Death: In Minang Tradition

It has been a long time since I wanted to write about it. But I haven’t come to a funeral of my minang’s family member also for a long time. It was when my grandmother died when I was just enter  myself as a college student. At that moment, I saw someone else’s death is more than a mourn but the spirit of helping to each other.

 

Decoration

Death and decoration? Sounds not match to you, huh?Well, this is why I love it. When somebody died, the room where the body lied was covered by the same fabricue that we used for weddings. Not just the wall but also the roof. And the dominant color for minang’s wedding is black. You might think it will be unsuitable because we use lots of gold ribbon and glass deco which would make a blink-blink effect. But actually when my mom explained the reason, I got the point. That death is a glory path of human being, just like a birth. They whose has died has returned to the Owner, God. It’s a celebration of life.

Well of course, it’s only happen for the high family. The higher class is, the more beautiful the fabricues are.  

 

The Donation

Unlike what I used to see here in Jakarta, we have rules and manner about what to bring when you went into the mourn family’s member house. We call it ‘takziah’. It means we come to the mourn house after the funeral. And to go there we need to bring at least, uncooked rice or ketan with eggs. And the eggs should be 5 or 7 or maybe 9.  We usually would bring it in a large can plate and cover it with wide white napkin or ‘kucuik’. if you want to improve your donation then you may bring a chicken. In the old times, at least when my granny died, people would bring a living chicken. Yup, in one week my house were full of chicken. But now there are some improvement, you may cook it first.

Why is it matter? Well, it’s because the mourn family are not allowed to cook or to go to the market. The old people said, “don’t let a smoke come out of the mourn house.” At least for a week. That is why, the neighbours would come and bring them food. This donation needs to be payed back. There are certain numbers of money to give if you bring living chicken or the cooked one. At least half of the real price. Let’s say a thank you fee. So, if the neighbourhood in Jakarta would wait for the next tahlil and besek (other than to pray), the minang’s family do the other way J.

 

The Place

Where do we go for takziah? Because we are mathriarchy, we would come to the oldest sister or the oldest daughter of the death. Not the husband, not the oldest brother, ladies only. It’s quite a problem when the person died in Padang and we lives in Jakarta, and in order to find the closest female relatives we even go to the cousins, although her son lives in Jakarta. What an irony. But it’s true. That is why, to have a daughter in minang’s family is a way to keep your family close.

 

That’s all I know about death in minang’s tradition. I hope I don't miss anything.

And when I dreamed about my Aceh’s wedding when I was a kid, now I dreamed myself lying there breathlessly under the blink-blink and the sewing of two tigers. And may I died peacefully.