Huminodun

Huminodun is a character in a myth of the Dusun people. According to legend, Huminodun was a maiden sacrificed to feed her famine-stricken people, which subsequently became the roots of the harvest festival of Kaamatan and the beauty pageant of Unduk Ngadau, celebrated annually in the month of May by the Kadazan-Dusun community in the state of Sabah and the federal territory of Labuan in Malaysia.^{[notes 1][9][10][11][12]}

Paddy field in Tambunan District of the Interior Division, the legend of Huminodun forms the basis of rice planting rituals as well as the belief in Bambarayon (paddy spirit) among the indigenous Kadazan-Dusun of Sabah.^[1][2][3]

The sacrifice story of Huminodun is also considered neither a folklore nor a legend, but more of a religious observance of the Kadazan-Dusun of Sabah and Labuan.^[13] It forms the origin of the community earlier religion of Momolianism as well as the basis of rice planting rituals performed by the bobohizan (female shaman) for a continuous bountiful harvest and the significance of rice and spirit worship in the traditional cultural beliefs among the Kadazan-Dusun community.^[1][2][3]

Attributes and legends

Kinoingan (also referred as Kinorohingan in different sources),^[14][15] the almighty God,^{[notes 2]} the creator and his wife, Suminundu (also referred as Sumundu in different sources)^[16] lived happily together in a heaven called Libabou and the Pomogunan (which is the mankind world) was pure from any sins and beautiful.^[8][17][18] His wife created the earth including the Kadazan-Dusun sacred mountain of Mount Kinabalu (Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu), while Kinoingan filled it with the sky, cloud and all above the earth.^[19][20] Together they had two children: a son named Ponompulan and a daughter named Ponompuan.^[16][21] When Ponompulan began to rebel and corrupted the mind and heart of mankind, he was banished forever from heaven to his own creation of Kolungkud (underworld) that resulted from his own deeds, and the mankind world where his followers are located was cast with a suffering curse, which subsequently also created the worst famine among the Kadazan-Dusun community since the land they lived in became so infertile that it could not grow even a single plant to produce food.^[4][22][23] To end the curse, their only daughter Ponompuan who is kind hearted, thoughtful and wise which are then named "Huminodun" (transferred sacrifice) following her pure compassion to be made sacrifice to saved her community, with her father Kinoingan learnt that the only way to overcome the famine is through sacrificing his daughter.^[4][21] She willingly accepted the father's demand since she was determined to save her people from the famine.^[8][13] She told her father:

My body will give rise to all sorts of edible plants to feed the people. My flesh will give rise to rice, my head—the coconut, my bones—tapioca, my toes—ginger, my teeth—maize and my knees—yams. Our people will never go hungry again.^[5][6][21]

Following her sacrifice, her community had the most bountiful harvest that year.^[21] With deep sorrow after losing his most beloved daughter, her father, Kinoingan, went berserk and went to the paddy field, slashing every one of the young plant crops but was stopped when hearing her voice from one of the plants, asking him to stop hurting her further.^[24] The voice comforts the father by telling him that he will be able to see her again when the rice has ripened.^[24] He must immediately select seven of the tallest stalks and tie them together, cut and bring each of them to their house after harvesting, with one stalk each placed inside seven jars, and the jar tops must be covered with tarap (artocarpus odoratissimus) leaves.^[24] Her father followed everything as being instructed, and one day he and his wife Suminundu heard knocking inside the seven jars, and when they both began to open each of them, seven beautiful maidens, including their daughter, stood out from each jar with their beauty resembling the sun at its brightest.^[24] Huminodun had fulfilled her promise when her spirit emerged from the large jar,^[2] where her bravery, grace, strength and beauty are commemorated through the annual beauty pageant of Unduk Ngadau.^[25][26] It was after her further resurrection in another form called Bambaazon (referred to as Bambarayon in different districts of Sabah)^[7][27] that raised from grains,^[25] the lifestyle of the entire Nunuk Ragang community, as they were then known, began to improve as there was an abundant supply of food.^[21]

The legend is believed to be the origin of the Momolianism, a type of the indigenous animist-pagan religion.^{[notes 3][20]} It goes on to narrate that the spirit of Huminodun founded the bobohizan (also called bobolians) as they were taught the art of rites, ritual practices and ceremonies, taboos, law of sogit and traditional cultures including the art of gong-beating and the Sumazau dance.^[6][31][32]

Other variation of the story

A different variation of the story from the main story that has been recognised by the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA) also exists.^[9][23] According to another story from the "Tangaah of Penampang Nunuk Ragang Story or Legend",^{[notes 4]} as pointed out by the late Herman Luping,^{[notes 5]} two children, a male and a female, first came out from a rock underneath a big Nunuk Ragang tree (banyan of fig tree) that had split open at the banks of the Tampias River.^[31][38] The two children's names were Kinoingan and Suminundu, human beings with supernatural powers, which is considered semi-divine, but not God.^[38][39] The gods of the Kadazan-Dusun community are named Minamangun,^[40] and it was Suminundu who sacrificed the daughter, not Kinoingan.^[38]

In popular culture

The legend of Huminodun inspired the films of Huminodun (2017 film) directed and written by Aaron Cowan,^[41][42][43] as well as Sinakagon (2024 film) [ms; dtp] directed by Timothy Stephen.^[44][45][46]

See also

• Ceres (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherly relationships
• Dewi Sri, Javanese rice goddess
• Phosop, Thai rice goddess
• Thiên Y A Na, Vietnamese goddess

Notes

1. The legend of Huminodun is the root of the annual harvest festival celebration of Kaamatan and the beauty pageant of Unduk Ngadau celebrated annually in the month of May by the Kadazan-Dusun community.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}
2. The worship of Kinoingan is deeply entrenched among the Kadazan-Dusun community that when the Christian missionaries first came to evangelise in North Borneo, they borrowed the term Kinoingan to denote the Christian God in the translation of the Bible into the Kadazan language.^[13]
3. Momolianism is the "agama asal" (animist-pagan religion) of the Kadazan-Dusun community before embracing either Christianity or Islam.^{[7][28][29][30]}
4. The "Tangaah Kadazan" of Penampang and Papar is a Kadazan-Dusun tribe who resist the "Dusun term" once coined by early Chinese and Brunei overlords due to a previous dark history related to the "Tagaas Dusun" for betrayals during a conflict by Mat Salleh in Tambunan.^[33][34] Similarly, the Lotud Dusun of Tuaran were also against the term of "Kadazan" to referring the Tangaah of Penampang and Papar until the problem of the "Kadazan" and "Dusun" term were settled with the recognition of each other.^[33][35]
5. Herman Luping is a former deputy chief minister of Sabah, a former lawyer and politician.^[36] He passed away on 11 December 2020.^[37]