Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: Sabah Fest 2009
Photo by Sabah Tourism Board: Sabah Fest 2009
If you think Mardi Gras or Oktoberfest are flamboyant and colourful, wait untill you see the spectacular Sabah Fest in the Land Below the Wind, which is an annual event organized by Sabah Tourism Board. Sabah Fest 2009 kicked off on 2 May 2009 and had successfully bedazzled the locals and visitors with its vibrant cultural extravaganza with this year’s theme “Mystical Sabah”.
The fest was a prelude of a month-long celebration in concurrence with the Harvest Festival and the first two days at Magellan Grand Ballroom in Sutera Harbour Resort were mainly showcasing some of Sabah’s ethnic groups through traditional songs and dances combined with a display of rarely seen rituals and scenes of their daily lives. When I was invited to attend the cultural show on the first night, I just could not say “no”. After hearing a lot of remarkable feedbacks from so many people on the Sabah Fest last year, I knew for sure that this was something that I had to witness myself – seeing is believing. Even being a local here, it is still interesting to learn a lot more about other ethnic races and their culture or traditions.
It was interesting how the entrance of the ballroom was set up with bamboos and a group of women fully clad in traditional costumes welcomed visitors with friendly smiles. As I walked down the stairs to the grand ballroom, the walkway was all covered with black cloth to make it looked as if you were entering a cave. “Skulls” were hanging on both sides of the walkway which shifted you back to the era of headhunters – back in the olden days, the Kadazans and Muruts were known as the headhunters and skulls symbolized the warriors’ strength. The more skulls collected the higher the warriors were ranked in their community.
At the ballroom foyer, there were numerous booths exhibited local crafts, traditional games, arts and paintings – basically almost everything was on display – something that never ceased to attract your attention and kept you amazed as you strolled along the foyer. Four young boys were showing off their skills in top spinning or gasing. The gasing is quite big and heavy so it was rare to see young boys spinning the gasing because it requires skills of great dexterity and precise timing. Then, there was a group of young boys and girls demonstrated to the tourists on how to play the popular traditional game called congkak.
I was captivated with the mock village setup of the Lotud tribe from Tuaran – the Linangkit Cultural Village. Linangkit refers to a hand woven selected cloth using multi colours thread (normally red, yellow, green, blue, maroon and gold) which is the significant costume decoration for the Lotuds. Linangkit is the striking feature when worn together with the Lotud’s black ceremonial costumes. From the circular sashes, knee-lenth skirts the back waistband of men’s trousers (called binandus), all are embellished with Linangkit. The one that was on display that evening was about 12.5 metre long which rated it as Sabah’s longest hand woven Linangkit. I was informed that a physically challenged (deaf and mute) woman, Julita Gayang, spent nearly every day over the two and a half years weaving that stunning and full of details masterpiece.
Everyone was also given the opportunity to have a glimpse of the mock Lotud wedding. The bride and groom in full Lotud costumes sat on a beautifully decorated four-post bed while being surrounded by their family members, also bedecked in their colourful traditional costumes. The Lotud community strongly believe that every festivity should be celebrated in big scale involving all family members.
Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: The longest Linangkit in Sabah
Another interesting display was a chain of fangs that the Lotud priestesses believed to be the “fangs of thunder” and this item is nornally used together with a slaughtered chicken during a cleansing ritual. Then, there was a section where they placed the 200 years old “gusi” of sacred jars which are the main spiritual paraphernalia for the Lotuds. The Lotuds regard the “gusi” as a place where their ancestors’ spirits rest peacefully. Seeing all these spiritual bits and pieces gave me some goose-bumps especially when recorded ritual chanting was played in the background because I can imagine how the actual ritual ceremony was conducted by bunch of priestess in black costumes to cast away evil spirits. A little bit mystical but the whole ritual thingy was an interesting fact to know.
Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: 200 years old sacred jars
Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: Fangs of Thunder
I continued strolling along the foyer and saw more eye-catching exhibitions such as the Bajau craftsman from Kota Belud making some of their signature handicrafts, Bajau Laut craftsmen from Semporna giving a live demonstration on making miniature lepa or single masted sailing boat, a Lundayeh woman making colourful bead works and a lot more.
I can easily spend the whole day browsing through each booths during the fest but I had to be in the ballroom for the much anticipated cultural show and I did not want to miss any second of it. There were so many people seated in the ballroom and I noticed that there were many tourists too, guess they also wanted to enjoy the natural charms of Sabah that night.
Lights were switched off and the show began with short sketch of a “grandmother” and her “grandson” standing on the stage and sort of telling a story (they were just miming what the emcee was saying) of the Lotud tribe before they walked down to the hut at the left corner of the stage. After that, a group of women in black costumes with long veils lined up on the stage and started to dance following the beat of the gongs, a short but entertaining intro.
Then, the Tantagas of high priestesses with 80 followers chanting away from the back of the ballroom until they got up on the stage. This was the first time that Sabah Fest ever showcased this rare Lotud ritual of “Mamahui Pogun” or cleansing of the universe, which is a lost-in-time ceremony to appease the spirits and restore the balance of the universe. During the “Mamahui Pogun”, a group of 30 young children performed the sumayau (traditional dance of the Lotud tribe) as part of the ritual.
Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: Mamahui Pogun ceremony
From a spiritual ceremony, the whole atmosphere was transformed into a fast pace performance by the Bajau tribe of Kota Belud or also known the “cowboys of the east” – except without the horses! The mock tamu scene complemented the popular economic activity amongst the Bajau people.
Pangalay Agung, the traditional dance of the Suluk people from Sandakan, was attention-grabbing too. It also told the story of how the dance was drown from the legend surrounding the a female Suluk aristocrat with mystical powers that did not allow her feet to touch the ground. Therefore, the Pangalay Agung has been regarded as a royal welcoming dance.
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Photo by Sabah Tourism Board: Pangalay Agung Dance
Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: The a female Suluk aristocrat with mystical powers
Next highlight was the Brunei people who performed their dance and songs while playing the Gambus, a traditional lute which has its origins in the Middle East. What make this Gambus unique is what it made of – carved out of jackfruit wood (with inticate carvings on its body) and the bore is covered with either lizard or goat skin.
Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: Brunei tribe with gambus
The Mongigol Sumundai which is a dance of the Rungus tribe, Monsilad (Dusun Gana) and Anggalang Manunatip (dancing with the bamboo) were among the other dance performance that I enjoyed that night before everyone was invited to join in the merry-making which marked the end of the festivity.
Photo by Sabah Tourism Board: Mongigol Sumundai of Rungus tribe
Photo by Sabah Tourism Board: The Murut Tribe
Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: Children from the Murut Tribe
Photo by Karen Tukalan-Pinn: The merry making
So many cultures, dances and music to delight in one night! Every year, Sabah Fest brought the best of Sabah’s natural charms closer to everyone... mark next year’s event on your calendar.
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