AT10703 Budaya & Masyarakat Sabah

COSMOLOGIES, BELIEF SYSTEMS

AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN
SABAH
Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Pugh-Kitingan
Professor of Ethnomusicology,
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities,
and
Head, Culture, Heritage and Arts Cluster,
Borneo Institute for Indigenous Studies,
Universiti Malaysia Sabah
 Lecture Format
1. Definitions, Concepts & Peoples of Sabah
2. Example 1: the Rungus & the Moginum
3. Example 2: the Lotud & the Mamahui Pogun
4. Change and Continuity: the Dusun Tinagas
 Overlapping Definitions
• Worldview (pandang dunia)
- People’s perceptions of the universe, the
spiritual world, God the Creator and the
nature of mankind; also includes ideas of right
and wrong behaviour, adat or customary law
• Cosmology (kosmologi)
- People’s beliefs about the structure of the
universe, the cosmos and the spiritual world,
the types of good and bad spirits, God the
Creator and the nature of mankind
 Overlapping Definitions (cont.)
• Belief system (sistem kepercayaan)
- As for worldview and cosmology
• Religion (agama) - As above, but includes
practices—rituals / ceremonies
• Customary Law (adat) – laws and behavioural
norms based on the worldview and belief
system
The Peoples of Sabah
 The Peoples of Sabah
• Austronesians:
• Around 55 major isoglots or ethnic groups
speaking their own languages with their own
cultures
• 32+ are indigenous – Dusunic Family, Murutic
Family, Paitanic Family, and isolates such as
the Ida’an (possibly around 20,000 years in
Sabah)
• Non-Austronesians – Chinese, Punjabis etc.
 Religions in Sabah
• Traditional indigenous Austronesian religions
• Christianity – earliest record, 1321/22 (Oderic of
Perdonne) and on up until 20th century
– Chinese immigrants under North Borneo Chartered
Co. were also mostly Christians (late 19th early 20th C.)
• Islam – earliest record among the Ida’an, 1408
– Trade among some coastal communities
• Sikhism
– Sikhs working under North Borneo Company after
1882
• Recent times (After WWII) and after 1963
(Malaysia)
– Buddhism and Hinduism
 Common Concepts in Traditional
Religions in Sabah
Cosmology
• The Creator
• Good spirits, evil spirits
• The human being
• The “spirit” of rice
• Importance of social harmony
• Parallel of spiritual world with the physical world
• Upper world (often 7 layers), earth, lower world
(most)
 Ritual Specialists
• Usually, gifted women, eg.
– Kadazan Dusun bobolian/bobohian (bobohizan in
Coastal Kadazan dialect)
– Rungus bobolizan
– Lotud tantagas
– babalian in Murutic languages
– balian (Tombonuo and other Paitanic languages), but
babalian (Upper Kinabatangan)
– ponyupi (woman), bobolian (man) in Tatana’ of Kuala
Penyu (Murutic language)
• Role – to balance the human and spiritual worlds
 Concepts of Balance
• mitimbang = “balanced” in Dusunic languages
• Indicates an ideal relationship between two
parties
– Between wife and husband (symmetry, equality)
– Between human and spiritual worlds (neutrality)
• Ideal / neutral state of the universe is osogit
(“cool”)
 Imbalance
• Alasu / ahasu = “hot”
– Spiritually imbalanced relationships
– Also describes a spiritually imbalanced world
– Imbalance due to sinful human actions
• Negligence or inadvertent violation of adat
• More serious deliberate violations eg. unwarranted
destruction of the natural environment
• Most serious – adultery, fornication, incest (including
marriage between distant cousins)
 Results of imbalance
• Withholding of blessing and protection from
the Creator
• Attacks by evil spirits (rogon) causing family
misfortune, illness, crop failure, sickness and
death of livestock
• Depending on the seriousness, can affect the
whole family, village and the wider
community, even the entire society causing
famine, floods, epidemics, wars, calamities
 Sogit
Sogit (from osogit) = “cooling compensation”
- an animal sacrifice to appease the anger of
the spiritual world in serious cases
- sacrificed by a senior priestess in various
ritual contexts
 Ritual in indigenous societies
in Sabah
Generally organised at three basic levels
depending on who are the initiators:
1. At the conjugal family or domestic household
level, headed by conjugal couple (husband &
wife as equal heads)
2. At the longhouse or village level (several
families simultaneously)
3. At the level of the whole community (in
times of calamity) initiated by the priestesses
Basic elements in major ritual events
1. Recitation of sacred poetry (rinait in Dusunic
societies - huge body of sacred oral
literature) by the priestesses
2. Gong ensemble music
3. Ritual dancing by the priestesses
4. Animal sacrifice
5. Rice in offerings and sometimes consumed as
food or drink (has a spiritual aspect)
Priestesses and the rinait
 rinait
• The rinait (long sacred poetic texts) are the
basis for all cosmology, ritual, adat, morality
• Pairs of lines – 1st in the local language
addresses the human world, 2nd in the ritual
language addresses the spiritual world
• Liminal
Gong ensemble music (+ drumming)
 Ritual drumming & gong ensemble
music
• Marks the processual flow of rituals
• Merges the human and spiritual worlds
• Supports the ritual dancing by priestesses
• In some contexts, supports the social dancing
by ordinary people
• Liminal
Ritual dancing by priestesses
 Ritual dancing
• Often anticlockwise, or linear
• Supported by gong ensemble music, ritual
dancing by priestesses symbolizes through
movement and gesture, activities that are taking
place in the spiritual world
• Articulates transactions and relationships
between the human and spirit worlds, as well as
within the society itself
• It conveys deep meanings and expresses social
and moral values
• Liminal
 Selected Examples of Traditional
Dusunic Ceremonies
1. At the level of the conjugal family – the
Moginum of the Rungus

