'Tadau Kaamatan' which is also known as 'Pesta Menuai' (in Malay language) or Harvest Festival is a special event for Kadazan-Dusun tribes in Sabah (it's celebrated at village, district and state level annually). It's usually celebrated at the end of May (30th - 31th). Recognisable features held during the Tadau Kaamatan are including cultural performances, traditional sports, singing competition (Sugandoi) and the special Unduk Ngadau (Harvest Festival Queen) pageant. These features are closely related to the traditions of the Kadazan-Dusun tribes (initially), but eventually become more and more naturalised to all modernized Sabahan as seen today.
It is said that the celebration of Tadau Kaamatan is to fulfil some major purposes:
1. Home-coming of the Bambazon, also known as Bambarayon (a kind of worshipped paddy/rice spirit) to the tangkob (a traditional large store/hut for the harvested paddy)
2. To restore Bambazon which was lost during careless harvesting and processing of paddy/rice through the Mangavau ritual ceremony
3. To feed the Bambazon with a special delicacy/food such as rice wine, fermented rice, eggs, salt, and feathers of slaughtered chicken (usually white feathered chicken).
4. Friendships and merry-making feast
The festival consists of 6 ritual stages:
Ritual 1 - The Kumogos Ceremony - Before a harvest begins, a Bobohizan or Bobolian (a kind of female spiritual leader of the tribe) will select and tie up seven stalks of the best rice from a plot of paddy field. These stalkes of rice will only be harvested after the particular plot of field has been completely harvested. The seven stalks of rice will then be scattered all over the rice field. This gesture is to inform the other spirits who may be present among the rice field not to make any disturbance when the harvesting work is to commence and each of them will be given something after the harvest.
Ritual 2 - The Kumotob Ceremony - The Bobohizan/Bobolian will select seven stalks of the best rice from the area which has not yet been harvested. The selected stalks are then tied up together and placed in a tadang (a type of basket for keeping rice). The rest of the rice in the field are then harvested and kept for future planting season.
Ritual 3 - The Posisip Ceremony - The Bobohizan/Bobolian goes to a tangkob together with the seven stalks of rice which are tied up and placed in the tadang. While reciting chants she will takes out the bundle of rice stalks and insert them in a bamboo pole kept in the tangkob. The recital of the chants is to call the spirit of the rice to stay in the tangkob until the next planting season, i.e. when the rice spirits are called to the rice field again.
Ritual 4 - The Poiib Ceremony - In the tangkob, the Bobohizan/Bobolian carefully pours the rice into the tangkob. This process is repeated for a number of times until all the rice has poured into the tangkob. The Bobohizan/Bobolian then recite chants appealing to the rice spirits to keep watch over the rice stored in the tangkob.
Ritual 5 - The Mangavau Ceremony - This is the most important ceremony in the sequence of events of the harvest festival. This focuses in the restoration of Bambazon as well as offering food to the Bambazon. In the olden days, the Magavau ritual is performed in the paddy field on the night of the first full moon after the harvest. Nowadays, this ritual is carried out in the house of the owner of the field.
Ritual 6 - The Humabot Ceremony - This is the final stage of the harvest festival and is in the form of merry-making and entertainment. A variety of entertainment and activities in the form of dances and traditional sports are held and the climax of the event is the selection of the Unduk Ngadau (Harvest Festival Queen). The Unduk Ngadau symbolizes Huminodun, the sacrificed daughter of Kinoingan (a kind of god to the tribe).
Source: Muzium Sabah.
No comments:
Post a Comment