Tadau Kaamatan is a sacred tradition to honour the bond between the Creator and Creation. Kaamatan is not only to signify the beginning of harvest. In point of fact, there is an important significance as to why Tadau Kaamatan is celebrated; with this, a myth is to be told. The history of Kaamatan revolves around the Kadazan legend of Huminodun. According to this legend, Ponompuan or Huminodun was the daughter of Kinoingan (God) and Suminundu. She was an ever virtuous maiden well beyond her years with resplendent beauty to accompany her wisdom.

The first ritual is the Kumogos ceremony. Before harvesting activities begin, a Bobohizan will select and tie seven stalks of the finest rice from a rice field plot. These stalks of rice will only be harvested once the particular plot is completely harvested and will be scattered all over the rice field. The gesture in this ceremony is to inform other spirits whomay be dwelling in the rice field to not cause disruption to working farmers. The spirits are also promised something after the harvest.

The Kumotob ceremony follows after the Kumogos ceremony. A Bobohizan will select seven stalks of the finest rice from an area that has not been harvested. The rice stalks are then tied together and placed in a Tadang, a basket for keeping rice. These stalks will be turned into seeds for usage in the next harvesting season.

The Posisip ceremony is the third ritual stage. A Bobohizan will go to a rice hut along with the seven stalks of rice that has been previously tied up and placed in the Tadang. She will insert the rice into a bamboo pole which will be kept in the Tangkob. As she does this, she recites chants to call for Bambaazon to stay in the rice hut until the next planting season arrives.

The fourth stage is the Poiib ceremony. A Bobohizan will carefully pour rice into the Tangkob in the rice hut. This particular process is repeated until all the rice has been poured into the Tangkob. The Bobohizan will then recite chants to appeal to the rice spirits to watch over the rice stored in the Tangkob.

The fifth and most important stage is known as the Magavau ceremony. Magavau involves the restoration of Bambaazon besides offering food to Bambaazon. Back in the day, this ritual was performed on the night of the first full moon of the harvest in the rice field. Nowadays, the Magavau ceremony is performed in the rice field owner’s house.

The final stage of the ritual is known as the Humabot ceremony. This ceremony takes the form of merry-making and entertainment. Humabot is annually celebrated on the 30th to the 31st of May in various levels including village, district and state level. Entertainments include dances and sports. The climax of this ceremony is the selection of the Unduk Ngadau as the Unduk Ngadau symbolizes Huminodun. Thus, we can conclude that the main purposes of Kaamatan is to welcome Bambaazon to the Tangkob (a large rice storage container), to restore Bambaazon that was lost during careless harvesting as well as processing of rice through the Magavau ritual ceremony and to offer rice wine (Tapai or Lihing) to Bambaazon.