Minangkabau

Minangkabau(The Buffalo Champion)

The origin and background of Minangkabau Dominated by jungles, volcanoes, canyons and lakes, the Ranah Minang located in Province of West Sumatra is an enormous and magnificent nature park. It is the home of the Minangkabau, one of Indonesia's most interesting and influential ethnic groups. It has a distinct culture which distinguishes it from the rest of the Island. A land of scenic beauty with blue green lakes and mountains. Ranah Minang, the center of culture of Minangkabau, characterized by the hinterland high mountains which dip into picturesque valleys. Among them are the remnants of the old Minangkabau Kingdom which still proudly protected by the West Sumatran's people, even though they live outside of the province. They keep maintaining the way of life of their ancestor. The house with traditional architecture, the style of the horn of the buffalo on the top as the symbol of victory and prosperity. According to a local legend, the Minangkabau Kingdom was founded by a descendant of Alexander the Great (Iskandar Zulkarnain). The name of Minangkabau firstly seemed to have appeared in a list dated 1365 A.D. In local dialect, "Minang" means "win"or conquer, and "Kabau" means water buffalo. It is said, there was a king called the Maharaja of Majapahit Kingdom from Java came to concour West Sumatra. There in the hinterland, he found a large kingdom ruled by a strong King, known as King Dang Tuangku. When the peaceful settlement could not be reached, both parties decided to go to war. Realizing the danger to her people, the Wise Mother of the local King that they called "Bundo Kanduang" (mother) suggested that both parties to settle the matter by conducting a Royal Bullfighting. Whoever won the fight will therefore entitled to rule the Kingdom. Bundo Kanduang was quite right that the enemy has a strong army and about three times larger than the local. Because the stake was very high, each party went to a very careful plan in order to win the fight. Majapahit army managed to get the strongest, biggest and fierce buffalo with long, strong and pointed horns. The locals had a different strategy - they decided to offer a hungry baby buffalo of a few months and tied fake horns made of two strong and sharp knifes on the baby's head, beside the ears. So when the two of them met, it was told that the baby buffalo thought that the big one is his mother and started running toward for milking. He run straight toward the breast and by doing so the fake horns slice the others belly. Heavily wounded, the larger buffalo ran away - and the locals won the fight without casualties. The country was then renamed as Minangkabau (Buffalo Champion). To this day, these proud people from highlands of West Sumatra continue to call themselves the Minangkabau and will be glad to tell you this story in one of its many forms. Since then the King also stated that due to Wise Mother contributions, the Minangkabaus will pay special respect to their mothers. It was then agreed that their descendants, tribal account and property will go through the mother's side. A daughter of a family will therefore own the will. This is known as "Matrilineal Society", which is practiced by Minangkabau people in West Sumatra until now. The capital city of Minangkabau Kingdom is called "Pagaruyung" which is located in the present city of Batusangkar (literally means stone cage). In the beginning, the Kingdom was divided into three parts, which they called three "Luhak". Luhak means district. The three Luhaks form the kernel of Minangkabau. There were also three "rantaus", the small parts around it and in loose relation to the central province, although they acknowledge the supremacy of the Maharaja of Minangkabau. Nowadays we still can see the remnant of the kingdom such as written stones, stabbed stone, artifacts and old villages and cultures in Pagaruyung. There in Batusangkar stands the beautiful Minangkabau Palace with its Minang design exactly like the original but was later renovated. According to the story, Minangkabau Kingdom was later extended or at leasthad a very close relationship with some area in Malaysia such as Negeri Sembilan. They have very similar culture, matrilineal society, traditional house etcetra. West Sumatran calls their land and rice field "Ranah Minang" means the land of Minangkabaus. Living here is unique compare to the other part of Sumatra. For example, the spirit of cooperation in the family atmosphere existed in many parts of daily activities. People will help each other, work together to build their houses, plow and plant rice fields, organize ceremonial program including wedding parties and so on The Society SystemThe brother of the mother is the head of household, what they call "Niniak Mamak". The "Niniak Mamak" is responsible for the harmony and welfare of the home as well as for the safety of heirlooms. One who is choice and appointed as the leader in a clan is called "Datuak". Although men have responsibility of the welfare and heirlooms in a family, but women keep the keys to the family possession. It is the women who own property and the men who choose to wonder. Women are the heiresses of the family and they have the right to live in the big family house known as "Rumah Gadang" (big house). Rumah Gadang belongs to all members of relatives along the mother's line. The house is the place for all together