The Mentawai culture is among the oldest in Indonesia. It continues to flourish, fostered by the indigenous Mentawai as best as is possible, particularly by the sikerei (traditional healers and community leaders) in the forests of Siberut Island, West Sumatra.

As cultural guardians of Mentawai, sikerei serve a role as the spiritual leaders of arat sabulungan, a local belief in the supreme soul, and perform related tasks such as communicating with the spirit world, facilitating healing and or spiritual rituals that include song and dance, providing herbal medicines and marking the body with hand-tapped tattoos that are divined according to the role a person is to play in society.

The remaining features of the original Mentawai culture, found only in the interior hamlets of Siberut, represent that which has managed to survive the systematic destruction brought about by the government, modern religious propagation and waves of migration and tourism, from the colonial times of the 1900s through to the New Order of the 1990s and today.

Aim and shoot: Traditional bowmen from various islands in Mentawai shoot arrows at targets. The Mentawai people use archery to hunt for food, some poison is applied for this purpose.

Over the years, in an effort to drag the Mentawai peoples up to a modern standard of living in accordance with national government ideals, sikerei were imprisoned, ceremonies were prohibited, tattoos were banned, ritual tools were burned, and male long hair cut off. This treatment, as had been intended, resulted in the disappearance of many elements of genuine culture among the Mentawai Islands of Sipora, North Pagai and South Pagai, and Siberut.

Although the introduction of modern life has irrevocably changed aspects of the local culture and transformed many communities, after the reform period, Mentawai people were left with more freedom to perform rituals.

Elements of Mentawai’s remaining traditions were showcased at the Mentawai Fascination Festival 2016 on Mapadegat Beach, Tuapeijat, Sipora, from April 19 to 22. Sikerei from several hamlets on Siberut Island performed at the festival, arranged by the Ministry of Tourism in cooperation with the Culture and Tourism Office of Mentawai Islands regency.

The festival was officially opened with a “spirit removal ritual” dance, a local spiritual blessing, followed by a sago processing demonstration in a nearby sago field and a traditional tattoo — a sun symbol — was hand-tapped by sikerei on the lower shoulders of three volunteers.

Delegates from across Mentawai, including Sikerei, participated in a friendly archery competition with traditional bows and arrows, as well as Mentawai song and dance contest.

Ready to dance: Sikerei from Peipei hamlet, Taileleu village, southwest Siberut, get ready to dance on the stage during the Mentawai Fascination Festival 2016 on Mapadegat Beach, Tuapeijat, Sipora, from April 19 to 22.

—Photos by JP/ Syofiardi Bachyul Jb