That's the 5-year old me wearing my Grandma's traditional wedding costume. She was 13 when she got married. In the olden days, when a girl reaches puberty, she could be married off. My Grandpa was 15 when they got married. Another point is, she is a petite lady... Below is a picture taken the day after we celebrated her 80th birthday. Yes, I am tall compared to my aunts and Yes, Grandma is very petite!
Now, back to the topic of knowing our heritage and culture (that's the real reason of this post actually lol..). A few days ago, a relative posted this video of my aunts dancing to our traditional dance:
Yes, this is not the typical Sumazau dance that many may be aware of. The typical Sumazau dance that many are familiar with is from the Kadazans in Penampang district. I, myself, can't really get my footwork right to this 'Sayau Mogigol' dance. Well, every tribe has their own variation of the dance and Sayau Mogigol is by the Dusun Tindal tribe, my Grandma's tribe. Here's a nice blog entry about the Dusun Tindal Music & Culture.
My race is Sino-Kadazandusun, as my mum is Chinese and dad is Kadazan (from Grandpa's side) + Dusun (from Grandma's side). To those who may not know what these ethnic groups are, here are some excerpts from Wiki:
Kadazan
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.
Dusun
Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Due to similarities in culture and language with the Kadazan ethnic group, a new unified term called "Kadazan-Dusun" was created. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah.
Although I spent the first 17 years of my life in Sabah, surrounded by family members who speak Kadazan/Dusun, I didn't get to learn to speak the language properly. Yes, I do understand it but I can't seem to speak the language properly. My pronunciation seems to be "not that right" or as how my cousins may put it, funny! Lol... I have no idea why I didn't pick up speaking the language but since young, whenever I am addressed in Kadazan/Dusun, I always answer in Malay and people seem to understand it. This seems to be the same case for all my other siblings...
Since I can't speak the language, does that mean that I have forgotten my culture? Or like some people may say, already a city girl and no more in touch with my roots and 'kampung' (village)?
Well, my honest answer to that is, although I don't speak Kadazan/Dusun and I may not get my footwork right to the Sayau Mogigol, I am still very much a 'kampung' girl. I don't forget where I come from and I still find Kampung Linsuk, Tenghilan as my village. I remember every school holidays spent in the kampung; being all muddy after the regular play trips from the paddy fields with my cousins and sister, swam the mud away in the small river nearby my Grandma's house, the sound of bamboo floor when we ran around Grandma's bamboo house and the memorable memory of Grandma gave us a morning bath by the well. Gosh! The water was damn bloody cold!!! Yeah, water piping was still not available in the house then.
I guess no matter where I am or where I may go, I will always look at myself as a kampung girl, or like someone may put it, a Jungli in the City. 😜