at happy or sorrow time, and also for discussing and make decision for any problem in the family. For the name as "Rumah Adat" refers to its function as the place for all Adat (Custom and Traditon) ceremonies are held like wedding or inauguration of a head of clan. The original Adat House is make of wood and bamboo for the back wall. The roof is made of palm fiber. It is about 12 to 20 meters long and 6 to 8 meters wide and the position of floor is two to two and half meters above the ground. The roof of the house looks like the horn of water buffalo with 4 or 6 points stretch along the house and a point in addition forward for the front door and ladder. For expanding form of the construction later, there is no any right angle connection for the pillars with the horizontal bars of the house. Both, the upper and lower, horizontal bars of the building. The inside of the house is divided into 4 parts, living quarters along one side of the house which consists of five or more rooms, another side in front of the rooms is a hall for meeting and at both ends are rooms with a higher floor, called "Anjuang" which is used only for a special occasion such as a newly married daughter of the family. On both sides in front of the house stand two rice barns flanking the house. Usually the wall of the house and the barns are adorned with colorful carving. Landholding is one of the crucial functions of the female lineage unit called "suku". Suku will go through the female line in the family. Matrilineal practices is such a pure form that a rather unique system in Minangkabau community. It is not proper for men to stay at their mother's house. Therefore men leave their mother's house at an early age. This is a reason which motivate many youngmen of Minangkabau prefer to go to other place. This type of migration is known as "merantau" a voluntary temporary migration to build character, stems from this matrilineal structure. Since the Minangkabau men often go from their homelands to seek experience, wealth and successes, the women's in group is responsible for maintaining the continuity of the family as well as the distribution and cultivation of the land. This group is led by a chief called "Penghulu" and elected by groups of lineage leaders. As the "suku" declines in importance relative to the outwardly directed male sphere of commerce, however, the position of "Penghulu" is not always filled after the death of the incumbent, particularly if lineage members are not willing to bear the expense of the ceremony required to install a new "penghulu" Minangkabau PeopleThe fourth largest ethnic group in Indonesia, the Minangkabau is an influential and widely distributed indigenous minority. Although they make up over 90% of the population in West Sumatra, many have also migrated to other Indonesian Islands or "merantau" in local language. The tradition of "merantau", a voluntary temporary migration to build character, stems from this matrilineal structure. Men go off to seek their fortune while the women keep the property at home, which often includes farming. Travelling is considered a mark of success and therefore many West Sumatrans are found in other parts of the country. Proof of this is the many Minang restaurants, serving very spicy food, found in all major towns across the nation. These highly literate and well-educated people hold many key religious leadership positions and play a major role in Indonesian political, economic and religious life. They are known throughout Indonesia for their success in business, their hot spicy food and their cultural pride. Minangkabau tribe is very famous as a hard worker, persevering and courageous people. Not only gentleman but also the ladies from Minangkabau enjoy activities especially doing business. We can see a lot of industries those are growing in West Sumatra. Almost every woman has a business selling handy crafts and embroidery in their houses or sometime they just make it and sell them in the market. By looking at the percentages of the people, in West Sumatra there are almost 60% of the population move to another province to get a job or do business. A quarter of their income is usually sent back to "Ranah Minang". The funds are used mainly for education of their nephew or relatives. The rest are for building a house for their parents or sisters or relatives that taking care of their properties. Anthropologists believe that the Minangkabau ancestors were actually came from Indochina, as can be traced from the ceremonial ornamentation, accessories, clothing and others. Both Minangkabau's and Indochinese have some perseverance similarities and characters in conducting business. In fact, both of them are tight competitors in some respects. The spirit of democracy is widely seen as well. Say if a family needs to have a party such as for the wedding of a daughter. A couple months in advance, the parent will invite the relatives and the neighbors to come over to form a committee and formalities for the party. Normally everybody will volunteer happily. Usually the committee will amount to more than fifty. They believe the wedding is not only for two persons, but it is for the two big families or even two villages in some instance. Therefore, all of the related works pertaining to the party will be done together. In many cases, the whole village will get involved.

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