Minangkabau Culture

Minangkabau Peoples

The people of Minangkabau is the Malay who reside current West Sumatra Province with the capital city of Padang. Historical researches revealed that the first kingdom on the country was located around 60 kms away from Bukit Tinggi city, a place called Pagaruyung. Here was found stone inscription in old Malay language and old Javanese writing. The inscription mentioned that king Adityawarman was ruling the country who was assigned by the kingdom of Pajajaran from West Java in 14th century. During the time West Java was under the control of the Great Kingdom of Majapahit. The Minangs are the world's largest matrilineal society, in which properties such as land and houses are inherited through female lineage. Some scholars argue that this might have caused the diaspora (Minangkabau, "merantau") of Minangkabau males throughout the Malay archipelago to become scholars or to seek fortune as merchants. As early as the age of 7, boys traditionally leave their homes and live in a surau (a community centre) to learn religious and cultural (adat) teachings. When they are teenagers, they are encouraged to leave their hometown to learn from schools or from experiences out of their hometown so that when they are adults they can return home wise and 'useful' for the society and can contribute their thinking and experience to run the family or nagari (hometown). This tradition has created Minang communities in many Indonesian cities and towns, which nevertheless are still tied closely to their homeland; a state in Malaysia named Negeri Sembilan is heavily influenced by Minang culture. In addition to being renowned as merchants, the Minangs have also produced some of Indonesia's most influential poets, writers, statesmen, scholars, and religious scholars. Being fervent Muslims, many of them embraced the idea of incorporating Islamic ideals into modern society. Furthermore, the presence of these intellectuals made the Minangkabau homeland (the province of West Sumatra) one of the powerhouses in the Indonesian struggle for independence. The Minang people belong to the Malay stock. Despite widespread use of Bahasa Indonesia, they have their own mother tongue. The Minangkabau language shares many similar words with Malay, yet it has a distinctive pronunciation and some grammatical differences render it unintelligible to Malay speakers. Today both natural (farming) ,trade and cultural tourism have become considerable economic activities in West Sumatra. Most notable of Minang culture is its culinary tradition, with unique spicy foods such as Rendang, Soto Padang (a soup), Sate Padang and Dendeng Balado (beef with chilli sauce). Minangkabau restaurants, which are often called "Padang" restaurants in reference to the capital of West Sumatra, are present throughout Indonesia and some neighboring countries. Massive earth quake on 30th November 2009 hit the country of Minangkabau killing more then 1000 persons and thousands of houses building, supermarkets and shops were in a total damage as by information collected by National Disaster Agency.
Minangkabau – Ceremonies and festivals

• Minangkabau ceremonies and festivals include:
• Turun mandi – baby blessing ceremony
• Sunat rasul – circumcision ceremony
• Pesta parkawinan – wedding ceremony
• Batagak pangulu – clan leader inauguration ceremony
• Turun ka sawah – community work ceremony
• Manyabik – harvesting ceremony
• Hari Rayo – Islamic festivals
• Adoption ceremony
• Adat ceremony
• Funeral ceremony
• Wild boar hunt ceremony
• Maanta pabukoan – sending food to mother-in-law for Ramadhan
• Tanah Ta Sirah, inaugurate a new clan leader (Datuk) when the old one died in   the few hours (no need to proceed batagak pangulu, but the clan must invite all clan leader in the region).
• Tabuik – Muslim celebration in the coastal village of Pariaman

Minangkabau – Arts

• Traditional Minangkabau arts include:
• Randai, folk theater which includes music, dance and drama
• Saluang Jo Dendang ("bamboo flute and singing")
• Talempong (gong-chime) music
• Tari Piring ("Plate dance")
• Tari Payung ("Umbrella dance")
• Tari Indang, traditional dance
• Pidato Adat, ceremonial orations
• Pencak Silat, performance based upon the Silat martial art

Minangkabau – Crafts

Traditional Minangkabau crafts include:

• Hand weaving of Songket cloth
• Embroidery
• Wood carving
• Goldsmithing and silversmithing of jewelry by filigree and granulation techniques

