The Map of Simaulue Island
1. Origin
Simeulue is a kabupaten (regency) in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province. Administratively, Kabupaten Simeulue is divided into eight subdistricts, including Simeulue Timur, Teupah Barat, Teupah Selatan, Simeulue Tengah, Teluk Dalam, Salang, Alafan, and Simeulue Barat. The vast majority of residents of the subdistricts are Simeulue people and some other late-comers such as people from Aceh, Minangkabau, and Nias. Simeulue people speaks three languages in daily life, that are Ulau, Sibigo, and Jamee (Dado Meuraxa, 1956).
Simeulue people have very unique customs and traditions, some are still practiced and preserved by certain groups of the people. One of them is Mangaan Ulun Tinafa, a traditional ceremony conducted to celebrate the comings of a planting season and a harvest season. By Aceh people in general, the ceremony is called Kenduri Blang (feast for the farms). Mangaan Ulun Tinafa is held three times, when planting the paddy, when the rice grains, and when harvest time comes (Rusdi Sufi at al, 2004).
The ceremony roots from Simeulue’s people belief to Islamic teachings. They believe when God (Allah SWT) has blessed them with good crops, they must be grateful to Him. They express their gratitude to God through the ceremony of Mangaan Ulun Tinafa. Despite of being an individual ceremony, a farmer usually prepares the occasion collectively with helps from relatives and neighbors. To enliven it, they usually put on a traditional art performance after a harvest season feast. For instance, Simeulue young men will perform traditional music using kendang. It is a good music played in lulling rhythms accompanied by a nandong, which is a song whose lyrics is a poetry (syair) and contains lines of advices on adat, religious verses, and adolescent pantuns (Rusdi Sufi and Wibowo, 2004).
2. Appurtenances and Time
Mangaan Ulun Tinafa is led by a Teungku Balee (leader of a Islamic discussion group) or Teungku Meunasah (head of a mosque or Islamic school). The ceremony is held at two different places, in the farms where the paddy will be planted and in the farmer’s house. As for the time, the ceremony is held three times that are when they begin to plant the seeds, when the rice grains, and when it is time to harvest.
The ceremony requires appurtenances as follows:
- Offering rice
- Chicken
- Ubon (the stem of a pisang emas [a variety of banana] tree)
- Coconut milk
3. Performance
Roughly, the performance of Mangaan Ulun Tinafa is divided into two general processes, namely preparation and ceremonial performance. The latter, as mentioned before, is conducted when they begin to plant the seeds, when the paddy grains, and when it is time to harvest.
a. Preparation
In this process a farmer along with his neighbors and relatives starts to prepare every equipment and appurtenance needed in the ceremony. The stuffs must all be ready otherwise the ceremony will not achieve total sacredness. The ceremony will be conducted as soon as everything is prepared.
b. Performance
This seems to be the happiest occasion for the farmers and families. Early in the morning the farmer family will have the offering rice ready. Approximately at 6, the rice will be brought to the farm, where some invited fellow farmers are waiting. The ceremony is started with planting the ubon on the side of the farm, followed with chicken slaughtering next to the ubon while saying salawat ahai (Islamic invocation addressed to the paddy) and prayers led by Teungku Meunasah or Teuku Balee. The farmer’s family and some other invitations will be standing by watching the process. After that, all invitations will eat the rice offering prepared before.
After eating, the farmers will run into the field to start planting paddy seeds. The slaughtered chicken will be brought home to be cooked and served for the family. The ceremony marks the starting point of a planting season.
When they notice that their paddy seeds they have planted is graining, the Simeulue farmers will think that God has granted their prayers. They will prepare a ceremony to celebrate it.
The ceremony will begin with chicken slaughtering as a symbol of their gratitude to God. The chicken will be brought home to be cooked. Next, Teungku Meunasah or Balee will pour coconut milk upon the paddy plants accompanied by some spells of salawat.
After the rite there will be a modest feast with the offering rice as the dish. This is called kenduri ureh (plant protecting ceremony). Teungku Meunasah will lead a prayer to which the other people will say amen. When the prayer ends, the people will eat the offering rice jointly.
This is the time that all farmers wait for, including Simaulue farmers. Before the whole plants are milled, each farmer must hold a handful of rice from their recently harvested farms. The rice is brought home to be cooked.
