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 ...