Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia

Kaamatan
A group of bobohizan and their apprentices leads the procession of guests of honour during Kaamatan Festival, at the Hongkod Koisaan KDCA, Penampang District, Sabah
Official name	Kaamatan
Also called	Tadau Kaamatan,[1] Pesta Kaamatan[2][3]
Observed by	Kadazan-Dusun, Murut (Kalimaran), Rungus, Lundayeh
Type	Ethnic, cultural
Significance	Commemoration of Huminodun, the sacrificed Ponompuan — Daughter of Kinoingan (God)[4]
Celebrations	Family and other social gatherings, symbolic decoration
Observances	Beauty pageants of Unduk Ngadau (female) and Buvazoi Tavantang (male), dance performance of Sumazau, Sugandoi singing competition, and other arts and crafts performances
Begins	30 May
Ends	31 May
Date	May 30, May 31
Frequency	Annual
First time	1960 in Crown colony of North Borneo[5]
Related to	Gawai Dayak, Kalimaran, Magahau

Kaamatan, Tadau Kaamatan or Pesta Kaamatan is a form of harvest festival celebrated on 30 and 31 May annually in the state of Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan in Malaysia.^[6][7][8]

It is observed annually on the month of May by the Kadazan-Dusun, Murut, Rungus, and Lundayeh ethnic groups as a commemoration for the sacrifice of Huminodun towards her community where various cultural and crafts performances were exhibited throughout the celebrations at the Hongkod Koisaan KDCA Hall in Penampang District with symbolic decoration followed by family and other social gatherings. The festival is also celebrated by Kadazan-Dusuns diaspora all around Malaysia, and abroad.^[9][10][11]

The festival is celebrated with various symbolic decoration and family and other social gatherings activities such as beauty pageants of Unduk Ngadau (female) and Buvazoi Tavantang (male), dance performance of Sumazau, Sugandoi singing competition, and other arts and crafts performances together with the availability of food stalls throughout the festivals.

The word Kaamatan carries the meaning of "harvest" in the Kadazan-Dusun languages,^[12] derived from the Kadazan-Dusun word "tomot".^[13] In the Murutic languages, their harvest festival is called the Kalimaran, although there are differences in the celebration that occurs from March and the Kaamatan that occurs in May.^[14] In both the Rungus language and Lundayeh, the harvest festival is also referred to as Kaamatan and is celebrated in the same month of May, with the Rungus had observing the Kaamatan festival as part of their annual Magahau festival.^[15][16] During the Kaamatan, roadside billboard or banner greetings such as "Kotobian Tadau Tagazo do Kaamatan" (Kadazan) or "Kotobian Tadau Tagayo do Kaamatan" (Dusun), which are translated to "Happy Harvest Festival" or "Wishing you a Happy Harvest Festival", are commonly found around Sabah during the festive season.^[17]

During the "Conference of the District Chiefs and Native Chiefs" of the Crown colony of North Borneo in 1956, the native chief of the Interior Dusuns, OKK Sedomon Gunsanad Kina, proposed for the Kaamatan celebration to be declared and gazetted as an official public holiday in North Borneo.^[18] The British colonial authorities agreed on the proposal during the conference and on 9 May 1960, the celebration was gazetted by the British colonial authorities as an official public holiday for the region of North Borneo,^[19][20] under which it was announced during the "Annual Meeting of the Kadazan Association" under the then Chief Minister Donald Stephens.^[21][22] The first largest celebration was held in 1961 and was considered a special celebration since it was the first time since 1960 the festival public holiday was given the official status of recognition, where it is still remembered more clearly and with more enthusiasm than the 1963 independence celebration day.^[5][23]

According to a belief shared by all Dusun peoples, with some variations, the human race, created by the Supreme Being Kinoingan (also referred as Kinorohingan in different sources),^[24] experienced a severe famine at the beginning of time.^[25] Kinoingan's maiden daughter, Ponompuan (later named as Huminodun), sacrificed herself to provide food for humanity, resulting in the production of rice as the main staple, along with other essential crops such as coconut, tapioca, ginger, maize, and yams from different parts of her body.^[25][26] The myth further narrates that Huminodun was transformed into Bambaazon, a spirit emerging from a large jar containing the rice harvested by humans on the first day.^[27][28] An essential aspect of the myth includes Huminodun's instruction that, before starting the harvest, the father should take seven stalks of paddy (called toguruon), tie them to one end of a spliced bamboo stick, plant them at the centre of the field, and then store them in the rice container after the harvest.^[29] These seven stalks of paddy symbolise the spirit of rice, bambaazon (or bambarayon in interior dialects), which is believed to be responsible for abundant harvests.^[4][30]

This creation story played a central role in the traditional belief system of the Dusun peoples and formed the basis of numerous rituals performed annually during the rice harvest.^[29] The most significant of these rituals was the magavau ceremony, led by the ritual specialists known as bobohizan, to recover grains of rice that might have been lost or left in the field, carrying the Bambaazon with them and thereby preventing future crop shortages.^[31][32] Harvest-related rituals were the most important of the year, involving extensive celebration and feasting within villages. Another traditional ritual was the moginakan, which was costly and held during particularly good harvests, as well as for events like house reconstruction, childbirth, or recovery from illness.^[29]

