The “Effect of COVID19 on Cultural Celebrations: The Case of Kaamatan (Kadazandusun Harvest Festival) in Sabah, Malaysia” or nicknamed “Kaamatan Under Lockdown” is a project funded by the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) under Skim Dana Khas or Special Funding Scheme (code: SDK0237-2020).  The aim of the project was to understand how the pandemic affected the nature of *Kadazandusun cultural engagement. 

Due to COVID19, disruption to public gatherings and festivals in the year 2020 through 2022 were rife in Malaysia and throughout the world. This meant that gatherings and renewal of social ties through commensality (the act of eating and drinking together as a community) were sorely missed by all, Sabahans included, who especially view the huge harvest festival called “Kaamatan” as a celebration that is at a par with other major Malaysian celebrations, such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Deepavali.

As it was a big challenge to the research team to collect data during the pandemic owing to a ban on face-to-face gatherings and the numerous lockdowns, the main strategy was to ask the public to share their photos, videos and texts showing their celebrations of Kaamatan at home, and wherever they were at the time. The contributions came in a flurry and so this online exhibition of selected photos, videos and texts of Kaamatan celebrations is thus a "people's gallery," i.e., pictures and videos have been submitted by people to the project or have been posted by them on social media.

*Kadazandusun typically refers to the Indigenes in Sabah, Malaysia, on the northern parts of the island of Borneo. Note that there are many Indigenous groups in Sabah and they may or may not align as “Kadazandusun” per se but often acknowledge the Kaamatan as being a tradition of many Sabahans.