The most important festival of the Kadazans is the
Kaamatan or harvest festival, where the spirit of the paddy is honoured after a year's harvest. This takes place in May, and the two last days of the month are public holidays throughout Sabah. During the celebration, the most celebrated event is the crowning of the 'Unduk Ngadau', meaning harvest queen in Kadazan. Young women of Kadazan or Dusun descent from each district compete for this title. The beauty pageant is held to commemorate the spirit of 'Huminodun', a mythological character of unparalleled beauty said to have given her life in exchange for a bountiful harvest for her community.
In marriages, dowries are paid to the bride's family and an elaborate negotiation is arranged between the groom and bride's families. As a traditional gesture of politeness and civility, the dowry is metaphorically laid out with match sticks on a flat surface, and representatives from each side push and pull the sticks across a boundary to denote the bargaining of the dowry. Dowries traditionally consisted of water buffaloes, pigs, sacks of rice and even urns of
tapai. Modern dowry negotiations also include cash and land ownership deeds. Kadazan women from the
Penampang and Dusun women from the Keningau, Ranau and
Tuaran areas are widely regarded to have the most expensive dowries.
While it is traditionally customary for Kadazans to marry within a village or a neighbouring village, a downshift of xenophobia over the past few decades has eased the difficulty once associated with interracial marriage. The Kadazans have a particularly good affinity with the local Chinese, resulting in the coinage of the term Sino-Kadazan, meaning half-Kadazan and half-Chinese offspring of these unions. Due to the overwhelming
Christian influence and some marriages to Muslim spouses, resulting in a mandatory conversion to Islam, still induces outrage and rejection and is known to divide fiercely traditional Kadazans. Islam has lately been embraced by a growing minority as a means to political ends considering the fact that the local Malay minority has gained political ascendance in recent years. Ruling Malay political parties have also openly been giving political and economical privileges to Kadazans who agree to convert to Islam as well as to other non-Christian Kadazans. Conversion to Islam, in a Malaysian context, also results in an automatic conversion by law of ethnicity to Malay. The resultant demographic shift has in recent years further compounded the dwindling numbers of the Kadazan-Dusun community and consequently making it more challenging in its efforts to preserve the heritage.
Religion
Animism was the predominant religion prior to the arrival of Roman Catholic
missionaries during
British North Borneo administration in 1880s. The Protestant influence is due to later British influence during the 20th century.
The Kadazan belief system centres around a single omnipotent deity called
Kinoingan or
Kinorohingan. Rice cultivation is the center of Kadazan life and as such, various rites and festivals are celebrated and revolve around paddy cultivation.
Kaamatan is the most recognizable festival attributed to the
Kadazan-Dusun. This annual festival is essentially a thanks-giving ceremony and in the olden days also serve to appease the rice spirit, the
Bambaazon. Special rituals are performed before and after each harvest by a tribal priestess known as a
Bobohizan.
Music and Dance
The Kadazans have also developed their own unique dance and music.
Sumazau is the name of the dance between a male and female, performed by couples as well as groups of couples, which is usually accompanied by a symphony of handcrafted bronze gongs that are individually called 'tagung'. The sompoton is another musical instrument. A ceremonial ring of cloth sash is worn by both male and female. The
Sumazau and gong accompaniment is typically performed during joyous ceremonies and occasions, the most common of which being wedding feasts.
Malaysian dancers teaching Sailors assigned to the U.S. 7th Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) on how to perform the traditional Malaysian Kadazan dance upon the arrival in
Sepangar,
Malaysia, 2010.
The Kadazan have a musical heritage consisting of various types of
tagung ensembles - ensembles composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed
gongs which act as drone without any accompanying melodic instrument. They also use
kulintangan ensembles - ensembles with an horizontal-type melodic instrument.
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Traditional Kadazan cuisine involves mostly boiling or grilling which employs little use of oil, and with locally unique modifications and nuances as well as particular usage of locally available ingredients, particularly
bamboo shoots,
sago and fresh water fish. From simple appetizers of unripe mango dressed with soy sauce and chili flakes to a variety of pickled foods collectively known as
noonsom, tangy and pungent flavours from souring agents or fermentation techniques is a key characteristic of traditional Kadazan cooking. One of the most well known Kadazan dishes is
hinava, which is similar in concept to the South American
ceviche. It is a salad made with pieces of raw fish marinated in citrus juice, ginger, onion and other ingredients like bitter gourd and grated dried
bambangan seed which is similar in texture to desiccated coconut strands. This dish is sometimes served in certain Sabahan restaurants which do not otherwise have a traditional Kadazan menu. Another popular dish is
pinasakan, which consists of sea or freshwater fish (usually smaller species) cooked with
bambangan (a variety of mango found in Borneo) or
takob-akob (a very tart dried fruit). The
bambangan fruit is also eaten with meals as an appetiser. It is often pickled as
noonsom and garnished with grated bambangan seed.
Tuhau is a fragrant local root that is often made into a salad or is preserved with vinegar as
noonsom. Wild boar or
bakas, whether char grilled, stewed or even made into
noonsom is very popular with the Kadazandusun community, often an essential item at weddings and major gatherings. Sweets include
hinompuka, a type of gooey rice cake steamed in banana leaves and flavoured with dark palm sugar. The Kadazan people are also renowned for
lihing, a sweet-tasting wine brewed from glutinous rice and natural yeast.
Contemporary Kadazan food is influenced by Chinese and Malay food as well as international trends, and often sees the use of traditional ingredients interpreted in new and novel ways. For example,
bambangan is available as an ice cream flavour and chicken lihing soup or
sup manuk nansak miampai lihing is popular with both Chinese and Kadazan communities alike.
Lihing is also used in marinades, local variants of
sambal relishes and even as a flavouring for stir-fried noodles.
Unification
Presently, the Kadazans are associated together with another similar indigenous tribe, the
Dusuns and various other indigenous peoples, under the blanket term
Kadazan-Dusun. This is officially recognised as the result of political machinations, specifically a resolution of the supposedly non-political 5th KCA (Kadazan Cultural Association, which was then renamed to
Kadazan-Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA)) Delegates Conference held between 4 and 5 November 1989. It was decided as the best alternative approach to resolve the "Kadazan" or "Dusun" identity crisis that had crippled and impeded the growth and development of the Kadazan-Dusun multi-ethnic community socio-culturally, economically and politically - ever since Kadazan versus Dusun sentiments were politicised in the early 1960s.
Kadazans and Dusuns share some similarity in language and culture albeit with differences in dialect. Many consider their traditional geographical influences as the major difference between the two ethnic groups. Kadazans are mainly inhabitants of the flat valley
deltas, conducive to
paddy field farming, while
Dusuns are traditionally inhabitants of the hilly and mountainous regions common to the interior of Sabah.
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