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Monday, May 31, 2010

Unduk Ngadau

As May has just ended, and as usual the much awaited is Tadau Kaamatan or the Harvest Festival which celebrated by the Kadazandusun (native of Sabah). Well, every year the Tadau Kaamatan is celebrated at KDCA Hongkod Koisaan, Penampang Sabah. one of the main event is the Unduk Ngadau Competition when a female will be queened as an Unduk Ngadau of the year. it is both timely and appropriate that I post here the story of Unduk Ngadau, the Huminodun of the modern era.

This article was taken from the HUMINODUN 2002 magazine, an annual magazine published by the Huminodun Foundation.

The Legend of Huminodun
And so unfolds this legend:

Once long ago, when time was young and the earth was new, there lived a young woman whose beauty was reknown throughout the land. Her name was Huminodun, and she was truly beautiful that anyone who would chance on her would be mesmerised and held spellbound by this vision of loveliness. Her beauty was made all the more enchanting because she was gentle in spirit and blessed with kindness and wisdom that were beyond her years. Huminodun was the only child of the god Kinoingan and his wife Suminundu.

The Earth they lived in was generous, and the harvest was bountiful and there was plenty of food for the people. There were happiness and contentment everywhere.

However, a prolonged drought soon came over the land. There was and the earth became parched, the rivers ran silent and dry, the trees and plants wilted and died. The colour of the land but surely turned from bountiful green to stark arid yellow heat and dust.

Day came when the barns and threshing floors in the land were bare. In those days, the staple food of Kinoingan and his people type of grain called
huvong. Kinoingan became very worried when he saw that there was no longer any food to eat; soon his people might die of hunger and starvation. Seeing his father's countenance, Humindun asked "Father, why do you look so distressed?"

"We have run out of food and we have no grain left to plant, not even the huvong," replied Kinoingan. "I am worried for our people; how are they to sustain themselves and their families?"

Huminodun reflected on this and said "Father, please do not worry." For a solution had come in that instance to her mind. "Go ahead and clear the land for planting. Father, I am willing to be sacrificed. Let me body, soul and spirit be offerings to the great Mother Earth. If you scarifice me to her, this drought wull soon end and you willhave seeds once agin for planting and there will be food for all our people," she said.

Such sorrow and sadness befell Kinoingan when he heard this but he knew that his daughter spoke the truth. He also knew that once Huminodun had made her decision, there would be no way he could change her mind.

With a laden heart, Kinoingan went ahead and cleared that land for planting. Through his supernatural powers, he was able to clear such a large area over many hills without any difficulty. When the time came for planting, Huminodun was brought to the cleared lot. Great indeed were the grief throughout the land that day. As she was leaving, one could hear the pitiful wails of Suminundu who begged her daughter not to go. The young men who had fallen in love with Huminodun beseeched her to reconsider. Many cried and begged her to change her mind, however, Huminodun remained steadfast in her decision; there was nothing anyone could do for she had decided that her father's people must come before her.

When she arrived at the cleared plot, she turned to her father and said, "Father, you will see that my body will give life to many plants for the people. My flesh will give rise to rice; my head, the coconut; my bones, tapioca; my toes, ginger; my teeth, maize; my knees, yams. Other parts of my body will become edible plants as well. Never again will our people go hungry; never again will famine be a visitor to our land."

She continued, "However Father, to ensure a good harvest, you must remember this: when you strewn parts of my body all over this clearing, do not come near here for seven days, and seven nights, When the rice has ripened, and it is time to bring them in, do not start the harvest without first taking seven stalks of this new rice and tying them to one end of a long bamboo stick. Put this pole in the middle of the rice field. Only then may you begin your harvest. When you bring home your harvest, place the bamboo pole in the
tangkob(rice storage hut) along with the rice."

"These are my instructions, Father: of your first day's harvest, keep them in the
kakanan (big jar). Do not give away any part of your first year's harvest lest the remaining grains turn bad. The second year onwards, you may do as you wish to your harvest." (This is why, to this day, the Kadazandusun people do not give any part of their first year's harvest).

Kinoingan agreed to abide by all her instructions. Thus done, he proceeded to sacrifice his only beloved daughter. At the instance of her death, the world turned black, thunder clapped and lightning struck, and the ground beneath shook and rumbled.