Kaamatan is normally celebrated by the ethnic Kadazan-Dusuns, as well as by other related ethnic groups in the state such as Murut (named as Kalimaran), Rungus and Lundayeh, and the celebration lasts for the whole of the month of May, ending with a public holiday on a date selected by a priestess known as the bobohizan.^[33][34]

A female beauty pageant known as Unduk Ngadau and its recent male counterpart, Buvazoi Tavantang, will be held, and it ends the harvest festival with a newly crowned Unduk Ngadau and Mr Kaamatan in the annual host district, Penampang.^[26][35] The Harvest Festival comes under the ambit of what is known as Momolianism, the belief system and life philosophy of the Kadazan-Dusun.^[28] There is also a dance performance called the Sumazau along with various dance styles and performances displayed by each different Kadazan-Dusun sub-groups together with a singing contest called Sugandoi, a bodybuilding competition, and other arts and crafts performances.^[36] Competitions such as hitting the gong and folk sports such as: mipulos (arm wrestling), mipadsa (knuckle wrestling), monopuk (blow piping), momolositik (catapulting), and migayat lukug (tug of war) have also become one of the main events in this festival.^[3][36]

Popular drinks during the festival are tapai (rice wine) and kinomol, which is a traditional alak drink. Tapai is drunk from a small bamboo vessel known as a sumbiling or from special glasses called singgarung, likewise made from bamboo.^[36][37]

• List of harvest festivals
• Kadazandusun Cultural Association
• Gawai Dayak

• Journal of Malaysian Studies (in Malay). Universiti Sains Malaysia. 1990.
• Leong, Gregory (1992). Festivals of Malaysia. Pelanduk Publications (M). ISBN 978-967-978-388-9.
• Pesta Kaamatan, peringkat Negeri Sabah 1996, 31 Mei 1996, Hongkod Koisaan, Penampang, Sabah [Kaamatan Festival, Sabah State Level 1996, 31 May 1996, Hongkod Koisaan, Penampang, Sabah] (in Malay). Sabah Tourism Promotion Corporation. 1996.
• Hari-hari perayaan masyarakat Malaysia [Malaysian community holidays] (in Malay). Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage Malaysia. 2006. ISBN 978-983-3374-11-3.
• Barlocco, Fausto (2010). "The village as a 'community of practice': Constitution of village belonging through leisure sociality". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 166 (4): 404–425. doi:10.1163/22134379-90003609. JSTOR 41000135.
• Mohamad (Wan.), Ramli Wan (2010). Malaysian Customs and Traditions. National Department for Culture and Arts, Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture, Malaysia. ISBN 978-967-5552-01-4.
• Barlocco, Fausto (2011). "A Tale of Two Celebrations: The Pesta Kaamatan as a Site of Struggle between a Minority and the State in Sabah, East Malaysia". Asian Journal of Social Science. 39 (5): 605–626. doi:10.1163/156853111X609266. JSTOR 43497845.
• Kok On, Low; Yok Fee, Lee (2012). "Investigating the Relationship between Kadazandusun Beliefs about Paddy Spirits, Riddling in Harvest-time and Paddy-Related Sundait" (PDF). MALIM − SEA Journal of Studies. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2025 – via UKM Journal Article Repository.
• Zaenuddin, Dundin; Wiratri, Amorisa; Hidayat, Anang; Nadila, Syarfina Mahya (2015). Myth, Local Wisdom, and Forest Management in Southeast Asia: A Case Study in Malaysia. PSDR LIPI. ISBN 978-602-7797-51-2.
• Gin, Ooi Keat (18 December 2017). Historical Dictionary of Malaysia. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-0885-7.
• Andin, Christina; Hussin, Rosazman; Johnes, Johan (2022). "Toleransi Etnik Melalui Perayaan Orang Asal di Sabah: Aplikasi Teori Tingkah Laku Terancang" [Ethnic Tolerance on Indigenous Festivals in Sabah: The Application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour] (PDF). Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (in Malay). 19 (6): 1–20. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2025 – via UKM Journal Article Repository.

• "Kaamatan Special [The Rituals of Tadau Kaamatan (Harvest Festival)]". e-borneo.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2010.
• "Kaamatan". Kadazan-Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA). Archived from the original on 19 February 2015.
• Belly, Tressy; Zulhilmi Zulkurnain, Muhammad; Awang Ali, Quratul'Ain (2024). "Kaamatan Harvest Festival Challenges: A Narrative Review and Directions for Future Research" (PDF). Journal of Tourism, Hospitality & Culinary Arts. 16 (2): 14−29. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2025 – via Universiti Teknologi MARA.
• Kuok Tiung, Lee (30 May 2022). "Kemeriahan Sambutan Tadau Kaamatan di Sabah" [The intensity of Tadau Kaamatan celebrations in Sabah]. Institute of Language and Literature, Malaysia (in Malay). Archived from the original on 3 October 2022.
• Gontusan, Richard A. (18 May 2025). "Kaamatan: A celebration of heritage, unity, economic vitality". The Borneo Post. Archived from the original on 9 June 2025.
• Tee, Johnson (31 May 2025). "Kaamatan: A call for unity in the land of Huminodun". The Borneo Post. Archived from the original on 10 June 2025.

• Media related to Kaamatan at Wikimedia Commons