Cuisine

The staple ingredients of the Minangkabau diet are rice, fish, coconut, green leafy vegetables and chili. Food has a central role in the Minangkabau ceremonies which honor religious and life cycle rites. Minangkabau food is popular among Indonesians and restaurants are present throughout Indonesia. Nasi Padang restaurants, named after the capital of West Sumatra, are known for placing a variety of Minangkabau dishes on a customer's table along with rice and billing only for what is taken. Nasi Kapau is another restaurant variant which specializes in dishes using offal and the use of tamarind to add a sourness to the spicy flavor.
Minangkabau Dishes

• Rendang, chunks of beef stewed in coconut milk and chili gravy usually cooked 4-5 times a year
• Sate Padang, skewered barbecued meat with peanut sauce
• Sambal Balado
• Kalio
• Palai
• Dendeng  (beef with chili sauce)

Minangkabau Snacks and Drinks

• Lemang
• Tapai
• The Talua, mixed egg and tea
• Dadiah

Architecture

Rumah Gadang (Minangkabu: 'big house') are the traditional homes (Indonesian: rumah adat) of the Minangkabau. The architecture, construction, internal and external decoration, and the functions of the house reflect the culture and values of the Minangkabau. A rumah gadang serves as a residence, a hall for family meetings, and for ceremonial activities. With the Minangkabau society being matrilineal, the rumah gadang is owned by the women of the family who live there – ownership is passed from mother to daughter. The houses have dramatic curved roof structure with multi-tiered, upswept gables. Shuttered windows are built into walls incised with profuse painted floral carvings. The term rumah gadang usually refers to the larger communal homes, however, smaller single residences share many of its architectural elements.
Oral traditions and literature
Minangkabau culture has a long history of oral traditions. One oral tradition is the pidato adat (ceremonial orations) which are performed by panghulu (clan chiefs) at formal occasions such as weddings, funerals, adoption ceremonies, and panghulu inaugurations. These ceremonial orations consist of many forms including pantun, aphorisms (papatah-patitih), proverbs (pameo), religious advice (petuah), parables (tamsia), two-line aphorisms (gurindam), and similes (ibarat). Minangkabau traditional folktales (kaba) consist of narratives which present the social and personal consequences of either ignoring or observing the ethical teachings and the norms embedded in the adat. The storyteller (tukang kaba) recites the story in poetic or lyrical prose while accompanying himself on a rebab. A theme in Minangkabau folktales is the central role mothers and motherhood has in Minangkabau society, with the folktales Rancak diLabueh and Malin Kundang being two examples. Rancak diLabueh is about a mother who acts as teacher and adviser to her two growing children. Initially her son is vain and headstrong and only after her perseverance does he become a good son who listens to his mother. Malin Kundang is about the dangers of treating your mother badly. A sailor from a poor family voyages to seek his fortune, becoming rich and marrying. After refusing to recognize his elderly mother on his return home, being ashamed of his humble origins, he is cursed and dies when his ship is flung against rocks by a storm. Other popular folktales also relate to the important role of the woman in Minangkabau society. In the Cindua Mato epic the woman is the source of wisdom, while in whereas in the Sabai nan Aluih she is more a doer than a thinker. Cindua Mato (Staring Eye) is about the traditions of Minangkabau royalty. The story involves a mythical Minangkabau queen, Bundo Kanduang, who embodies the behaviors prescribed by adat. Cindua Mato, a servant of the queen, uses magic to defeat hostile outside forces and save the kingdom. Sabai nan Aluih (The genteel Sabai) is about a young girl named Sabai, the hero of the story, who avenges the murder of her father by a powerful and evil ruler from a neighboring village. After her father's murder her cowardly elder brother refuses to confront the murderer and so Sabai decides to take matters into her own hands. She seeks out the murderer and shoots him in revenge.

