Tadau Kaamatan is actually a harvest festival celebrated by the kadazandusun community in Sabah. Now, it has been recognized as one of the Malaysian Festive so everyone celebrate it as well.

According to the kaamatan legend, Kinoingan/Kinorohingan (God) and his wife Suminundu had a beautiful daughter Huminodun. The people of Sabah were starving, so Kinoingan sacrificed Huminodun. Out of her body came rice seeds which grew bountifully. That's why Kadazans have beauty contests during these celebrations: an utterly unique attribute. The Unduk Ngadau (beauty queen, literally means "heart of the sun") is supposed to embody all the qualities Huminodun had: beauty, grace, strength and bravery. When I was still bujang, this is one of my favorite events (a lot of beauties – 42 contestants to be exact). I am willing to stay just to know the winner although it will take around 4 hours before the winner is announced.


Tadau Kaamatan is celebrated in the month of May every year. Every district in Sabah will take turns to be the host for the celebrations. For this year, Papar district is the host and the state level launching was done on 01 May 2009 at Dewan Masyarakat Baru, Papar. The theme for this year is:

ENGLISH: “TOGETHER WE MOULD A BETTER FUTURE”

MALAY: “BERSAMA MEMBENTUK MASA DEPAN YANG LEBIH BAIK”

KADAZANDUSUN: “MIISO MOMORUN DO SUAB DI LOBI KOMOGOTON”

The summit or the closing ceremony will be held on 30 & 31 May every year at Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA) Hall.

Some kadazandusun villages in Tawau have held their celebrations and more will do this soon. Holy Trinity Church is also organizing their celebration which is scheduled tomorrow, 10th May 2009 at Dewan Holy Trinity. I don’t have the lists of program on tomorrow events but my friend, Edward Sabinus will be performing with the Tutunion’s – a band that plays bamboo as their music instruments. I’ll see what I can get from the celebrations and I will update you with it later.

Here I embed a kadazan dusun song for your listening pleasure: Sayang Kinabalu by Kimin Mudin. Click the play button and enjoy the song!!


You may refer the district level kaamatan celebrations schedule here: http://kdca.org.my/ or http://tanakwagutambunan.kadazandusun.my/