Ethnics Profile: The Kadazandusun

CTH BJU TRADITIONAL KADAZANDUSUN
UNDUK NGADAU D tALAWA..
WHERE IS ME??????

Penampang Kadazan
This is a subgroup of the Kadazandusun kin. They were traditionally farmers practicing rice cultivation, hunting and some riverine fishing. Their traditional costume is trimmed with gold (siling) on black velvet and is simple yet elegant. The men’s jacket and trousers bear some Chinese influence.

There are 3 different styles of blouses for the woman; for young unmarried ladies, they will usually put on a sleeveless blouse called sinuangga with full-length sarong known as tapi. Another style is a blouse with ¾ sleeves known as sinompukung worn by middle-aged ladies for daily or casual use and thirdly, the kihongon -a type worn by elderly women and priestesses during ceremonies only.

Thirty or more gold buttons are sewn in a double row on the sinuagga and are known as bamban labuan. In the olden days only the Bajau living in Labuan Island knew how to make this type of gold buttons. The costume is always worn with blouse tucked into the sarong. Several rows of silver coins and brass ring belts worn around the hip completes the outfit. These belts are collectively called himpogot (usually antique family heirlooms which a mother hands down to the daughters).

The coin belt (tinggot) is made from silver dollar coins of the 20th century. Broken gongs are melted down and turned into small brass rings that are looped through thin strips of rattan to make a belt known as tangkong. Sometimes husau, a kind of seashell that’s cut into a ring, is slipped in with the brass rings. The Kadazandusuns believe that if a sick person were to drink water into which husau has been dipped, the person will be cured.

Usually 3 pieces of tangkong are worn with the costume. Other accessories accompanying the costume are gohong (bangles), hamai (necklace), simbong (earrings), sinsing (ring) and pawn (brooch).

Costume of Women
Sinuangga Blouse with short sleeves and U-neck worn by younger women

Main stitches: sinusuk bulus (chain stitch), tantop (flannel stitch).
Betawi buttons are looped through a string on the inside. The buttons are tied together from top down of the blouse with a cotton thread. The gold-plated silver Betawi buttons were a status symbol for the Kadazandusun Penampang and if one could afford a set of thirty buttons (sonsolobuan), one was considered a wealthy person.

Simis A type of chemise white cotton under blouse
Tapi Long cylindrical wrap-skirt formerly of plain black cotton. Often enlivened with siling: gold trimming running over the hips in front of the skirt, crossed by another band of trimming from waist down
Himpogot Silver dollar belt. A maximum of three are used depending on personal wealth
Tangkong Hip belt of approximately 84 embossed brass rings on rattan strings (hindavog). Strung with red (hindagang), black (initom) and red rattan strings for unmarried girls and all black for married women.
Titimbok Hairpin to decorate and fasten the hairbun
Tiningkokos Brass or silver spiral bracelet
Gohong Brass or silver bracelets
Hamai Necklace
Simbong Earrings
Paun Brooch of gold coins
Siga do bobohizan Worn during rituals/ceremonies by the Bobohizan. The headdress
is approximately one and a half feet in height
Husob A colourful cloth worn by the Bobohizan over one shoulder and
criss crossing on the other

Costume of Men
Gaung Long-sleeved shirt without embroidery. Nowadays it is decorated with gold trimming and gold buttons
Souva Black trousers with wide indigo-blue waistband. Gold trimming on the seams along the hips for modern trousers
Kaking or toogot Black waist sash
Siga Headcover of hand woven kain daster, folded or twisted in a number of distinctive ways
Tapi sinikat Circular hat of sturdy string made with the coil and tie technique to support the siga.

Kadazan culture is heavily influenced by the farming of rice, culminating in various delicacies and alcoholic drinks prepared through differing home-brewed fermentation processes. Tapai and lihing are the main rice wine variants served and consumed in Kadazan populated areas, and are a staple of Kadazan social gatherings and ceremonies.

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' or harvest queen, where native Kadazandusuns girls throughout the state compete for the coveted crown. The beauty pageant is held to commemorate the spirit of 'Huminodon', 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, with a representative from each side pushing and pulling 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 Tambunan 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 change of xenophobic attitudes over the past few decades has eased the difficulty once associated with inter-racial marriage. The Kadazans have a particularly good affinity with the local Chinese and this has resulted in the coinage of the term Sino-Kadazan, which is a phrase used to describe the half Kadazan, half Chinese offspring of such unions. Due to the overwhelming Christian influence, marriage to Muslim spouses, which results in a mandatory conversion to Islam, still induces outrage and rejection, and is known to divide fiercely traditional Kadazans. Of late, Islam has 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 Kadazans with other religions such as Buddhist and Pagan.