Alex Ho's video: Part 1 : Sabah Kaamatan Festival 2023 in The Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association Sabah KDCA

The Kaamatan cultural meanings and purposes The word Kaamatan is derived from the root word tomot, a Kadazandusun term for “harvest”. In the context of this article, Kaamatan refers to the paddy-harvesting period, which involves a series of traditional rituals culminating finally to the Magavau and commemorative Moginakan Kaamatan (Harvest) Festival, in honor oh Huminodun, the sacrificed Ponompuan — Daughter of Kinoingan (God). Why Kaamatan and not Kokotuan? In the long drawn debate whether to use Kaamatan or Kokotuan to name the Festival, the KDCA resolved to use Kaamatan because Kokotuan is more widely understood and accepted as related to harvesting young vegetables’ shoots using the thumb and the first finger only without help of any other implements such as harvesting knives like sickles (linggaman). So you can use the term mogkotu for plucking vegetables’ shoots such as lombiding, bungor, pakis, tuntuh mundok, tunduk sangop, tunduk kasou, tunduk tawadak etc... For ripe paddy ears however, it is difficult to use bare fingers to harvest so much of them without the use of sickles (linggaman or bonuts), and more people refer to this aided harvesting with implements as mongomot. Hence the term for the paddy related harvest festival has been appropriately termed as the Kaamatan Festival. The Kaamatan Festival is an annual event in the cultural life of the Kadazandusuns of Sabah since time immemorial. In its deepest sense, the Kaamatan Festival manifest the relationships of the Creator Gods and their creations, intra and inter creator beings, and intra and inter creations’ relationships. It is about Kinoingan’s (God’s) love; the beauty of His creations; the emergence of sin and the curse of hell, and the conception of sacrificial love for the realization of salvation. It embodies the principal acts of invocation of divinities, appeasing, purification and restoration, socio-spiritual re-union, sharing of harvests/blessings and thanksgiving to the Source of All. It is part of a complex wholesome Momolian religious system centered on the paddy rites of passage and the life cycle of Bambarayon – the in-dwelling spirit of paddy. Invocation and appeasing is done in respect of Bambarayon, Deities, Divinities and Spirits, who may have been hurt by human wrongful acts. Purification is performed in respect of human and spiritual needs for forgiveness followed by resolutions to make themselves worthy of the gifts of life from God. Restoration in necessary to ensure the health and wellbeing of Bambarayon, Sunduan (human spirit) and other spiritual beings. Re-union is realised in respect of the re-intergration of the seven-in-one spirit of Huminodun in Bambarayon (paddy spirit) as well in respect of human needs to be integrated in body, mind and spirit within the concept of the seven-in-one divinity in humanity, as well as re-union of Bambarayon with human Sunduan. Finally, recitals, songs of praise and thanksgiving (Sugandoi) is observed as befitting for all creations to express their gratitude and appreciation for the gifts of life (through Huminodun) and all life supportive system on earth that their Creator lovingly and generously gave them. The Kaamatan Festival is thus celebrated to commemorate the “Greatest Love of all”, in that: “the Creator Couple (Kinoingan & Sumundu) so loved the Kadayans and their world that they sacrificed their only Daughter Ponompuan (Huminodun) in order to save them from annihilation due to severe drought and famine due to sinfulness and Godlessness.” This Kaamatan Feast is symbolized by the sharing of the new harvest (made manifest from the sacrificed body of Huminodun) by all divine, human and spiritual members of the mystical divine-human Kadayan family often referred to by Bobolians as “Tangaanak do Bambarayon” which means “Children of Bambarayons”.