The Ritual Poetry of Lotud Mamanpang (Creation Myth) in the Sumalud Healing Ritual of the Lotud Dusun Community, Tuaran District, Sabah, East Malaysia. Cultural Documentation Report.

The Lotud mamanpang is a form of ritual poetry that not only outlines the Lotud creation myth and provides an oral record of the historical past, but also prescribes the religious formula for patterns of proper human behaviour to maintain a harmonious relationship between the human world and the spiritual realms. Numbering about 20,000 people, the Lotud Dusun is an Indigenous community who resides in the Tuaran District of Sabah, East Malaysia. The Lotud mamanpang forms the foundation of the Lotud customary law that is recognised by the Native Court of Sabah which is still practised in Sabah today. 

The Lotud mamanpang is expressed in the form of the rinait, which is a unique genre of poetic oral tradition made up of paired lines with identical meanings, the first in everyday language and the second in ritual language. The rinati is customarily passed down orally by Lotud priestesses, who would memorise the rinait as part of their strict training and recite sections of the rinati during ritual ceremonies. The rinait of the Lotud mamanpang is contained within the Sumalud healing ritual practised by the Lotud Dusun residing in Tuaran District. 

This report outlines the full transcript of the mamanpang ritual poetry or rinait of the Lotud mamanpang embedded within the Sumalud healing ritual. This report needs to be read in conjunction with the cultural documentation report on the Lotud mamanpang, and the series of media files recording a Lotud high priestess reciting them, both available for download from the Leicester Research Archive.