Old rituals encouraged: Cultural Board
Kuala Penyu: This year’s Odou Bakanjar kicked off with the ceremonial “tolak bala” ritual, an old pagan ritual to ward off bad luck, carried out at the compound of the new tamu site on Thursday morning.
The 30-minute ritual was performed by Kg Gorowot village chief OKK Nuri Suram, a bobolian and practitioner of the faith and one of the few left in the district who still practises the old religion.
During the ritual, rice was tossed on the roof of a specially made hut as the bobolian chanted prayers calling for the spirits called “Diwato” to appease them with offerings of food so that these spirits will not cause mischief or bring about bad luck during the course of the Odou Bakanjar event.
According to Sabah Cultural Board (SCB) General Manager Datu Rosmadi Datu Sulai, the board encourages the performances of such rituals because it respects the beliefs of those who were here before the dawn of organised religions.
“If they can respect our religion, why can’t we respect theirs? After all, rituals like these are not meant for Muslims or Christians or Buddhists, but for those who still believe and still practise the old religion.
“As a cultural board, we realise that these old cultures are dying out and it is our responsibility to save the information, record these and make them into books or documentaries for future references,” he said.
Every year, Odou Bakanjar will be preceded by a similar ritual and it never failed to raise the ire of certain religious leaders who objected to what they perceived as a promotion of paganism among the younger generations.
Datu Rosmadi rejected this misconception saying that it is never the board’s intention to promote the old religion, rather to record it only.
“Once the practitioners are gone, so will their beliefs. So we are in a hurry right now to record these cultures, to document them because we are aware they will be soon gone,” he said.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Melanie Fiona Latrik cried with joy after she was announced the winner of Odou Bakanjar’s first Busak Mosongon or Tatana Culture Queen beating 12 other beauties.
The local girl, who hails from Kg Menumpang, displayed exquisite pose and posture throughout the three rounds of the competition, answering all questions posed to her with serene confidence and coolness.
The fact that she also has a sweet smile, which she generously wore, further brought about her inner beauty, prompting the three-member judge panel to unanimously choose her as the winner.
“I will use the opportunity to help promote the Tatana culture such as its music, folk stories, customs, traditional garb and food throughout Sabah or wherever the Sabah Tatana Cultural Association (STCA) would wish to venture.
“We have unique opportunities to further encourage more knowledge about the district because we have so much to offer,” she said during one of the question and answer sessions.
The Busak Mosongon, loosely translated to mean Beautiful Flower, is the festival’s own version of Unduk Ngadau where participants were judged by their portrayal of Tatana’s ancient and disappearing customs and practices.
Among the qualities sought by the judges were perfect representation of Tatana’s traditional costume, the participants’ ability to act such as walk, sit, bow and other gestures, as well as their Tatana language proficiency.
Unfortunately, during the event, it was quite evident that only a handful, if not all of the participants, managed to speak fluently, even during the introduction phase where all they had to do were to greet the audience, state their names, where they came from and optionally, say an additional few words to the audience, much to the chagrin of some of the older folk who attended the show.
All but one participant chose to answer the questions in Malay, demonstrating the urgent need for the STCA to act if it was to save this beautiful language from being forgotten.
Nevertheless, it was quite a spectacle to see the girls demonstrate their poses gracefully and elegantly throughout.
Each of them was donned in her own unique traditional costumes according to the practices in their villages.
Chief judge Dr Paul Prodong said the judges placed great emphasis on facial beauty but not on the height of the participants as such idea is a western concept.
“Of course beauty, because after all, we call it ‘flower’, so they have to be beautiful. We also want to see their intelligence because beauty without brain is no beauty at all and as everyone can attest to, the winner showed outstanding intelligence through her answers to the questions,” he said.
The other winners of the night were first runner-up Wenanita Wences Angang, second runner-up Jacquelin Jimsi while Rita Kong and Erika Santiana Stebanus came in fourth and fifth place respectively.
On average, people were quite satisfied with the organisation of the event although they were unhappy, although amused, that the participants spoke bad Tatana and could not answer some of the questions which are related to Tatana culture and tradition.
Source: Daily Express
