be protected from harm. The homecoming of Babaazon is an integral part of the Harvest Festival. Ancient folklore tells of the ultimate deed of Kinoingan or Minamagun - The Almighty God or Creator, who sacrificed his only beloved daughter, Huminodun so that his people would have food. Various parts of her body were planted from which plants grew. During the Magavau ceremony, the Bobohizan will select some stalks of rice that are left undistributed until the harvest is over. In some districts, the chosen stalks are cut before the field is harvested and are then brought into the owner's house. The task of Bobohizan is to search and salvage the lost Bambaazon who are hurt or separated from the main mystical body. In the old days, this ceremony was often performed in freshly harvested fields during the first full moon after the harvest to invoke the rice spirit.

The language used by Bobohizan is archaic whose meanings have been buried in time and known only to the few remaining Bobohizan these days. The vital aspect of Magavau is the paraphernalia used to summon Bambaazon. The sacrament of Magavau may vary according to district practices but the ceremony always ends with food offerings to Bambaazon and merry making for the village folks.

The highlight of Pesta Kaamatan is the selection of the pageant queen or "Unduk Ngadau" which can be literally translated as "Zenith of the Sun". It conceptually derives from the sacrifice of Huminodun. The maiden who has the honour of being selected should bear semblance to Huminodun and will represent all that is virtuous in the revered Huminodun.