Kaamatan celebration for St Michael’s Penampang Parish and St Augustine Kinarut Parish held in St Marcellinus Minintod
By JJ/Soccom St Michael’s Penampang
Jul 3 2023
MININTOD, Penampang – It is never too late to bring the precious God-given mother tongue back as the first spoken language in the families, provided there are persistent will power and determination, along with awareness that the Kadazan Dusun language is now losing its importance as times changing.
Parish Priest, Fr Wilfred Atin said this in his address at the joint Kaamatan 2023 of St Michael’s Penampang and St Augustine’s Kinarut, Jun 4 at St Marcellinus Church, Minintod.
“It is good that once again we return to our mother tongue. It is alright for today’s generation if it seems a little too late, but do not blame your parents, start with ourselves,” Fr Atin said. He continued saying that part of the challenges was that many parents nowadays are of the native ethnic only by birth certificate but hardly speak their supposedly own dialect.
“Do we want our language to end just like that, only to be read without speaking it in the future?” He alarmed the people of what had happened to Latin language which is now considered ‘dead’ when once in the early days, was widely used by the universal church.
Speaking at length on the importance of preserving the mother tongue, he also urged grandparents to continually speak using their ancestors’ dialect to their grandchildren as part of the process of creating awareness and to bring the language back to the next generation.
Fr Wilfred Atin officiates the Kaamatan
In his welcoming speech, Organizing Chairman, Eligius Samuel said that the theme for Archdiocesan Kaamatan 2023 “Menghidupi Keaslian Budaya dalam Keluarga Bagi Meneruskan Misi Kristus” was aptly chosen. He strongly believes that families who are firmly united in Christ are the best way to counter problems of secularism and individualism as they are deemed to be a threat to the authentic family institution.
The congregation then adjourned to the open hall where colorful cultural performances and friendly competitions were held. On the gong beating competition, the most harmonious is won by Maang zone, beating six other closely competitive zones. Meanwhile the Penampang zone won the most points by the juries in Sumazau dance in pair. Sugud zone won the best ‘Lihing’ (rice wine) and the Penampang zone Women’s League again emerged as defending champion of the Traditional Food competition.
Traditional sports were organized earlier on May 18 including ‘Momolositik’ (sling shot), ‘Rampanau’ (walking on sticks), Coconut Bowling, Coconut Peeling and many more while children’s Bible Reading contest in Kadazan Language was held the following day at Minintod.
The smaller church compound in St Marcellinus was enough to gather some 300 people. Fr Atin also announced that the 25th St Michael’s Parish Kaamatan in 2025 will be in Kolopis zone while St Augustine’s Kinarut will have her first parish level Kaamatan next year.
Present at Minintod were assistant parish priests Fathers Gilbert Marcus, Wilson Francis, Lawrence Kim, Andrew Kim and Friar Cruzender @ Edmond Alex.
