A Kadazan's Tale: Huminodun

Hey Steemians! So in my previous post, I shared about my Kadazan grandmother. We called her Mama and I talked about her life and how she inspired all of us through her life. Yes, though she is of little words from what I recalled, but her life speaks huge volumes to us.

This is my Mama and grandpa when they were younger and just got married!

So this leads me to this post where I'll be talking about what is a 'Kadazan' and the story that is behind the yearly festival we celebrate!

Firstly, the Kadazans are ethnic group indigenous in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. Kadazan culture is strongly influenced by the farming of rice. Therefore, every year the Kadazan people will celebrate an important festival which is the 'Kaamatan' or the harvest festival. They honor the spirit of paddy after a year's harvest. This celebration will usually take place around the month of May. During this festive season, one of the most celebrated event is the crowning of 'Unduk Ngadau', the beauty queen of the harvest festival! Why do they that? Well, these beauty pageants are held to commemorate the spirit of Huminodun, a beautiful character who gave her life up in exchange for a plentiful harvest in her community.

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WAIT..WHAT??

This is how the story goes!

According to Kadazan's belief, long ago, Kinoingan (God) and his wife Suminundu, had a daughter named Huminodun. She was the only daughter and grew up to be the most beautiful maiden. She was also very kind-hearted, full of wisdom and loved by many. At the time, the staple food for the Kadazans were a type of grain called 'huvong'. One day, there was no huvong left to plant, and there were no other grains for food. Famine hits the people of Kadazan. Kinoingan felt so saddened and worried by the sufferings of his people. It was said that Kinoingan sacrificed his only daughter to save the people. Huminodun was also willing to be sacrificed and be an offering to the earth so that there will be seeds once again to be planted and there will be food again for the people. Kinoingan and his wife were deeply saddened, but there was nothing they could do to persuade their daughter not to do so. Then, when Kinoingan sacrifced his daughter, the world turned dark and there was thunder and lightning. That year, the people of Kadazan had never seen such a harvest because it was plentiful!

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To this day, the Kadazandusun people still runs the Unduk Ngadau beauty pageant to manifest the deep sense of respect and admiration for Huminodun. It is a sacred title ascribed to Huminodun, who is so willing to obey her father, and be sacrificed for her father's creation. The 'unduk ngadau' commemorates the beauty of Huminodun's heart, mind and body as well as her eternal youth.

'Unduk' means the shoot of a plant and 'Ngadau' means the sun that connotes the beauty of the heart, body and mind of a Kadazandusun woman. To this day, the Unduk Ngadau pageant still goes on in search of a person among the Kadazandusun beauties, so as to resemble the ascribed personality and character of Huminodun. The pageant is held in many areas in Sabah and the whole process is indeed exciting!

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I guess that's all for now! However, there is so much MOREEE to the Kadazan culture than this belief. This post is just a tip of the iceberg, but I hope with the links given below, you and I will be able to understand more about this ethnic group's culture than just their beliefs! Thanks for dropping by! Till next time and don't forget to check out my previous blog about my Mama here!

For more info on Kadazan culture, head to:
https://tallypress.com/fun/8-unique-cultures-of-kadazans-that-you-should-know-about/
http://borneobonita.blogspot.my/2017/01/who-is-huminodun.html