A TALE OF TWO FESTIVALS: EXAMINING SAMA/BAJAU CULTURE IN THE KAMAHARDIKAAN FESTIVAL OF BONGAO, TAWI-TAWI PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES AND THE REGATTA LEPA FESTIVAL OF SEMPORNA, SABAH, MALAYSIA
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Abstract
A cursory review of tourist events in the southern Philippines and East Malaysia reveals the emergence of quite a number of festivals that veers away from the nature of traditional ones. These festivals are non-traditional for the two important reasons. First, they are instigated by authorities above the kampung or village level. Second, they are largely secular festivals that have less to do with the respective cosmologies of communities, but rather have more to do with a perceived need to create a sense of pride or solidarity beyond the family/clan or village level. Generation of income through tourism revenue may also be added to these two reasons. Two examples of this relatively new type of festival are the Kamahardikaan Festival of Bongao, Tawi-Tawi Province, southern Philippines and the Regatta Lepa Festival of Semporna, Sabah State, East Malaysia. This chapter compares the two festivals through Eric Hobsbawn’s (1983) concept of “invention of tradition.” The invention of new festivals is seen as a function of the need of asserting identity(ies) and/or creating new ones simultaneously. Part 1 discusses old and new festivals found among the Sama or Sinama-speaking peoples of maritime Southeast Asia. It also connects this to the concept of the “invention of tradition.” Part 2 interrogates the comparability of the Kamahardikaan and Regatta Lepa festivals as subjects of academic inquiry through a discussion of the character of their sites and their respective histories. Part 3 presents a visual and textual analysis of officially published documents of the two festivals. It focuses on the semiotics of the production of symbols as well as discourses on the histories of place and peoples. By way of conclusion, part 4 connects the respective characters of the two festivals with prevailing discourses on national character and political culture of Malaysia and the Philippines.
Keywords: Sama-Bajau culture, festivals, identities, power, “invention of tradition.”
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