2. At the level of an entire society – the

Mamahui Pogun of the Lotud
Example 1: The Rungus
Julie K. King. 1984 (reprinted 1997): 284
 The Rungus
• Population around 70,000 or more
• Villages composed of 2 or 3 longhouses (up to 40
apartments)
• Complex agricultural system of shifting cultivation
of hill rice and maize; fruit groves
• Bilateral kinship and descent
• Marriage exogamous to 3rd cousins
• Uxorilocal residence
• Gender balance
 Rungus Cosmology
• Kinoringan (God most High) the Minamangun
(Creator)
• Osundu’ good celestial beings
• Rogon evil earth spirits

• Riniba = human beings (lugu + 6 hatod)

• Bobolizan = priestesses; each has a lumaag
• Nabalu = the afterworld
 soludon tontog koritikon sandangau
pompoh

Songkogungan
 soludon+pompoh koritikon tavag
tontog sandangau

Ongkob Tuntungan
 3 tavag

tontog
 sumundai

mongigol
Rungus Moginum Ceremony
 The Rungus Moginum
• The Moginum is a family renewal ceremony of
the Rungus of northern Sabah
• Organised by a conjugal couple over several
months, when the family experiences
misfortune or dissatisfaction (every 4 years)
• Presided over by the bobolizan or priestesses
• The highlight (suminggol = “reaching up”) is
attended by all the members of the longhouse
and features pongigalan gong ensemble music
 Summary Process of the Moginum
Sumodia (preparation)
• momihot bambalan (erecting a fence in gallery)
• tapai prepared from tapioca (2 months)
• 7 or 8 nights of chanting rinait & singing
• “wine” tasting (1 sip only)
• monunsulung (dressing up)
• singing secular songs
Suminggol / Sinuminggol (reaching up)
• sinumoliu
• momurinait (in and out of the ongkob)
• construction of the loft (tampau ponigalan)
pig taken up, 2 bobolizan & guard climb up
• bobolizan chant & dance in trance
• at night feasting, secular dancing
• female family head pounds rice & yeast
• winnowing trays etc. brought into ongkob
• silad hung on rafters in ongkob
Paada’ (3 days later)
Mamanau si badi /madi
Momompon (collecting) 2-3 months
• 40+ chickens of all colours (not black) and
pigs collected
• 2 weeks before climax
• 2 days before climax
• afternoon before climax
• night before (no dance, gongs, drinking)
• chanting over pigs outside
• chanting & various rituals
• gongs moved above apad / couple sit below
ladder
• pigs sacrificed on loft
• bobolizan eat in the ongkob
• various rituals inside ongkob / bangau
• rice & yeast balls mixed & put on inside tambalai
• tambalai also erected outside
• tambalai thrown in river / all bathe
• exchange with the spirits (leaves etc.)
monunsulung /manampakai
Kg. Ontolob
sinuminggol
momurinait sid ongkob
momurinait sid apad
 manatau mangahambai

