Witnessing a Rare Event

Jan Miyake, Installation of New Lineage Head, 18.01.14

During our stay in West Sumatra, we were invited to witness a rare event: the installation of a new pangulu (head of a lineage line) in the village of Paninjauan. Within a lineage, this event typically occurs once every 30 or 40 years. Our invitation to this event provided us with a rare opportunity to see how various art forms function within their communities. We stayed in the village from 9am that morning through 2pm ish that afternoon, viewing and participating in celebratory talempong, silek galombang (self-defense greeting for honored figures), and multiple processions accompanied by gandang tambua (a local style of drumming).

The morning started with a greeting of the elders, more than two dozen of them. Each time an elder entered the room, we (who were the only guests in the room) stood and greeted them. Since we were seated Indonesian style on the ground with crossed legs for the men and legs tucked beside us for the women, we got a lot of practice getting in and out of these less familiar sitting positions. The elders are heads of other lineage lines and religious leaders from this village and the other three villages in the nagari (the unit of Minangkabau governance consisting of a formal consortion of villages). Ediwar, who also teaches at the prestigious ISI in nearby Padang Panjang (a college institution focusing on Indonesian arts), helped explain to us what was happening up until the formal ritual greetings started. These took a long time compared to American experiences. Everyone (elders and Obies) politely hung out, the elders smoking a lot of cigarettes, and sometimes chatting softly.

After the ritual greetings concluded, we joined the procession down the hill to the home of someone in Ediwar's family, where the elders sat in what I would describe as a living room with all furniture moved out. Mattresses lined the walls, the floor was covered with rugs, and the walls draped with colorful ceremonial hangings. There were several windows and door frames from which to view the goings on, but to someone who didn't speak the language, watching this part was a little baffling. Visually, the most striking elements were very large plates of ceremonial rice and all of the elders in their ceremonial garb crammed into this room, which quickly grew hazy with smoke.

The Oberlin crowd hung out with everyone else in the covered area just outside this room. We played with the children, chatted quietly, and got to know a few of the other guests. Late in the morning, one of the women who plays talempong motioned to me that something was happening in the main room. I went to a window and witnessed the opening of a package with a towel-shaped white cloth in it. Two elders twisted this cloth into a long band and then tied it in a circle to be worn on the head. This headpiece was placed on Ediwar's head. Then oaths were taken in the style of an elder reading some text and Ediwar repeating it. Finally, documents were signed. In multiple copies....

After this we ate lunch, a wonderful collection of Minang food. The talempong played celebratory music, inviting us to play several of the instruments, and the women we displaced, who we affectionately call "the grandmas," started to teach us how to dance to the music. More and more people joined in on the dancing until the tunes finished.

We ended our participation in the day by joining the procession back up the hill accompanied by the ceremonial rice and other offerings carried atop the heads of women and the sounds of drums, and, of course, taking a picture. While a long and hot day, we were all well aware of the special opportunity that we had been given!

 

 

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