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The Kaamatan Festival, also known as the Harvest Festival, is a vibrant celebration in Sabah and Labuan, Malaysia. It honors the spirit of rice and the earth’s abundance, besides highlighting the bond between the Kadazan-Dusun community and their land. If you're looking for a special experience in your Malaysia trip, consider this!
Kaamatan Festival is an annual event in the cultural life of the Kadazan-Dusuns of Sabah, Malaysia (Source: Hello Sabah)
Kaamatan means “harvest” in the Kadazan-Dusun languages, a minority language primarily spoken by the Kadazan and Dusun peoples in Sabah, Malaysia.
As its name suggests, the Kaamatan Festival refers to the paddy-harvesting period. This traditional event is celebrated by the Malaysian ethnic groups (Kadazan-Dusun, Murut, Rungus, and Lundayeh) in May.
On May 1st of each year, the Kaamatan Festival Month of May, is launched from a pre-chosen district in Sabah. This ensures the participation in action by the numerous ethnic communities within and around the Kaamatan launching district to promote their unique cultural heritage as well as multicultural peace, understanding, and harmony.
Indigenous people come together at the Cultural Unity Center, Panampang, in late May (Source: BURO Malaysia)
Come the 30th and 31st of May, Sabah’s indigenous peoples, domestic and foreign tourists, and people from all walks of life converge at the Cultural Unity Center (Hongkod Koisaan), Panampang, for the finale of the Kaamatan Festival celebration. If you travel in Malaysia at this time, you'll see the natives put on their finest traditional costumes, displaying a rich potpourri of cultural attire, designs, motives, and colours.
Kaamatan Festival is originally celebrated to honor the saviour of the Kadazan-Dusun peoples, Huminodun, the daughter of Kinoingan, the almighty God.
According to the legend shared in the community, the human race used to suffer a curse in its early days, which resulted in a severe famine. Ponompuan (later named as Huminodun) acknowledged that the only way to end the curse was to sacrifice herself.
Kaamatan Festival is an occasion to honor Huminodun’s contribution (Source: The Star)
As a kind-hearted and thoughtful deity, she willingly accepted the faith to save her people. Her holy body then became all sorts of edible plants to feed the feminine-strike victims: her flesh gave rise to rice, her head to coconut, her bones to tapioca, her toes to ginger, her teeth to maize, and her knees to yams.
Thanks to her great sacrifice, the Kadazan-Dusun people survived the famine. To honor her contribution and show their gratitude to the harvest, the Kaamatan Festival has been held, and is maintained to the current day. During this time, people come together to appreciate their shared heritage, food, and culture. More than just a cultural event, this Harvest Festival serves as a reminder of the spiritual and social values that sustain the community.
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The Harvest Festival contains 6 stages as follows:
Before a harvest begins, a female ritual specialist called Bobohizan or Bobolian will select and tie up 7 stalks of the best rice from a paddy field that is completely harvested. This ritual originates from the myth when Kinoingan, Huminoden’s father, had to collect seven of the tallest stalks, tie them together, and bring them home if he wanted to meet her daughter again.
The Bobohizan is often a female ritual specialist (Source: supertravelr)
These 7 stalks will then be scattered all over the rice field. This gesture is to inform the other spirits who may be present in the field not to make any disturbance during the harvesting. And then each spirit will be given something after the harvest.
From the area which has not yet been harvested, the Bobohizan selects another 7 stalks of the best rice. They are also tied up together and placed in a tadang (a type of basket for keeping rice), and the rest of the rice in the field will be turned into seed for the future planting season.
In this stage, the Bobohizan brings the stalk in the tadang to a rice hut. While reciting chants, she inserts the bundle of rice stalks in a bamboo pole kept in the tangkob (bamboo basket used for storing rice). This ritual is to tell the rice's spirit to stay in the hut until the next planting season.
Kaamatan Festival is solemnly celebrated in Sabah (Source: The Star)
The Bobohizan carefully pours the rice into the tangkob and recites chants for the rice spirits to keep watch over this stored rice.
This is the most important ceremony in the sequence of events of the harvest festival. Magavau Ceremony focuses on the restoration of Bambazon or Bambarayon (the soul of paddy) as well as offering food to it. In the olden days, the ritual was performed in the paddy field on the night of the first full moon after the harvest. Nowadays, it is carried out in the house of the field's owner.
This final stage is often held in the form of merry-making and entertainment. Many activities like dancing and traditional sports are taking place, along with the most highlighted event is the selection of the Harvest Festival Queen in the Unduk Ngadau pageant.
Interesting activities are held around the city (Source: Daily Express Malaysia)
Against the backdrop of multi-sounds and tempo of traditional music, multi-ethnic cultural dances are performed to show guests and visitors the rhythm of local life. In which the Sumazau is the most popular traditional dance.
This dance involves male and female pairs dancing on the beat of hanging gongs. The performers will wear sinombiaka, a traditional clothing made out of black cloth and gold braid, and suitable accessories. The Sumazau movements imitate the departure of a bird, which is a relatable symbol with paddy fields.
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Sumazau dance requires pairs of male and female dancers (Source: Flickr)
Don’t hesitate to dance along, or politely ask a local for detailed steps if you’re not familiar with dancing. Participating is a great way to experience this unique heritage and create a memorable moment for your Malaysia trip.
For those who would rather have Kaamatan as a feast day, numerous varieties of unique traditional food and beverages await them. It's a wise choice to travel in Malaysia during this occasion because many tasty dishes are served, namely Linongot, Ombuyat, Borot, Sambal Mangga, and more. One of the signatures is Hinava, a local traditional dish made from fish mixed with lime juice, bird’s eye chili, sliced shallot, and grated ginger.
Don’t forget to try Tapai - Malaysian rice wine. Depending on each region’s cuisine and different ingredients, the flavor may slightly vary. Tapai with a taste of bittersweet is considered the best quality. Be careful if you’re a lightweight drinker, and consider before mixing tapai with beer if you don’t want to be knocked out!
A foreign tourist tries Tapai wine (Source: MySabah.com)
It may be the core memory of your Malaysia trip. The beauty pageant Unduk Ngadau is a highlighted activity representing the spirit of Huminodun. In this contest, the feminine sensuality and bold exhibitions of the physical endowments of contestants do not determine the winner.
Beyond physical beauty, the attendees need to show their personalities and intelligence. Gracefully appearing in traditional costumes, the Unduk Ngadau Queen will be the person whose natural self portrays the best virtues and potentials to resemble the beatified Huminoden.
Unduk Ngadau contest is an indispensable part of the Harvest Festival (Source: The Star)
Outside the main hall, many traditional sports are taking place, namely Mipulos (Arm Wrestling), Mipadsa (Knuckle Wrestling), Monopuk (Blow Piping), Momolositik (Catapulting), and Migayat Lukug (Tug of War). You can either stand aside to watch or ask the locals to join the games. These interesting activities never fail to amuse and entertain the cheering crowd of spectators.
Games attract both domestic and foreign visitors (Source: Borneo Eco Tours)
Over time, the Kaamatan Festival has grown into a vibrant celebration of cultural pride and unity. It reminds everyone of the enduring bond between people and the land that sustains them. Are you excited to explore this joyful event? Contact Asia King Travel now and let’s pack your luggage to Malaysia with us!
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