constructing the tampau

poongigalan
songkogungan in abai above apad
Bobolizan & guard on tampau poongigalan
tambalai
 The bobolizan on the tampau
poongigalan
• The role of the bobolizan as mediators between the
human and spirit worlds is most clearly seen on the
tampau poongigalan (“place for mongigol”)
• The highest level of the rogon (evil spirits) and the
lowest level of the osundu (good spirits)
• During Suminggol (“reaching up”) the bobolizan try
to reach up through ritual (including chanting,
dancing & sacrifice) to the good spirits (osundu) even
to the Minamangun (the Creator), Kinoringan
Himself, on behalf of the family
 The bobolizan on the tampau
poongigalan (cont.)
• Through gesture and movements, the bobolizan act out
the rinait that they are chanting as they shake their brass
gonding
• The sound of the gonding calls the attention of the
spiritual world
• They take turns to dance – mongigol (not sumundai) –
along the platform, stamping their feet and poking the
sacrificial pig with a spear
• This mongigol, accompanied by pongigalan, represents
their role as human mediators who appeal to the higher
spiritual realms on behalf of humans
• The final sacrifice of the pig(s) provides a sogit to
appease the spiritual world on behalf of the family
 Role of pongigalan gong music in the
Rungus Moginum
• It provides a framework for the high point of
the series (the day of Suminggol), upon which
ritual activities are carried out
• It supports the mongigol of the bobolizan on
the tampau poongigalan, as they mediate on
behalf of the human world with the spiritual
realms
• It supports the social celebration dancing or
mongigol / sumundai of the ordinary people
after suminggol
 The Rungus Today
• ~ 95% - Christian (mainly PCS/Protestant
Church in Sabah, but SDA, BCCM, SIB also
present)
• ~ 4% - follow the traditional Rungus religion
• Less than 1% are Muslim
Example 2: The Lotud Dusun
John E. Banker 1984 (1997):238
 The Lotud
• Population around 20,000
• Villages composed of single houses (formerly
longhouses of up to 4 apartments)
• Wet rice on the plains, hill rice on the hills inland
• Bilateral kinship and descent
• Marriage exogamous to 3rd cousins
• Bilocal residence
• Gender balance
 Lotud Cosmology
Diwato
Abode of supreme deities & 17 offspring (diwato)

Libabou In the clouds Pongoluan

Abode of spirits of good people

Sisiron the coast

Rondom Abode of demons (rogon)
Kolungkud
Abode of sleeping dragon (Ombuakar) & spirits of
bad people

(Pers. comm. Judeth John Baptist, 2003)

 Lotud Cosmology
• Kinohoringan (Hajin Mansasal Awan) +
Umunsumundu (Sumandak Panamba’an)
• Diwato (as a general term)
• Libabou (spirits of good people who become
familiar spirits to some tantagas and libabou)
• Rogon - demons
 Lotud Ritual Specialists
1. Tantagas – highly esteemed priestesses
(tantagas lawid = high priestess); experts in
the rinait; some have a libabou or familiar
spirit (usually women only); in rituals they
wear the ceremonial manarapoh
2. Libabou – ordinary women and men spirit
mediums who have libabou and function as
healers; in rituals they wear male or female
ceremonial costumes according to th
 Mamahui Pogun
• Community-wide series of rituals over several weeks
for “Cleansing the Universe” during times of times of
extreme weather, epidemics, crises, believed to be
caused by human sins
• Presided over by the tantagas group of priestesses
who chant the sacred rinait
• Proceeds in 3 phases over several weeks; each phase
characterised by specific ritual instrumental music
(basalon)played on basalon
• From inland to the coast, sending all the impurities
and calamities caused by sinful human actions and
wandering bad spirits from the land (symbolising the
human world) out to the sea (symbolising the
spiritual world
Series of Mamahui Pogun

1. Manawah do Turugan

2. Monumbui Sidangon

3. Monumbui Mahantan/Monumbui Sisiron

 Basalon

gandang
tanyang

tawag
 1. Manawah do Turugan
(“neutralising at the turugan”)

