Harvest festival a success

PENANG: The Harvest Festival of Gawai, Kamaatan, Panen was celebrated with pomp and gaiety at the Penang Diocesan level on July 19 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Themed One Culture, One Mission, One Faith in Christ, it was organized by the Diocesan Migrant Workers Support Centre, and the Indonesian Migrant Group with the collaboration of the Kumpulan Bahasa Malaysia-Sabah & Sarawak.

The celebration began with a Mass in Bahasa Malaysia, celebrated by Kadazandusun priest Fr Valentine Gompok, OFM Cap. About 600 people participated in the Mass, comprising of many from the various ethnic groups in Sabah and Sarawak, Indonesians, Filipinos and Myanmarese.

The Eucharistic Celebration was truly muhibbah as the readings were proclaimed in Bahasa Iban and Bahasa Kadazan, while the Prayer of the Faithful, apart from these two languages, were in Bahasa Murut and Bahasa Flores.

As the Gospel that day was on the Good Shepherd, Fr Valentine, in his homily urged the congregation to be good shepherds to everyone they come across, especially those who were lost.

Everyone adjourned to the hall for some activities after the Mass. Tony Cheling from the Kumpulan Bahasa Malaysia started off with a welcoming message, which was followed by the opening ceremony. Fr Valentine was asked to use the blowpipe to burst a balloon. An opening dance, an excellent choreography of the various ethnic dances combined together, kicked off the programme for the day. The selling of traditional souvenirs became a hit especially the booth with the selling tapai.

YAB Liew Chin Toong, MP for Penang’s Bukit Bendera was present. The MP was touched and mesmerized by the combination of various ethnic groups coming together and celebrating a common event and congratulated the organizer.

The event was not short of merriment and excitement as there were traditional dances by the Sabahans, Sarawakians, Indonesians and Filipinos. A singing contest and a beauty contest added to the fun, with lucky draws thrown in, in between. Sponsors and donors, and individuals contributed to the memorable day.

Among the participants, there were the Kumpulan Bahasa - fellow east Malaysians from Ipoh and Taiping. Theodora, from Taiping, who leads the Kumpulan Bahasa Malaysia group informed that they have about 30 to 40 families in the group, mostly consisting of army personnel.

Bishop Antony Selvanaygam who dropped by was just in time to crown the winner of the beauty contest. He was presented with the traditional East Malaysian attire. In the Bishop’s message in the souvenir book, he assured the Sabahan/ Sarawakian and the Indonesian communities that they are always part of the local faith community of the Diocese of Penang, and hoped that this celebration would further enhance faith within the Church and the country. — By Lucia Lai