:: West Sumatra - The Minangkabau Travel Guides ::
The
Minangkabau people live in the province of West Sumatra,
Indonesia. They are gifted with a unique culture that
sets them apart from any other people in the
world. A
traditional Minangkabau style roof
When you travel throughout the land of the Minangkabau,
you see various traditional Minangkabau houses which
have the shape of a buffalo's horns. Similarly,
Minangkabau-style hats also have this shape of the
buffalo's horns. There is a legend about the origin of
the Minangkabau which explains this interesting
traditional style.
According to legend, once there was a disagreement
between the Minangkabau people and the Javanese. Rather
than involve themselves in a war, however, which would
cause much needless bloodshed, the two peoples agreed
upon having a fight between their buffalos. The Javanese
had a huge, strong buffalo, fierce, and powerful. On the
other hand, the Minangkabau people had a small calf. The
Javanese were confident that their huge, powerful
buffalo would easily defeat this tiny calf. How could a
tiny calf beat a huge, ferocious buffalo? What the
Minangkabau did was they took the calf away from its
mother, and did not feed it any milk for a several days
before the big fight. Just before the fight, they
attached sharp, iron knives to the tip of their calf's
horns. As the buffalo and the tiny calf
were let into
the ring, the calf, starving of milk, saw the buffalo,
and thought it was its mother. Hurriedly, the calf went
to the underside of the buffalo, looking for milk. As it
did so, the sharp knives on the calf's horns pierced the
under-belly of the huge buffalo. The huge buffalo was
killed, and the Minangkabau won the war. This is how the
Minangkabau got their name, according to legend, for
"minang" means "victory," and "kabau" means "caribou" or
"water buffalo" in the Minangkabau language. This is
also the source of those buffalo's horn-shaped rooves
and hats of the Minangkabau people. Because of stories
such as this, the Minangkabau people are known for their
cleverness. The story also symbolizes the strength of
the more nurturing system of the Minangkabau culture,
represented by the calf looking for its mother's milk,
which is able to defeat a more brutish system which on
the outside appears strong, represented by the buffalo.
Perhaps the best known fact about the Minangkabau is
their matrilineal cultural tradition. The Minangkabau
are, In fact, the world's largest matrilineal group. In
this tradition, the family name is not passed down from
the father to his children, as it is in most cultures.
Instead, the family name is inherited from the mother.
Furthermore, inheritance continues through the
generations from mother to daughter. This is especia
lly
true of the ancestral home, which remains the property
of the Minangkabau women. Due to their matrilineal
culture, Minangkabau women play an important role in the
leadership and decision-making process of the
traditional village government.
Another interesting aspect of Minangkabau culture is the
religion of Islam. The traditional way of inheritance in
Islam is from the father to both sons and daughters. The
Minangkabau tradition of inheritance therefore clashes
with the general Islamic understanding regarding
inheritance. The Minangkabau have solved this problem by
finding a middle ground between the traditional
Minangkabau inheritance system, and the one prescribed
by Islam. In this system, some items (such as the
ancestral home) are passed down from mother to her
daughters, while other items follow the traditional
Islamic method of inheritance. The family name continues
to be passed from the mother to both her daughters and
sons. In this way, the Minangkabau have managed to keep
their culture, and yet continue to be known throughout
Indonesia as strong Muslims.
Within Indonesia, the Minangkabau people are well-known
to be good businessmen. This comes partly from
Minangkabau culture. In Minangkabau culture, a young man
has to leave his house to seek his fortune. Thus, young
Minangkabau men are, according to
traditional customs,
put in a "make or break" situation, they have to succeed
or they cannot support themselves. Once they succeed in
their business, these Minangkabau men send money home
back to their families and usually return to their
village to live in their wife's house or bring their
wife to their home away from home. This is one of the
reasons why, throughout Indonesia and even now some
parts of the rest of the world, you can find traditional Padang-style Minangkabau restaurants, serving food in a
Minangkabau style. You will also find the many
Minangkabau as both small and large merchants all over
Indonesia.
The Minangkabau have a fascinating history and culture.
Why not visit West Sumatra and sample Minangkabau
hospitality for yourself?
Come and Discover Indonesia Islands with us!
