Paying your last respects in the Batak, Minang ways

The Jakarta Post   |  Sat, 02/21/2009 12:49 PM  |  City

Some people were engaged in a festive occasion at a house in Tangerang.

They were all dressed up, with the women wearing traditional kebaya and the men wearing tuxedos. They also wore ulos, the traditional cloth of the Batak ethnic group from North Sumatra.

While some of them chatted and drank in the yard, the others gathered in the main room to chant traditional Batak songs.

The people were not attending a party or a family gathering, but a funeral ceremony.
They did not shed tears.

The remains of the house’s owner were lying in a coffin in the middle of the main room, surrounded by family, friends and relatives, who were singing, dancing and praying for the deceased.

“Death is happiness, a blessing from God,” said Bahruar Sirait, a close relative of the deceased, leading the ceremony.

“It is not the end of your life, but it is the way toward an eternal life.

“The deceased is now on his way to the heaven, to the lap of Jesus Christ. We must be sure that we will meet him again one day. God bless him,” he told the attendees.

The attendees took part in a series of rituals called paborhathon (a ceremony to dispatch the remains from home), which was held hours before the body was taken to the cemetery.

Funeral party: A caretaker and a family member pay their last respects at a Batak funeral. Batak people believe that when a man with grandchildren and all of his children married dies, it is cause for celebration. JP/Desy Nurhayati

Under Batak traditions, Bahruar said, such a ceremony is only held for saurmatua — someone who has grandchildren and with all of their children are married.

“The demise of saurmatua is not mourned by the family. Instead, they are grateful because God has called him to heaven,” Bahruar said.

“The farewell is indeed sad, but we should not get drowned by such feelings for too long.”

As part of the ritual, the family usually provides a slaughtered buffalo, ox or pig, depending on the family’s wealth. Slices of the animal are then distributed to relatives.

The ritual ends with relatives paying their last tribute to the deceased by performing a traditional song and dance around the coffin.

The people wiped their eyes as the corpse was taken from the house to the church for a religious ceremony, before being buried.

The party was over.

Similar to the Batak, the Minangkabau people from West Sumatra have a way of paying tribute to the passing of high-ranking persons called datuk.

“We usually hold a certain ceremony to escort the deceased to the graveyard,” said Farhan Datuk Bagindo from the Rumah Gadang Foundation, a Minangkabau community in Jakarta.

“And at the same ceremony, we also inaugurate the new datuk to replace the deceased one,” he said.

As a Jakarta-based group of Minangkabau people, Rumah Gadang also provides memorial services for any West Sumatran who dies in the capital. This service has been running for 20 years.

“There are around two million Minangkabau people living in Jakarta, and they all know that we provide the service,” Farhan said.

“They can count on us to take care of their deceased if any of their family members pass away.

“This service is actually free, but we usually ask the family of the deceased to donate some money.

“But they do not have to pay if they are poor,” he said, adding that the foundation usually receive donations from well-off members.

He said the money was used to pay officers who conducted the service, as well as to buy funeral equipment, including kafan fabric to cover up the remains.

However, the free service did not include burial.

“We are only responsible for taking care of the body before it is buried,” Farhan said.
It is the family’s responsibility to provide the cemetery and pay for the burial.

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