Matrilineal, Unique and Tolerant Culture

Definition
A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant (of either sex) in which the individuals in all intervening generations are female. In a matrilineal descent system (= uterine descent), an individual is considered to belong to the same descent group as his or her mother. There is interesting case right now regarding this unique culture only and only applied by Minangkabau ethnic in sumatra and Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia. Matrlileneal folk in sumatra are pride person and have very tolerant mind.
The Importance of Clan in Minangkabau
Suku (meaning : clan or tribes) or matriclan is the main unit of Minangkabau social structure and one can not be viewed as the Minangkabau if he does not have a tribe. Tribe exogamis nature, except when no longer able traced family relationship between the two namesake tribe in the village but there are different. Because people from the same tribe usually occupy the same location, the tribe could mean genealogical and territorial, whereas without kampuang (meaning “villages”) linked to one particular tribe only meant merely territorial.
Each tribe minang usually consists of several “paruik” (meaning “family”) and headed by kapalo paruik or tungganai (meaning “leader of several family”). “Paruik” can be subdivided into “jurai” and “jurai” is also divided into samande (meaning “single mother”). The way in Minangkabau ethnic division as such may differ from one region to another. “Jurai” is a vague term which may indicate similarities alone or affinity consanguinealitas groups below or above the level “paruik”. “Samande”, by contrast, hardly viewed as a stand-alone unit because two or three may be the same samande inhabit one house and each has a property other fixtures, while all the things that are important in the circle of life (life cycle) can not be solved by the members of the same samande (which is usually centered around a grandmother), but must be submitted to paruik.
Members of the same “paruik” (meaning “same family”) usually have community property (harato pusako), such as joint land, including fields, houses and the large sieve with pandam cemetery. Because ‘paruik’ developing, he may split itself into two paruik or more, though still in a single tribe. And with the growing interest he may also be divided into two or more new, related tribe.
Family Structure in Matrilineal System
In a matrilineal descent system / matriahat in Minangkabau, the father is not a member of the lineage of his children. He is considered a guest and treated as guests in the family, which aim primarily to give offspring. He called samando or urang samando. Is a legitimate place in the line of his mother in which he serves as a member of the family in the male-line descendants of that. By tradition, at least, their responsibility to be there. He is a trustee of the line-protective of their offspring and lineage property that even if he had to restrain herself from enjoying the fruit of the ground by his people because he was not able to claim part of anything for herself. Nor was he given a place at the home of her parents (maternal / matrilineal) beacause for all booths reserved for female family members, namely to accept their husbands at night. The position of men who are that motivates shaky Minang men to wander (merantau).
Men usually make a living by going to the market to traders, or working as a carpenter, a plow in the field, tailors, shop owners, office workers, and so on. He worked in the fields of line-offspring or descendants of his wife-line only in passing, if nothing else will do.
If he decided to cultivate the land from the lineage of his mother to get some results, he is usually doing so as a “penyedua’ (meaning : employee profit-sharing), where he received only part of the results, while the other part devoted to the outline of the actual female offspring became the owner of the land.
Marriage, therefore, does not create a new nuclear family (nuclear family), because the husband or wife respectively remain members of their lineage respectively. Therefore the notion of nuclear family consisting of mother, father and children as a separate unit is not in Minangkabau social structure because he always protected by a system of matrilineal descent is more powerful. As a result, children are counted as members of maternal lineage and are always attached themselves more to the mother and other members of that lineage. A weak bond to the father is even more obvious when the man with polygamy, in which he turns to visit his wife, and more rarely meet with their children. Ties were added decreased again when divorce occurs, in which he rarely met with his children.
Since a lot of Indonesian right now imitate the use of single last name in family as what valid in western culture that’s also happened in minangkabau family. If it happened we confront the name of someone from minangkabau let’s say ikhlas guci, sometimes it does not mean he is from suku (clan) guci, because it might be his father name is agus guci, he just adopt his father last name to be used in his last name as it is becoming trend in indonesian right now to use same last name. But his suku/clan might not be guci but something else such as chaniago how come? Because his mother is chanigo, remember in matrilineal culture suku/clan come from mother side, then of course agus guci can marry the girl from suku guci because the guci on agus name is just the last name not the suku/clan.