And then the rains came. Great was the torrent on that eventful day; the parched earth soaked in the reviving moisture, and the air became pure and clean once more. Humnidun's predictions came true; as her blood touced the earth, life was reborn. It was as she had said, as the dry earth drank in the rain and her blood, plants of many kinds began to bud and sprout in all the land.

That year, Kinoingan's people saw a harvest of such bounty never before experienced in their memory. In adherence to Huminodun's instruction, he kept the first day's harvest in the kakanan and chose the first seven stalks of the harvest for the bamboo pole.

The seven stalks of rice were to honour the seven
Bambaazon, the paddy spirit.

As for the rice in the kakanan, it produced another gift. On the seventh day of the sacrifice, a beautiful maiden rose from the jar. She was the beautiful, selfless Huminodun, resurrected in spirit to return and care for her people.

She was called the
Unduk Ngadau.

And it was this spirit of Huminodun that first taught and instructed the
Bobohizan (priestesses) in their chants and rituals, thus beginning the spiritual traditions of the people.

To this day, the Unduk Nagdau pageant is the central part of the Kadazandusun Murut harvest festival, to commemorate the legendary Huminodun, who despite her beauty and position, gave her life in exchange for the lives of her people.

Her gift of life remains our legacy, exemplary deeds which will continue to teach and remind us of the importance of sincere caring, and love for peace and prosperity through the spirit of our culture.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

hujan seja ba

It’s been raining almost everyday for a week. sometimes, it rains from morning to late evening. Luckily, the downpours is not that heavy or else, some places may be flooded, especially Mandalom or somewhere in Tenom (tanah rendah kan). Hmm, I may be have flu due to the cold atmosphere for these past few days and I end up with having cough. It was difficult to get a good sleep last night with this runny nose and nasty cough. My throat hurts every time I cough. I was also shivering under the blanket. Oh God, help me to get well soon so that i could do my job comfortably. I am not decided to go to the clinic to get my medication because I know the meds given by the doc will cause drowsiness, then my day will be lousy just because of somnolence. eee...i don't want! bullshit eh...

Sunday, May 16, 2010

exam

I still have 4 days to go before I sit my examination. Yes, it often tensed me up. Fear of having bad results affrighted me a lot. I don’t want it happens again when I got quite bad results in my last semester examination for my foundation programme. This is my first semester for PISMP programme. After I have accomplished all the tedious assignments given by the lecturers, then I need to revise all those things learnt before. It will be a wearisome task when I need to grasp the chapters from the beginning even the lecturer had taught us before. It’s about the subject that I found out the most complicated subject to be understood compared to the others. Yes, it’s undeniable that I really love my course currently, but honestly it’s hard for me to master certain chapters of the subject, let me tell you that it’s disturbingly frustrating! No need to state here what the subject is, and maybe my classmates would also experience the same. I’m not blaming the lecturer, No! But, how come when most hours of the lecture just focus on the finding syllabus? It is nothing when I just study only because of wishing to pass the exam but not gain and understand the knowledge. So, what should I do then? I really hope that, the results of my exam (even though I haven’t sit my exam yet) would be better than previously. High expectation will end up badly, I trust on that. sometimes, i lose my enthusiasm, often give-up. but, i'll try to put it to the back of my mind and try to do the best in my exam. huh... wish me luck guys

debate

ok, last week pegi IPG Tawau ada debate competition (BM) IPG Zon Sabah. Nothing interesting, dapat 1st runner-up. Johan goes to IPG Kent. There was no final or semi-final, sebab Zon Sabah ni ada 4 IPG ja. so, kena buat sistem Liga. Pungutan mata yang penting, tidak kira kalah @ menang, so team should be strong spy biar kalah tapi mata tinggi. that's the aim! apa2 pun mmg best, jumpa kwn2 baru. yang x best x dpt jln2 d Tawau city. btw, congrates to IPG Tawau for the best hospitality. 5 stars rate! congrates to me, boi, sis K, Khai and Mr. Fir.

waiting 4 boarding to Tawau

persidangan 1. IPG Keningau vs IPG Tawau

love this moment. we're one!