Wednesday, May 27, 2009

my take on kaamatan...

Today is Wednesday the 27th of May, and (i believe) all Sabahans are looking forward to the weekends because in two days time, this 'Land Below The Wind' will be enjoying a festivity which is quite similar to the German Oktober Fest.

Every year in May is a festive month for the few indigenous tribes in Sabah, namely the Kadazan, Dusun, Rungus and Murut people. It is the month of appreciation for a bountiful paddy harvest with the main celebration commencing at the end of the month starting with a few paganistic traditional rituals and culminates with a state wide beauty pegeant also known as 'Unduk Ngadau'. *Please click here for more information.

now, i don't know much about the traditions and rituals as, frankly speaking,...i've never seen the actual or even participated in the event. come to think of it, i don't even celebrate the occasion (in a traditional sense) :). i'm one of those unfortunate few new generations who takes this opportunity at this time of year as an excuse to binge on alcohol and get wasted :).

i'm not quite proud of my ignorance because in the long run, if 70% of this state's population is as ignorant as i am, our unique cultures and traditions might be lost within a nick of time. but in this driven world of technology, science and rationality, tradition seems to to be corroded bit by bit without many of us realizing it and the dominating influence of religion are hindering the spiritual aspect of these traditions.

there's nothing much that can be done about this matter because we live in an ever changing world where nothing stays long enough to make a difference. all we can hope for is that more new generations would take interest in preserving our heritage thus assuring its continutiy for generations to come :).

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