Sastra dan Batas-batas Bahasa

Sastra, kata William Henry Hudson dalam introduction to the study of Literature (1960), selalu menyumbangkan nilai positif bagi kemanusiaan. Itu karena anasir-anasir yang dicipta, bertalian erat dengan penikmatan ragawi dan ruhani manusia, seperti olah rasa, cipta dan karsa. Lewat kelembutan dan kehalusannya, lanjut Hudson, sastra mampu membangkitkan emosi luhur sekaligus menjembatani sifat fitrah manusia yang cinta akan keindahan.

Ketika hendak berkomunikasi dengan pembaca, sastra membutuhkan sarana atau mediasi, yaitu bahasa. Singkatnya, sastra mengguratkan hasil pencarian imajinasi itu dalam rangkaian kata, dan bahasa yang tertata amat indah. Maka, peran bahasa menurut Slamet Mulyana (1964), sangat vital dan tidak bisa dianggap sepele.

Pertanyaanya kemudian, apakah ada hubungan antara penguasaan bahasa, mutu bahasa dan apresiasi seseorang terhadap karya sastra? Tentu saja ada korelasi yang sangat signifikan. Sebab, kedalaman dan penguasaan bahasa seseorang akan memberinya kemudahan untuk menangkap pesan, pengetahuan, hiburan, atau ancaman yang dibawa teks (termasuk sastra), termasuk kemudahan menyampaikan pengetahuan itu pada orang lain. Maka, benar kata Seno Gumira Ajidarma (2007), bahwa bahasa itu menentukan corak berpikir tentang sesuatu, ekpresi imajinasi, dan pengetahuan seseorang. Singkatnya, bahasa adalah batas pengetahuan dan batas apresiasi budaya seseorang.

Fakta itu juga saya alami ketika menyimak Emha Ainun Najib (Cak Nun) membacakan karya sastra maupun orasi budaya yang disampaikan setiap malam tengah bulan. Demikian juga ketika mendengar Mustofa W Hasyim, Hamdy Salad, Indra Trenggono, Agus R Sarjono, Beni Setia dan sastrawan lainnya membaca karyanya. Para sastrawan dan penyair itu, karena penguasaan bahasa, mampu menangkap pesan teks-baik yang tersurat maupun tidak-secara apik, yang selanjutnya dikomunikasikan kepada audience sastra. Karena penguasaan bahasa pula, audience sekitar saya ada yang menangis terharu, gusar, atau hanya melongo (baca;tak tau apa-apa).

Dari analisa itu, tepat pendapat Slamet Mulyana bahwa besar kecilnya apresiasi masyarakat terhadap karya sastra ditentukan oleh penguasaan bahasa. Sayangnya, sistem pendidikan kita tidak menanamkan penguasaan keterampilan bahasa itu pada anak didik. Dus, guru lebih menekankan teori dan pengetahuan bahasa daripada mengutamakan keterampilan berbahasa. Dengan kata lain, pengajaran bahasa Indonesia cenderung membawa siswa belajar tentang bahasa daripada belajar berbahasa, aspek kognitif lebih diutamakan daripada aspek psikomotorik.

Kurikulum pengajaran bahasa, tulis St Kartono (2007), benar silih berganti, mulai dari Kurikulum 1975, 1984, 1994, hingga 2006. Namun demikian, pendekatan pembelajaran bahasa yang mendasari kurikulum itu belum beranjak dari pendekatan struktural menuju pendekatan komunikatif. Belum lagi keterbatasan alokasi waktu, di mana untuk SMA hanya disediakan waktu empat jam pelajaran tiap minggu. Bandingkan dengan pelajaran IPA, Matematika, Fisika dan ilmu-ilmu eksak lainnya. Anehnya, kurikulum itu dengan tegas mensyaratkan kenaikan kelas atau kelulusan dengan nilai bahasa Indonesia bukan merah.