In the night, the farmers will hold a kenduri (a ceremony to thank God) attended by their neighbors and relatives. The kenduri is an occasion where the farmers can share with others as merompak is practiced in it. In merompak, people will eat the newly harvested rice together. This practice is held in turn in the houses of the farmers. In harvest season, the people will have abundant rice since every farmer family that holds a kenduri will give an amount of rice to the people.
The next morning there will be a kendang performance played by the young people. The kendang art performance will be accompanied by nandong, a song of religious lines, traditional advices, and adolescent pantuns. The young people of course wait for this moment because this is an opportunity to pair off with a fellow audience or nandong singer.
4. Prayer
In every prayer, there should be a sincere wish. The prayers may be the same, covering prayer for safety, prayer for physical and mental health, prayer for protection, and salawat for Prophet Muhammad SAW, yet the wishes in each ceremony are different. The wish before planting is for the rice to grow luxuriantly and produce rich crops. The wish when the rice is graining is for the plant to be free from pests, thet they shall grain completely until harvest time. When it comes to harvesting, they wish for good fortune until the next planting season.
5. Taboo and Prohibition
There is no taboo or special prohibition in Mangaan Ulun Tinafa. However, the Teungku Menasah or Teungku Balee will always recommend the farmers to give more alms so that God will give them rich result in the next harvest. Moreover, the farmers will be asked to really keep their plants from pests and to check the waters as well so that the plants will not wilt. Above all, for their prayer to be answered by God, the farmers are suggested to sincerely conduct Mangaan Ulun Tinafa otherwise everything they wish for will not come true.
6. Values
- Thanks to God (Allah SWT). The majority of Simeulue people embrace Islam and they are devout adherents. This devotion adds up to an attitude in which they always draw association between their real life events and God’s kindness. The performance of Mangaan Ulun Tinafa is an example. The Simaulue farmers think that they must thank and express their gratitude to Allah SWT over their crops. The ceremony must be held because if not, they will be considered as not being thankful to God and that will result in the withdrawal of the blessings in their life by God.
- Sense of togetherness. This value is obviously seen during preparation of the ceremony. Relatives and neighbors are hand in hand with the farmers to prepare anything necessary. This of course strengthens their sense of togetherness in cultivating the farms especially and in daily life generally. This is evident when scourge of mice are attacking plants, they will together trail them down the fields and wipe them out. The sense of togetherness appears more clearly in Mangaan Ulun Tinafa. The people will dance along with the kendang music played by the young men to celebrate the harvest. This togetherness results also in association between the young people that may possibly lead them to marriage.
- Spiritualism. This value is implied in the prayers addressed to Allah SWT, who by Simaulue people has given them abundant crops. In this context, Mangaan Ulun Tinafa is more than a tradition. It is a forum where they can get closer to God to pray, beg, and ask for protection from all bad things.
- Sharing with others. This value will be clearly apparent especially in Mangaan Ulun Tinafa after harvest, when all farmers cook their recent rice crops. Each of them will invite their neighbors and relatives to come to their house to have meals together. They call it merompak (eating the rice recently harvested). This sense of collectiveness is even stronger that the people who attend the kenduri will be given rice and dishes to take home with them.
7. Epilogue
When tsunami hit Simaulue Island back in 2004, it turned out that only few Simaulue people became victims. They say, it is because Simeulue people keep on holding fast their sense of togetherness. Between one group of people and another, there is still a bond and responsibility to warn each other when there is a danger. Based on this fact, Mangaan Ulun Tinafa with its value of togetherness is an important thing to appreciate and keep, especially knowing that Sumatra and Simeulue are prone to disaster.
Yusuf Efendi (bdy/12/01-10)
Translation by Reza Daffi (terj/09/02-10)
References:
- Rusdi Sufi at al. 2004. Keanekaragaman suku dan budaya di Aceh. Banda Aceh: Balai Kajian Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional.
- Rusdi Sufi dan Agus Budi Wibowo. 2004. Ragam sejarah Aceh. Banda Aceh: Badan Perpustakaan Provinsi Nanggroe Aceh Darrusalam.
- Dado Meuraxa, 1956. Sekitar suku Melayu, Batak, Atjeh dan Kerajaan Deli. Medan: Pengetahuan.
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