Kotobian Tadau Kaamatan

Wishing all KDMs "Kotobian Tadau Tagazo do Kaamatan". Please remember to drive safely during this long holiday. I will update the blog soon and upload more photos.

Chanteek Borneo in action

Chanteek Borneo booth at Tamparuli on 1st May 2011

   

State Opening Harvest Festival on 1st May 2011

Some photos taken at the Tamu (Open Market) ground during the Harvest Festival at Tamparuli, Sabah. It was raining mostly in the afternoon so couldn't take much photo:(

Chanteek Borneo

Traditional dancer from Linangkit Cultural House in front of our booth. They are from Dusun Lotud ethnics. Lotud reside mostly at Tuaran area. Most KadazanDusun women would be wearing traditional costume in black velvet. The differences between each ethnic is the style of the dress and beadings. While most men would be wearing a headgear.

Lotud

One of the performer. She might be around 10 - 12 years old.

Lotud

This is a Lotud dance. Their skirt is a knee lenght.

Bajau

 Dance performance from the Bajau. Their traditional outfits are usually yellow colours or red.

Bajau

However, most man are wearing a common headgear known as tanjak or sigah/sigar in KadazanDusun.

Linangkit

 Handwoven threads or linangkit from the Dusun Lotud in Tuaran. The Linangkit are usually use as part of their traditional outfit.

Murut

A murut man. Notice his tattoos?

Sumandak

 Girls in different costume. The two are wearing a common Kadazan Penampang costume while the other girl is wearing a Dusun Tindal.

Magagung

The Gong Beating team waiting for the VIPs arrival.

1Malaysia

The women wore various costumes from different ethnics. The first one is wearing an Indian outfit. Indian is not a common in Sabah, and it is very rare to see them in this state unlike in Peninsular Malaysia.

Sumandak Tamparuli

Unmarried girls are called Sumandak in KadazanDusun language. If you want to call a girl but you dont know her name, it is ok to just call her 'Sumandak'

For more photos, check our facebook page Chanteek Borneo

Harvest Festival

3 more days to 1st May! It will mark the beginning of month long Harvest Festival celebration throughout the North Borneo or Sabah. The State opening this year will be hosted by Tuaran district and it would be held in Tamparuli. There will be Tamu Besar Tamparuli on 30th April and 1st May. Tamu meant open market or open bazaar. There would be traditional houses and kiosks selling various traditional products and traditional foods. The highlight of the event would be the Harvest Queen Pageant or Unduk Ngadau.

I've been very busy since last week to finish my accessories. However, I still have a few that I couldn't finish on time for this event. Thats explain why I did not update this blog. Hopefully I could upload more photos later.

Chanteek Borneo streamer

Till then, Kotobian Tadau Kaamatan or Happy Harvest Festival. Chanteek Borneo will be participating in the State Harvest Festival Opening from 29th Apr - 1st May.

Borneo Hat

We call them sirung or siung in Kadazan/Dusun. There are many versions of Borneo hat according to the various ethnics in Borneo. The photo below are mostly worn by the people in east coast of Sabah, namely the KadazanDusun and Bajau found in Penampang, Tuaran and Kota Belud.

The sirung frame is handmade from rattan and the surface is from weaved bamboo. Most Borneo hat is in a cone shape and in the middle of the cone, the bamboos are colored to create a pattern to make it look attractive.

The sirung came in different sizes. The biggest one is to fit one head and used to protect the wearer from the sun. And the the small one are usually sold as a tourist souvenir and can be hang on the wall.

In the older days, the sirung is mostly worn by the ladies when working outside under the sun especially when tending their paddy field. Nowadays, we hardly see the local wearing the sirung unless to go to a remote area. And it is mostly worn by the elderly.

I remember when I was a little girl, I like to wear my mom's sirung and she only have one. My sisters and I usually fight who would get it first. Since, my head was quite small back then, the sirung would slip off my head easily so I had to tie the rope tightly under my chin:)

Here, I made a bit of innovation with the small or mini sirung.

Now, you can wear it as you are wearing a headband. I made two version, the side sirung headband and middle sirung headband.

Each is price at RM34.90 (USD10). I will post more photo later and how to order them. For enquiry, you can email me at chanteek.borneo@gmail.com

Greeting from Land Below the Wind

greeting from Borneo Island..
 
I was born and raised in North Borneo. Since small I'm very fascinated with our traditional costume and whatever related to my native. By the way, I'm Sino-Kadazan, a mix of Chinese and Kadazan or the local people. Both my parents are Sino-Kadazan too. Meaning, both my grandfather are from mainland China and they are married to the local Kadazan/Dusun girls.

I was raised in a Kadazan community but I barely speak the language neither any Chinese dialect. However, I do understood Kadazan. I grow up in a kampong (village) environment where we grew paddy as our economic activity. In May every year, the Kadazan/Dusun will celebrate Harvest Festival.

I dont really remember much when did I fall in-love with the cultural thing but I think it began when I join the traditional musical group when I was a little girl. I remembered I was the youngest in that group and my task is to start the music performance by banging two bamboos. The music instrument is call Togunggak. I will try to find a related photo later.

Basically, this blog is dedicated to my people in North Borneo. It is about our culture and our heritage. It is about my passion to transform our cultural heritage especially the crafts to become something that can be use everyday and not forgotten by the younger generation