• First phase begins with construction

of a turugan ritual house consecutively in 3 key
villages (Kg. Bantayan, Kg. Marabahai, Kg. Tutu
Solupuh) representing 3 zones from inland to the coast
• Begins with 1 day manawah ritual activities
inside the turugan followed by 1 day
tumabur outside the
turugan of the inland zone
• Proceeds consecutively through
the other zones
turugan at Kg. Bantayan
 Basalon music for
Manawah do Turugan
Tumahan (“announcing”) 3.00 am solo
drumming by village headman
on first morning consecutively
in each turugan (17 x 17)

Ginandang Papatarok
(“summoning the spirits”) by
villagers on basalon
 2. Monumbui Sidangon
(“cleansing/sacrifice in the open air”)
• Involves the mass assembly of all the Lotud
community from all the Lotud villages at Kg. Bontoi
near the Tamparuli market ground
• Each village brings a set of basalon and flags
• The tantagas perform their slow circulating mangain
dancing, anticlockwise & clockwise with ritual
paraphernalia & symbolic gestures
• (13 x 13)
Ends with sacrifice of 3
piglets representing
the 3 zones
 3. Monumbui Mahanton / Sisiron
(“cleansing/sacrifice by the river mouth / coast”)
• Tantagas & villagers travel by boats down the Tuaran
River to Kg. Hampalan near the river mouth; each village
brings a set of basalon and flags
• Climax with the mass assembly of all Lotud villages
• The tantagas perform their slow circulating mangain
dancing, anticlockwise & clockwise with ritual
paraphernalia & symbolic
gestures (13 x 13)
• Ends with sacrifice of 3 piglets
for the 3 zones by the high
priestess (tantagas lawid)
 Basalon music for Monumbui
Sidangon & Monumbui Mahanton
Ginandang Popotumbui (“summoning the spirits to
the cleansing/sacrifice”) - solemn ritual music that
accompanies long rounds of the mangain by the
tantagas; its mongigol motif played repeatedly just
before the climax with the sacrifices
Mojumbak (“rejoicing”) fast rhythmic music played in
brief bursts, between long sections of Ginadang
Popotumbui; also played after the sacrifices to
indicate rejoicing at the restoration of balance to the
universe
Mamahui Pogun clip
 Significance of basalon music in the
Mamahui Pogun
• It is believed to be the conduit through which
the physical and spiritual worlds merge
• It indicates the presence of the supreme
deities Kinohoringan (God) and
Umunsumundu (said to be His wife in the
rinait), as well as other spirits
• It supports the actions of the tantagas
(especially during mangain) which indicate
activities taking place in the spirit world
 Significance of the mangain dancing
with basalon music
• Circular because the universe is a sphere
• In phases 2 & 3, 13 rounds x 13 times
represents the 2 supreme deities and 11
member entourage; anticlockwise & clockwise
• RH shaking the giring & LH beckoning gesture
– welcoming / addressing supreme deities
• RH shaking tutubik & LH open palm out (in
phases 2 & 3) repelling rogon
• Acting out unseen transactions in spirit world
 The Lotud Today
• ~60% - Christian (mostly Roman Catholic, but
SIB, SDA, BCCM also present)
• ~15% - follow the traditional Lotud religion
• ~35% - Muslim
• Unlike ritual music among the Rungus, the
Kadazan Dusun and other groups, ritual music
from the Lotud Mamahui Pogun cannot be
performed outside of its ritual context
Change & Continuity:
The Dusun Tinagas
 The Dusun Tinagas
• A branch of the Kadazan Dusun (speak Central
Dusun dialect), located in the upper reaches of
the Sugut/Labuk river
• Shifting cultivation of hill rice, with some wet rice
on flat areas
• Bilateral kinship and descent
• Marriage exogamous to 3rd cousins
• Uxorilocal, but increasing virilocal residence
• Gender balance
 Dusun Tinagas Cosmology
• Kinorohingan (God most high) the Minamorun
(“Source”) or Minamangun (the Creator)
• Osundu
• Rogon
• 7 spiritual layers above the earth
• Nabalu’
• Priestesses or bobolian
 Contexts for dancing and gong
ensemble music
• Wedding celebrations
• Kaamatan – post harvest feasting among
families in the village
• Moningolig – community-wide series of rituals
formerly organised at the level of the whole
society during times of calamity to entreat the
Creator (the Minamangun) Kinorohingan for
help
• Nowadays, special church celebrations
 Songkogungan ensemble
• Consists of 3 sanang types (collectively called
salasakon referring to fast speed), 3 tawag types
and formerly the kulintangan (from Kimaragang):
• Salasakon (3 sanang) – (i) salasakon
