The Tadau Kaamatan is an annual fiesta of thanksgiving celebrated by the kadazandusun people, the largest ethnic group in Sabah. It is the grandest festival in Sabah held throughout the month of May.
Sabah natives wear their traditional costumes, ladies deck themselves with beads, colourful bangles and headgears while men wear flamboyant feathers and animal skin during the celebration.
The festival which usually stretches from dawn to dawn include the thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest to the spirit of paddy-Bambaazon, the Magavau ceremony performed by the merry-making feast and the Uduk Ngadau – the crowning of the Harvest Festival Queen. The fiesta also includes cultural performances, buffalo racing, drinking of tapai (rice wine) and the dancing Sumazau.
Visit Sabah, ‘The Land Below the Wind’, and join in the celebration. Tadau Kaamatan national level ‘open house’ will be held on 18 Ma7, in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
