The Kwijau or Kuijau are an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

ethnic group residing in

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...

, eastern

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

on the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. The kwijau claim descend from the

Nunuk Ragang Nunuk Ragang is a site traditionally considered as the location of the original home of the ancestors of the Kadazan-Dusun natives who inhabit most of northern Borneo. The site, nearby a village named Tampias, is located at the intersection of ...

settlers. They reside in the

Interior Division The Interior Division ( ms, Bahagian Pedalaman) is an administrative division of the state of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies the southwest portion of Sabah, bordered by the neighbouring state of Sarawak on its west. With an area of 18,298 square ki ...

within a 12-mile radius to the west and north of

Keningau Keningau ( ms, Pekan Keningau) is the capital of the Keningau District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is the fifth-largest town in Sabah, as well one of the oldest. Keningau is between Tambunan and Tenom. The town had an es ...

town. Their population was estimated at 7,910 in the year 2000. They are considered a sub-group of the

Kadazan-Dusun Kadazan-Dusun (also written as Kadazandusun or Mamasok Kadazan-Dusun) also less-known as "Mamasok Sabah" are two indigenous peoples of Sabah, Malaysia—the ethnic groups Kadazan and Dusun. The Kadazandusun is the largest native group of Bu ...

, as their language is on the Dusunic branch of the Austronesian language family (

ISO 639-3 ISO 639-3:2007, ''Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages'', is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. It defines three-letter codes for ...

dkr). About 20% of the population embrace the Christian faith in denominations of

evangelical Christianity Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

and Roman Catholicism, the remainder are animist practicing the ancient belief system called

Momolianism Momolianism is a belief system of the Kadazan-Dusun people of Sabah. Momolianism states that land is a gift from the creator, the earth is a centre of the universe and that the land connects them to the past, present and future. This system ...

. They are known for performing the ''Magunatip'', an east Malaysian dance very strongly influenced by the

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

tinikling Tinikling is a traditional Philippine folk dance which originated during the Spanish colonial era. The dance involves at least two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with on ...

. Performed by the young men and women, the dance involves jumping steps that manoeuvre the dancer's feet in and out, so as not to get their feet trapped by 2 moving

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

poles that are held by another pair of dancers, who beat the poles together and over a shorter length of wood or bamboo, creating an interesting rhythm.

References

External links

{{Asia-ethno-group-stub Kadazan-Dusun people Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia Ethnic groups in Indonesia Ethnic groups in Sabah