(ii) poloniton
(iii) kolibombongon
• 3 tawag – (iv) polian
(v) sunduron
(vi) bogilon
kolibombongon (left), poloniton and
salasakon
sunduron (left), bogilon and polian
Traditional Dusun Tinagas dancing
Mongigol – sedate women’s dancing
Foot movements progress according to the
sounds of the 3 large gongs
Mangalai– dancing movements of two men
(alternating raised arms and turning hand
movements) at ends of row of women
Foot movements progress according to the
sounds of the 3 large gongs
Mongigol (women’s movements)
Mangalai (men’s movements)
 Developments from Kg. Nawanon
• Complete with a female “conductor”, Dusun
Tinagas mongigol & mangalai accompanied by
the songkogungan ensemble have been
adapted to incorporate elements representing
mongomot (harvesting), mongogik (threshing)
monoud (winnowing) of rice as statements of
thanksgiving to God / Kinorohingan, the
Minamangun, for his protection and provision
Mongigol (& Mangalai) from
Kg. Nawanon
 Continuity in Logic of Practice
Major Traditional Ritual Events Special Christian Worship
Events
Priestesses (bobolian) Believers (all)
Sacred rinait articulated by the Sacred Scriptures (Bible)
priestesses accessed by all believers
Gong ensemble music merging Gong ensemble music
the human and spiritual realms celebrating the transcendent
Presence of Kinorohingan
Ritual dancing by priestesses Celebration dancing by women
articulating transactions and (mainly) articulating covenant
relationships with the spiritual relationship with the Creator
world and the Creator
 Continuity in Logic of Practice (cont.)
Major Traditional Ritual Events Special Christian Worship
Events
Rice offerings & symbolic Symbolic mongomot, mongogik
gestures and rice pounding
Animal sacrifice as sogit for sin Christ’s completed sacrifice as
perfect sogit for sin
Celebration dancing by ordinary Celebration dancing by other
people outside of the ritual people outside of the ritual
space (sometimes) space (sometimes)
Liminality Transcendence
 Conclusions
• Spiritual concepts such as God the Creator,
good and bad spirits, bad consequences of
human sin, blood sacrifice to atone for sin,
and life after death, are part of traditional
religions in Sabah, as well as newer religions
• Basic elements of traditional religious
practices based on these spiritual concepts
can continue on into new spiritual contexts,
such as Christian worship
 References
Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline & Judeth John Baptist. (2009). Music for Cleansing the Universe—
Drumming and Gong Ensemble Music in the Mamahui Pogun Ceremonies of the Lotud Dusun
of Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia. Borneo Research Bulletin, 40:249-276.
Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline, Hanafi Hussin & Judeth John Baptist. (2009). A Conduit Between the
Seen and Unseen: Comparing the Ritual Roles of Drumming and Gong Ensemble Music in the
Mamahui Pogun of the Lotud of Tuaran and the Monogit of the Kadazan of Penampang,
Sabah. Tirai Panggung. Jurnal Seni Persembahan, 9:98-123.
Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline, Hanafi Hussin & Judeth John Baptist. (2009). Symbolic Interactions
between the Seen and the Unseen through Gong Music and Dance in the Lotud Mamahui
Pogun. Borneo Research Journal, 3:221-237.
Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline, Hanafi Hussin & Judeth John Baptist. (2011). Music in the Monogit of
the Kadazan of Penampang, Sabah, Malaysia. Musika Jornal, 7:122-154.
Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline. (2012). Gong Ensemble Music of the Dusun Tinagas of Sabah Through
the Gaze of Movement. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 44:149-165.
Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline. (2014). Balancing the Human and Spiritual Worlds: Ritual, Music and
Dance Among Dusunic Societies in Sabah. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 44:172-192.
Pugh-Kitingan, Jacqueline. (2018). Connecting the Cultural Past with the Future: Contextualising
Dance and Music Traditions into Christian Worship among the Dusun Tinagas of Sabah,
Malaysia. In Patricia Matusky, Wayland Quintero, Tan Sooi Beng, Desiree Quintero &
Christine Yun-May Yong (eds.). Proceedings of the 4th Symposium. The ICTM Study Group on
Performing Arts of Southeast Asia, pp. 225-230. Penang: School of the Arts, Universiti Sains
Malaysia.
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