Botud

What is Botud? Have you ever heard of it before? Botud is a worm commonly found in a rotten rumbia trunk.This worm is edible, they say so but I never give it a try. This worm depend on the soft rumbia trunk ( inside ) for food. It never eat other than the ripau ( rumbia trunk/flesh ). How do people eat this worm? They never cook it, they said it would tasteless. I remember my elder brother wrapped the worms with a big leaf than crunch them, yum.

In Sabah, my friend told me that there is a restaurant cum resort serves botud in its premise. I hope someday I would be able to have one botud as my dessert, once in a life time. This worm rich with protein, it is a fact. You need to take the head off before consume the worm. They said it taste like ..... whatever, since I never try it- I won't be able to describe it's taste.

When the rumbia trunk rotten, botud and the most delicious mushroom would appear. I would say no to botud and yes to the mushroom. This mushroom locally known as kulat ripau. Today, this mushroom might be difficult to be found as the rumbia tree can be listed as almost extinct. I hope there is effort to conserve and replant this tree. The future generation will see this tree in museaum, textbook and photographs taken by lucky previous generation.

Flood!

This week my hometown, Beaufort hit by flood. I watched the news about the flood kilometres away from home. They said the flood was similar to 1981, I can imagine how it was. In 1981 I was just in primary school, the flood was bad. Schools closed and food supplies hard to get ( road to Beaufort town inaccessible ). Luckily, the houses were traditionally built (built on stilt) so we never transferred to relief Centres. To be frank, as child, I like flood. As my hometown proned to flood I get used to this nature's strike. Beaufort situated at the end of Padas River, the second longest river in Sabah. Meanwhile, at the upper end, Tenom and Keningau enjoyed their position as the 'head' of Padas River. The ' tail ' part of Padas River suffered for years. This situation worsen by the construction of Pangi Dam in Tenom. Initially this dam constructed for electricity supply for Lower Interior Division. We accepted the idea for better living. I don't want to talk about the damned am anymore. I prefer share my valuable experinces as child during the flood season.

When there is flood, there is no school. My school was on the low-laying area, by the river side ( not so close, less than one kilometre ). The parents' worry were growing as their children preferred to stay outside than inside the house. Me, my brothers and I would build a raft out of banana trunks. We have a kind of 'raft-race ' during the flood season, what a wonderful old days. Tired of banana trunk rafting we have a diving competition, who stayed the longest under the water would be the winner. We only out of the flood water when my mother came to us with a cane. We never hope the night to come, we wish the day stays. We practiced the swimming skills, river was so unfriendly for us ( my mother said the crocodile always there to prey on human; she always scared us with her stories about men being eaten by crocodile ). We assumed that crocodile won't come to our village as the flood water was shallow.

It was an extra joy if there was a boat. I would row the boat the whole day, where was the 'tiredness', disappeared in the flood water. My elder brother would build his own boat out of rumbia trunk. We would set the fishing net, near our house. Hours later, we never disappointed as there would be fish trapped in the net. Learned from experience, extra careful as there were snakes.

The only bad experience about flood was during the post-flood period. As child, we were the main 'labour' who assigned to do the cleaning works.

Bisaya dialect : Basic

To share the Bisaya dialect, I start with some basic words; part of our body. Here they are :

Parts of body

head - ulu
shoulder - laliwah
hair - abuk
arm - langan
forehead - kadat
hand - kariam
face - rabas
chest - sadaan
ear - talingo
body - inan
nose - adung
back - dakurung
mouth - kabang
thigh - pakak
tooth - nipon
knee - atud
cheek - bingal
foot - gakud
eye - matu
toe - indu gakud
tongue - dila
thumb - indu kariam
neck - liau
nail - sindulu

Colours.

white - mapurak
black - maitam
green - matamau
red - maragang
yellow - masilau


Cooking time!

rice - wagas
vegetable - sasakut
fish - kiaun
plate - kudut
cook - magansak
cooking oil - umau
fire - apui
spoon - sudu
water - waig

See you again, more Bisaya dialects and culture to be shared here.

