Different ethnic wedding traditions on display at fest
Published on: Thursday, July 30, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The public will get to experience different ethnic wedding traditions during the 10th Sabah International Folklore Festival (SIFF) this year.The festival beginning Aug 10 until Aug 15, will have 17 countries including Malaysia showcasing their own ethnic wedding culture, customs, costumes and wedding traditions.Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said among the countries involved in this year's festival include Slovakia, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Russia, Brunei Darussalam, Republic of Sakha Yakutia, a republic in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, India, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, China and Mexico.
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He said Mexico was participating for the first time this year and likewise the Republic of Sakha Yakutia and Slovakia. He said as the theme this year is ethnic weddings, a large basis of the performances would be on displaying the ethnic weddings of all 17 countries. Apart from that he said they would be also organising the 7th Local Folklore Dance Competition or Tugu Budaya which will see nine primary schools and ten secondary schools from all around Malaysia go head to head in the competition."The aim is so that that the participating schools in Sabah get to see and compare their ability with schools from outside of Sabah," he said during a press conference on Wednesday.
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He added as well that the competition will be held at the Sabah Cultural Centre in Penampang.The International Folk Dance Competition will be held on separate nights, Aug 13 and Aug 15 and it will see Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman gracing the first night while the Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin will grace the second night.
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"This year we will see little changes with the launch of local ethnic collection by the Sabah Cultural Board. "In other words the Sabah Cultural Board will be exchanging ethnic wear with 16 other participants and for this year for Sabah, we have chosen to gift the Kadazandusun traditional wear from Penampang and the other countries will also gift us their own ethnic wear."At the end, the Cultural Board will have a collection of ethnic wear of other countries and this is be part of our effort to educate the local community of the diversity of ethnic wear from other countries."Masidi also said that the gifting of traditional costumes was part of their effort to promote Sabah in terms of culture to other countries. He said while this year the Kadazandusun traditional costume were chosen to be gifted to the countries, the following years will see others ethnic costumes chosen from Sabah to be exchanged with other countries. "We are also taking the opportunity with SIFF to hold a few other events such as the KK City Folklore Parade from Wisma Budaya until Kota Kinabalu Community Hall. This parade is sponsored by City Hall."It is our hope that with this parade, the respective traditional costumes worn will enliven the city and at the same time promote the festival to everyone."He said other events during the festival include Sabah Traditional Food and Handicraft Exhibition from Aug 11 until Aug 15.This event will see six ethnic participants namely Papar, Penampang, Kota Belud, Membakut, Pitas and Kota Kinabalu. Also on the cards is the 6th Folk Art Exihibition at the Sabah Art Gallery.He also said that this year they will be organising a photography competition opened for all professional photographers. The top prize will be RM1,500, RM1,000 and RM700 for second and third placed winners. Fifteen other best shots will be picked for consolation prizes worth RM300 each. "The focus is more to local culture and it is actually one way of promoting Sabah because we believe that international participants will want to buy your photographs." Furthermore, Masidi said the trophies to be won were local handicrafts from local wood."It is more valuable and meaningful as the wood used are from Sabah, designed by Sabahans and is natural - a motif of Sabah," he added.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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