Minangkabau (people)

Agriculture

The people of an ancient landowning culture based on rice cultivation . The cultivation process is common for Indonesians, they use a herd of buffalo or bulls to till the soil, driving it around the field from place to place. Weed the woman’s crops. For harvesting a group of relatives is united, then the hosts organize a holiday for those participating in the harvest ^[5] .

Landing rice planted millet , millet , sugarcane , legumes, corn and tobacco , some garden crops - sweet potato , cabbage, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkin, eggplant, peanuts. Ladang is arranged in a slash-fire way.

Widespread fruit breeding, banana, coconut, mango groves, gardens of coffee, pepper and cinnamon trees, planting betel palm and gambir. Export crops - coffee, tobacco and cloves, rubber plants and oilseeds ^[6] .

Livestock

The main domestic animals are bulls and buffaloes, horses, small livestock - goats; bred chickens, geese and ducks. On the coast they are engaged in sea fishing , they also catch in rivers, streams, lakes; except for fish, they catch crabs, shrimp and shellfish. Caught with the help of a net, tops, fishing rods. In the past, river blocking, stupefying with plant poison were used, now it is prohibited. Hunting plays an insignificant role, only in the north and southeast, in the jungle area. Hunting wild pigs with dogs, deer and tigers, using bamboo pens, traps, hunting pits; wild honey collection is common ^[6] .

Crafts

Highly developed crafts. Spinning , weaving , dressing of gold and silver brocade, women’s activities. Dyeing yarn, weaving lace and embroidery with gold thread. Metal work - blacksmithing , casting , chasing , jewelry - traditional crafts of Minangkebau. Weaving is widespread, in almost every village women make dishes themselves, male crafts are developed - leather dressing, twisting of ropes, mining of gold by a hard-working method. Cooking palm oil , processing tobacco, cooking cane and palm sugar, burning lime - an occupation of both sexes ^[7] .

Industry

The industry of the west coast of Sumatra is associated with the processing of ore and agricultural raw materials, the production of building materials. Since 1986, coal mining has begun in the Sahalunto area.

There is a constant exchange of goods between communities ^[8] .

The usual name for the village is “ koto ”. There are temporary settlements for workers - “ tarata ”. An ordinary village consists of several blocks inhabited by relatives, the whole village is surrounded by a moat. Expanding, which goes beyond the borders and gets the name " Nagari ", where there are public buildings that are formed near the market square. All buildings have special features. The house is frame, rectangular, up to 2 m in height. The houses of rich people are brightly painted in red or white, black. The main furniture is mats and low tables, common utensils are clay pots, metal utensils, chests with clothes ^[9] .

The largest cities in which the Minangkabau make up the absolute or relative majority of the population are Padang , Pakanbaru , Bukittingi ^[10] .

The main food is rice , as well as fish, meat, fruits. The sour milk of buffalo, flavored with salt and onion, serves as a seasoning for rice; grasshoppers and flying ants also eat it. A festive treat - fried chicken, duck, pigeon, eggs of hens and ducks. Betel chew, only men smoke, drink little alcohol, only ragas - a kind of rice vodka or tuak - fermented palm juice. Food is laid out on palm leaves ^[11] .

Men usually wear knee- high or sarong pants. Everyday clothes - a jacket, a scarf over the left shoulder, a piece of headgear - a piece of patterned fabric. Shoes for officials and intelligentsia, the man’s hair is cut short. Haji, on top of their long white underwear, put on a white robe with a blank collar, wear a turban .

Women's clothing - cain or sarong , a badge of a baju and a shawl - a salanddang . Hair is placed in the back of the head or in a knot. They wear bracelets, rings, metal plates, carry boxes and bags for betel . Until the 19th century, the practice of sawing and blackening of teeth was widespread ^[8] .

The basis of social culture is an autonomous village community - nagari . Each inhabitant of the nagari has the right to raise virgin lands, but with the permission of the nagari council, land within the community is distributed within kinship groups. Nagari is governed by an elected council, the council is headed by the Wali Nagari , all of whom receive payment from the community. Usually, the richest in the community wali ^[12] .