Keterbatasan Bahasa

Problem pengajaran bahasa masih diperparah dengan kualitas bahasa Indonesia sendiri, ketika dipersandingkan dengan bahasa dunia lainya. Bahasa kita (Indonesia) tidak mampu menangkap dan menterjemahkan semua letupan atau "ujaran" sastra. Fenomena ini dikeluhkan hampir semua sastrawan kita, salah satunya Otto Sukatno CR (2007). Menurutnya, lantara sempitnya perbendaharaan kosokata bahasa Indonesia, sastrawan kita sering meminjam istilah bahasa asing. Akibatnya, produk sastra menjadi elitis karena maknanya hanya diketahui oleh orang-orang tertentu (yang paham bahasa lain). Produk sastra menjadi kehilangan pembacanya sehingga tidak banyak memberi kontribusi pada kehidupan manusia.

Keterbatasan bahasa kita, semakin terasa tatkala menterjemahkan karya sastra atau pemikiran bahasa lain (Inggris, Arab, Spanyol, Prancis, India dan sebagainya). Naskah asli misalnya hanya sekitar 100 lembar, tetapi begitu diterjemahkan menjadi 200 lembar atau lebih. Karena keterbatasan perbendaharaan koso kata pula, bahasa kita sering memenggal atau mendangkalkan rasa bahasa aslinya. Ketika membaca dan mengapresiasikan karya-karya besar semacam Wordsworth, Mahabarata, Ramayana dan Mary Shelley, mestinya hati kita akan takjub dan bergetar. Akan tetapi justru sebaliknya, karya besar itu terasa biasa-biasa saja dan tak mampu menggugah relung batin kita. Ini artinya, bahasa kita boros kata tetapi dangkal makna

Selain aspek pengajaran, problem bahasa juga tidak lepas dari peran politik dan kekuasaan. Pemerintah Orde Baru (orba) misalnya, sering menempatkan bahasa sebagai komuditi kekuasaan yang sering dipolitisi. Orba dengan sistem sentralistik dan totaliter, mengharuskan keseragaman di setiap lini kehidupan, termasuk bahasa. Maka, dikelurakanlah aturan baku penggunaan bahasa yang disebut dengan "Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan" (EYD). Di satu sisi, adanya peraturan yang ketat terhadap masuknya berbagai kosokata asing bertujuan meneguhkan identitas kebangsaan kita. Tetapi di sisi lain, aturan itu justru menyempitkan ruang apresiasi bahasa terhadap teks-teks sastra asing.

Tampaknya, tidak ada pilihan lain bagi kita selain terus membenahi model pengajaran dan kualitas bahasa Indonesia. Pertama, pengajaran bahasa harus menjadi proses pembiasaan berbahasa yang baik dan benar. Para guru harus menjadi teladan bagi anak didiknya dalam penguasaan keterampilan berbahasa. Sebab, kebiasaan berbahasa anak didik hanya dapat dibentuk dalam suasana disiplin para guru bahasa Indonesia itu sendiri. Maka, para guru bahasa harus mempunyai kebiasaan membaca, terbuka dengan pemikiran baru, dan membiasakan menulis, sehingga merangsang siswa untuk melakukan hal yang sama. Singkatnya, para guru bahasa Indonesia tidak sekadar sebagai pengajar, tetapi juga menempatkan diri sebagai pendidik yang membangun kebiasaan berbahasa para siswanya.

Kedua, adanya kebijakan pemerintah yang memberi kebebasan bagi para pakar bahasa untuk mengkaji dan meneliti unsur-unsur kebudayaan kita sehingga menemukan istilah-istilah, padanan kata atau kosokata yang bisa menterjemahkan berbagai simbol bahasa di dunia.

Jika bahasa kita tidak terus berbenah, dia tidak akan sanggup menterjemahkan simbol-simbol bahasa dunia, dan dengan demikian tidak akan menjadi alat komunikasi yang efektif. Hanya dengan berbendaharaan kosokata yang lengkap, dan memiliki rasa yang baik atau paling tidak mendekati bahasa aslinya. Hanya dengan itu, penghayatan kita terhadap dunia sastra-yang selalu menggunakan mediasi bahasa-bisa lebih holistik, mendalam dan universal, sehingga bisa semakin memperkokoh peradaban bangsa ini. Semoga. ***