Sabah’s month-long Kaamatan or Harvest Festival celebrations ended with a double cultural extravaganza last week.
For the first time ever, the annual festivities at the Hong-kod Koisaan hall in Penampang near here were followed thr-ough with the national level Kaamatan celebrations at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) campus.
The marathon of festivities that kicked off at 8am in the Hongkod hall continued until midnight at the UMS Chancel-lor’s hall where thousands came as early as 3pm to catch in the celebrations.
The Yang DiPertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail launched the national level Kaamatan celebrations by cutting seven padi stalks along with Sabah Yang DiPertua Negri Tun Ahmadshah Abdullah.
The”harvesting” that was broadcast live over RTM1 was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman as well as Huguan Siou or Kadazandusun paramount leader Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
Pairin, the Deputy Chief Minister, had earlier presented the king with a sigah or Kada-zandusun fabric headgear wo-ven with traditional ethnic patterns.
After handing donations to several welfare homes here, the King and other dignitaries were entertained to various traditional ethnic dances during a musical depicting the Kada-zandusun folklore of Humi-nodun.
(According to the legend, humankind was facing starvation and the Creator God Kino-ingan sacrificed his daughter Huminodun from whose body emerged seeds of the padi plant).
In his speech at the national-level celebrations, Abdullah said strong unity among Ma-laysia’s multi racial communities would propel the country towards achieving Vision 2020’s developed nation status in 14 years.
He said Malaysia was unique in that all communities respected each other’s cultural practices and religious beliefs enabling live in harmony.
“Despite the many differences, we don’t fight each other. Instead we are united,” Abdul-lah said, adding that this was the right circumstance for the Gov-ernment to develop the country even further.
Capping off the festivities were appearances by Malaysian diva Siti Nurhaliza and Akademi Fantasia stars Felix and Marsha apart from various local singers including Abu Bakar Ellah.
Earlier in the day, Tun Ahmadshah marked the end of the month-long state level Kaa-matan celebration by symbolically cutting padi stalks at the Hongkod Koisaan hall that was followed by the magavau or rice spirit appeasing ceremony by a dozen Kadazandusun priestesses from the Kota Marudu district.
The event ended with the crowning of this year’s Unduk Ngadau or Harvest Queen with the title going to 17-year-old Devenna Jaikob of Sulaman, near Kota Kinabalu.
For the first time ever, the annual festivities at the Hong-kod Koisaan hall in Penampang near here were followed thr-ough with the national level Kaamatan celebrations at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) campus.
The marathon of festivities that kicked off at 8am in the Hongkod hall continued until midnight at the UMS Chancel-lor’s hall where thousands came as early as 3pm to catch in the celebrations.
The Yang DiPertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail launched the national level Kaamatan celebrations by cutting seven padi stalks along with Sabah Yang DiPertua Negri Tun Ahmadshah Abdullah.
The”harvesting” that was broadcast live over RTM1 was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman as well as Huguan Siou or Kadazandusun paramount leader Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
Pairin, the Deputy Chief Minister, had earlier presented the king with a sigah or Kada-zandusun fabric headgear wo-ven with traditional ethnic patterns.
After handing donations to several welfare homes here, the King and other dignitaries were entertained to various traditional ethnic dances during a musical depicting the Kada-zandusun folklore of Humi-nodun.
(According to the legend, humankind was facing starvation and the Creator God Kino-ingan sacrificed his daughter Huminodun from whose body emerged seeds of the padi plant).
In his speech at the national-level celebrations, Abdullah said strong unity among Ma-laysia’s multi racial communities would propel the country towards achieving Vision 2020’s developed nation status in 14 years.
He said Malaysia was unique in that all communities respected each other’s cultural practices and religious beliefs enabling live in harmony.
“Despite the many differences, we don’t fight each other. Instead we are united,” Abdul-lah said, adding that this was the right circumstance for the Gov-ernment to develop the country even further.
Capping off the festivities were appearances by Malaysian diva Siti Nurhaliza and Akademi Fantasia stars Felix and Marsha apart from various local singers including Abu Bakar Ellah.
Earlier in the day, Tun Ahmadshah marked the end of the month-long state level Kaa-matan celebration by symbolically cutting padi stalks at the Hongkod Koisaan hall that was followed by the magavau or rice spirit appeasing ceremony by a dozen Kadazandusun priestesses from the Kota Marudu district.
The event ended with the crowning of this year’s Unduk Ngadau or Harvest Queen with the title going to 17-year-old Devenna Jaikob of Sulaman, near Kota Kinabalu.
Source: The Star
No comments:
Post a Comment