In the social organization of Minangkabau, a maternal-breeding structure is traced, the organization of mating settlements is matrilocally , the entire population of nagar belongs to one of four females - overgrown maternal births originating from legendary ancestors. The bitch and its campus divisions have their posts - elder, religious and adherent counselors . A further division of the kempung - sabuah pariah or pariah - a group consisting of five generations from the female line from the real ancestress. Kempung is the main agricultural unit within the community and, together with their husbands, is a large matrilineal family . It breaks up into Jurai , including three to four generations. The last group is samandai , that is, a mother with her children ^[13] .

Important issues of life Jurai are usually discussed at the family council, which consists of all adult members of the family. One of the basic rules of life in the patrimonial groups and throughout the community is the principle of mutual assistance, provided on the basis of descent ^[14] .

The marriage proposal comes from the bride's family, litter and levirate are common , betrothal can occur in childhood. The pre-wedding ceremony is performed by the imam . The last day is the most solemn, all relatives gather in the bride’s house, slaughtered for a buffalo treat. The most solemn moment is that young people eat food from one dish, they are sprinkled with rice as a sign of a wish for large families.

After marriage, a man spends nights in his wife’s house, but the man’s relationship with his blood relatives is very close, as he has great responsibilities towards his nephews. In the event of a divorce, the children remain with their mother, property is shared ^[15] .

Childbirth occurs in the front common room, from where all men are removed, the newborn’s head is shaved, leaving a tuft of hair, it is believed that it protects the child from evil spirits. Circumcision (sunat rasul) is done to boys no earlier than 10 years. At 15, the boy becomes an adult and gets the right to marry.

In the event of death, relatives of the deceased on the mother’s side wash the body, wrap it in white cloth and put valuables nearby. A cemetery is arranged near the village, each bitch has its own plot ^[16] .

Kinship terminology is of the Malay type, the prohibition of a personal name is widespread ^[17] .

There are many Muslims among the Minangkabau. At the head of the Muslims Nagari is the Qadi . The imam watches the mosque, the khatib gives sermons, the bilal calls for prayer, the garim serves in the mosque, they all live on donations.

Under the Muslim shell, ancient beliefs mixed with Hindu influences still live. A large role in the past was played by magic that persisted in the villages and now, all actions are performed by the dukun . There is faith in werewolves and reincarnation ^[18] .

Oral and written literature is very rich (tales of animals, lyrical pantoons, riddles). Minangkabau kaba - large works of the heroic-adventure plan, stories about the emergence of individual soot deposits interspersed with Indian epic and Arabic literature are very popular.

In modern times, such writers are known as Abdul Muis - the founder of the Indonesian novel, Marah Rusli , Mohammad Rajab - writer, historian and public figure, Asrul Sani - by origin of the Minangkabau ^[19] .

Traditions are often recited at folk festivals, the most famous of musical instruments being tambourines , drums , flutes , bamboo flutes (saluang).

Dance art is diverse, in ancient times only men danced, now women too. At the holidays, women dance an elegant dance with plates with burning candles. Dancing with lamps, bells tied to the legs is popular. Games are widely spread - cockfights , pigeon and quail battles , card games, ball games woven from rattan, play chess and checkers ^[15] .

• Maretin Yu. V. Peoples of the world. Ethnographic essays: Peoples of Southeast Asia / Ed. A. A. Guber . - M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR , 1966. - S. 502-511.
• Maretin Yu. V. Minangkabau community and its decomposition (first third of the 20th century). - TIE, t. 73. - M .: 1961. - S. 41-58.
• Maretin Yu. V. Adat, Islam and the political struggle at the Minangkabau in the first half of the 20th century // Soviet Ethnography . 1964. No. 6. - S. 18-29.
• Maretin Yu. V. Withering away of maternal survivals in family-marriage relations of the Minangkabau // "Soviet Ethnography". 1960. No. 3. - S. 6-17.
• Yakhontov S. E. On the classification of languages ​​of Southeast Asia // Countries and peoples of the East. 1973. Issue Xv. S. 303.
• Kondrashkina E. A. Indonesia: language situation and language policy. - M .: Nauka , 1986. - S. 71-83.

• Visiting Minangkabau (Russian)
• Minangkabau (Russian)
• Indonesian languages (Russian)