Muncang

I still remeber years ago, when I was child, my relatives and villagers came together for my elder sister wedding. One month before the wedding day we were all busy; the women folk were making cookies, weaving the rombia leaves ( roof ) and the men folk were building the 'hall' for guests. Those days, we would get the materials for setting up the 'hall ' in the nearby forest. The people would gather for lunch. This was the time you would hear laugh, rumours and old stories. The co-operation among the villagers made the works lighter, strengthen the ties too. I knew everyone in my village, I like to be part of muncang. I like the idea of many people work together, muncang, as it would promote unity. During the wedding day, every body become the waiters and waitresses, serving the guests.

Secondly, my villager would engage with muncang during the paddy harvest season. My mother unable to harvest the paddy alone, we were 'underage'. The villagers would help to harvest the paddy. The relatives were there too. The harvest would last for few days, it might took weeks if there were no helpers. The villagers and relatives would be given a sack of paddy, this would make them happy. The tradition continues, the muncang. Having lunch together in the middle of paddy field ( in a hut ) was unforgettable moments. The rice ( just harvested; processed traditionally, lesung), dried fish and vegetables made me hungry; now.

Today, when there were wedding reception, the host prefer to have rented tent and catering. The spirit of muncang fade as time goes by; modernisation. I treasured my childhood as Bisaya, I hope I can share this with my children.

Rumbia - multi-purpose tree for Bisaya community.

Here I come again, I have information about the Bisaya community to share with. As Malaysian, we all know that coconut tree is a multipurpose tree. For Bisaya community, there is a tree that share equal value as coconut tree, it is Rumbia tree. I have my own experience with this tree, a hut made of Rumbia tree. When I was child, about four years old, me moved to new village. Before a 'house' ready for us, my family has to set up a hut. We were sorrounded by trees, no neighbour, only us - a family. The hut, ready in a week. I don't know why we were such in a hurry to move from our old house! The roof made of rumbia leaves ( woven ), the floor made of rumbia tree's skin, the wall made of rumbia's branches. Following are the use of Rumbia tree :

The leaves (roun rombia )
The Rumbia's leaves can be woven into a roof, the women are trained by their elders (women ) to inherit the rumbia-weaving skill. The Rumbia'leaves known as roun rombia in Bisaya dialect. Meanwhile the process of weaving the Rumbia's leaves known as manyarut. The woven Rumbia's leaves need to be dried under the sun. These leaves would last for two to three years, environment-friendly.

The branch
In the past, the branch of Rumbia tree used as wall for a house or hut ( in the farm ). The branch can be used to build chicken home, fence to guard the plants ( vegetables etc ) and the dried branch used as a torch ( to spread the fire; to clear the land for agriculture purpose ). Meanwhile, skin of the branch can be woven into basket, mat, and others. Among the well-known woven stuff from this Rumbia parts are saging ( a kind of basket carried at the back of a person ), lalibu ( a flat woven-basket useful during paddy harvesting ), and topau ( a mat used to dry the paddy seed ).

The Trunk
We start from the upper part, here we can get a punoh, this part is a delicious 'vegetable'. Can be eaten raw, sweet and soft. The punoh served as main menu (vegetable ) during wedding reception among Bisaya community. Then, sago ( staple food of Bisaya, young generation didn't agree with this ) is extracted from the Rumbia's trunk. The skin ( palunoh ) of Rumbia tree can be used a firewood, floor for hut, and wall too!. The trunk can be used as a bridge, it is a strong trunk and last longer. During flood, my brothers and I used to build a boat from the Rumbia tree. I missed those days, we are adult now. In case of emergency, you can get water from the roots of Rumbia tree. It taste water, of course.

I hope my little information about Rumbia tree would be meaningful.

Who am I?

Thank God I managed to initiate a blog of my own. Previously,I have my own blog unfortunately unable to be managed. I hope this blog gonna 'live' longer. I am a Bisaya, one of ethnics group in Sabah. I am very proud for being Bisaya. I hope this blog would become a tool for me to disseminate valuable information like our language and culture.

Me, I am a teacher, as teacher I have an aspiration to see my future generation to excel in academic, in life too. In my life, there always one woman that become my mentor, my mother. My childhood wasn't a happy one. We struggled to live our life. Today, I thanked God for giving my opportunity to enjoy my life.

What shape my life? The values that practiced by my family and the Bisaya community have strong influence in me. I will write more about the values in my next postings.So, keep visit my blog!