page_title: Kadazan people
section_title: Animism
hierarchical_section_title: Kadazan people / Religion / Animism
caption_attribution_description: English: Kadazan priestess
context_page_description: The Kadazans are an ethnic group indigenous to the state of Sabah in Malaysia. They are found mainly in Penampang on the west coast of Sabah, the surrounding locales, and various locations in the interior.
  As a result of integration in culture and language, as well as for political initiatives, the new term "Kadazan-Dusun" was created to combine them. Together, they are the largest ethnic group in Sabah. Kadazan-Dusun has been recognized as an indigenous nation of Borneo with documented heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization since 2004.
context_section_description: Animism was the predominant religion prior to the arrival of Roman Catholic missionaries during British North Borneo administration in the 1880s. The Protestant influence is due to later British influence during the 20th century. There was no "religion" for ancient Kadazan-Dusuns and to them, it was just a sort of relationship between the seen and the unseen.
  The Kadazan belief system centres around a single omnipotent deity called Kinorohingan. Rice cultivation is the center of Kadazan life and as such, various rites and festivals are celebrated and revolve around paddy cultivation. Kaamatan is the most recognizable festival attributed to the Kadazan-Dusun. This annual festival is essentially a thanks-giving ceremony and in the olden days also serve to appease the rice spirit, Bambaazon. Special rituals are performed before and after each harvest by a tribal priestess or a spirit medium known as a Bobohizan.
  Additionally, the majority of the Kadazan-Dusun people believe that the spirits of their ancestors dwell on the top of Mount Kinabalu. The Bobohizan does a ritual every year to appease the guiding spirit of the mount. The purpose of conducting such rituals is to placate the spirit of Mount Kinabalu as well as the ancestral spirits. The religious ceremonies are understood to be a means of seeking the spirit’s sanction and soliciting
  their protection during a climb.
  The Kadazan community as a ritual isolate is in constant interaction with the spirit world. This involves a number of sacrificial ceremonies to create a balanced ritual state between the Kadazans and the spirit world. The Kadazans believe in four principal spirits; the Almighty Creator (Minamangun), a living person's spirit (koduduvo), the ghostly spirit of the dead (tombivo) and the evil spirit (ogon).
  The significance of Bobohizan
  When asking for help from a Bobohizan to cure someone's prolonged or severe illness, the priestess is usually called upon. The Bobohizan would be informed with the latest information that will give her a good background in locating to the cause of sickness.
  Bobohizans can also do preliminary consultations with the susukuon or the good spirit consultants. Before the Bobohizan goes to the house of the sick person the next day, she firstly would have to consult her susukuon the night before as to find the best way possible, determining the right offerings she could approach in the healing ceremony. She will then know whether a chicken, a pig or even a buffalo would be needed as a sacrifice. At some time, it may only take a simple inait or prayer to heal the sick. There are a number of inait or prayers that a Bobohizan has to choose depending on the cause of the sickness. The basic is the popo'ontong or sumuku to get in touch with the good spirit consultants for further guidance.
  The Bobohizan may proceed to any of the following or other form of prayers which are; searching for strayed spirit of the sick person and preparing for its homecoming, appeasing the evil spirits that cause the person's sickness with the offerings, reaching the stage of Rundukon or being in the trance of possible dialogue with the evil spirit in which the priestess becomes the oracle for communicating in attempt to know the evil spirit's intentions. It is the longest performance of the Bobohizan that could last for almost 24 hours.
  They also can read the prayers to 'cleanse the debris' that has been induced into the person's body by evil spirit, cure a person from the effects of black magic and liberate a sick person from the grip or disturbance of the dead. After being treated by Bobohizan for a day, sometimes for three days, one is not allowed to go out from the house.
  The honouring of Bambaazon
  In preparation for the ceremony, the village priestess carefully select stalks of paddy and ties them together just before the harvesting period starts. These stalks are left in the field and not to be cut or tampered with until the harvesting is completed. The selected stalks of paddy symbolise the spirit of paddy, which is Bambaazon. As soon as the harvest is ov
caption: Kadazan priestess, 1921.
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