29 Oct 2015
With this tradition, the people of Minangkabau are considered to be a prime example of the diversity and richness of Indonesian traditions
Unlike most other societies, the Minangkabau people use the matrilineal system of kinship, meaning women have greater power in both family and society. Mothers are considered the head of the traditional Minang family; inheritance is passed on from mother to daughter. In other words, as the leader of the family, she has the responsibility to lead the course of the family, and thus often become the breadwinner.
Women in Minangkabau are highly respected as family leader, especially in their role as bunda kanduang. In a family discussion or musyawarah, she will be the one giving final approval. For example, to use the family’s wealth for a wedding or other occasions, the family must ask for her agreement.
In general, women will determine the line of kinship as the name of the family will pass on only for daughters, as sons will follow his wife’s family after he is married. Women will also be responsible for the community house or usually called rumah gadang. She will make sure this house is well preserved and well maintained.
A Minangkabau lady perfoming Tari Piring or the Plate Dance. (Photo source: gosumatra.com)A Minangkabau lady perfoming Tari Piring or the Plate Dance. (Photo source: gosumatra.com)
From an economic standpoint, she will take care of all economic source of the family such as land, paddy fields, etc. She must ensure the productivity of the field and keep the surpluses for the greater good of the community. There is an old Minangkabau proverb that goes: “Umbun puruak pegangan kunci, umbun puruak alunan bunian.” It more or less means that women is the key of family wealth and inheritance.
However, those roles notwithstanding, she still is a mother. She must prepare the family’s future generation, to make sure all of her offspring receive good education. Religious education is particularly important; as most Minangkabau traditions are derived from Islam, children are required to understand the basic principles of the religion.
She must prepare her daughters as the future leader of the family. Meanwhile, her sons will be taught religion and the martial art silat, which he will learn from one rumah gadang to another. This type of education will lead to another Minangkabau tradition, merantau: the act of moving someplace else for work.
These roles and responsibilities lead to Minangkabau women to be seen as feminists, unlike in other parts of Indonesia. With this tradition, the people of Minangkabau are considered to be a prime example of the diversity and richness of Indonesian traditions.
Taken from HERE.
As an Indonesian, it is always intriguing to see how cultures in the archipelago can contrast each other so much. Some cultures, like the Aceh, could be so patrilineal, whilst the Minang is matrilineal. All of this made me wonder about what factors can cause one society to be either patrilineal or matrilineal? What causes a society to shift power to either gender? A hypothesis by Engels in his book “Origins of the Family and the State” is the idea that it all depends on the means of production of a society, and which gender can contribute to it the most. For example, the productivity of an agricultural society depends on the amount of people that can work the fields, and the amount of productive people who can work the fields is dependent on the number of births, and in this case, the supremacy of women is apparent. This dependency on births also leaves men to be deemed expendable, because if the majority of men died in a society, 1 man can impregnate as many women as he can and regrow the population, whilst if there is only 1 woman for many men, there can only be 1 birth at a time. Pastoral societies depend on the amount of people can herd their animals and protect them, and in this regard women is inferior, causing power to shift to men.
ReplyDeleteI find this topic very interesting because unlike most other societies, the Minangkabau people use the matrilineal system which a kinship system where the tracing of descent is through the female line. Because of this, in a Minangkabau household it is the mother who is the leader of the family instead of the father. It is common in Minangkabau society for the female family to propose instead of the other way around and it is also the female who gives dowry to the male. After marriage, the male usually move into the bride’s home and their children will follow the mother’s bloodline. Furthermore, women in Minangabau society are highly respected and they have a lot of responsibilities. For example, in a family discussion, the female as bundo kanduang will have the final say and she will be the one giving approval. Due to this, Minangkabau women are seen as feminists and the Minangkabau tradition in general shows the rich culture and traditions in Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteMatrilineal by definition is the system of kinship that refers to the mother line.All children's names are entitled to their mother,grandmother,great grandmother clan or group.The head of this clan is called "datuk", the elder brother of the mother.The "datuk" is responsible for taking care his sisters' children.Thus,two figures have the same authority and power.
ReplyDeleteThe women or called "Bundo Kanduang"in Minangkabau Ethnic has legal authority on the land,building,plantation,rice field,and other family assets and the "datuk" has the power to control and save guard of all natural and human assets. If the women want to sell one of those assets,she should get the agreement from the head of the clan (datuk).On the way around, datuk should file the women approvement before selling one of the family assets.The women also has undeniable responsibility to her datuk when he needs help she will give a helping hand.Even when the datuk passes away,she always takes the body of the datuk to her clan funeral. In the funeral site,her eldest son will be sworn as the successor of the datuk.A week after the funeral,a formal ceremony or function will be held to announce to the public that the new datuk has be sworn.
It is more interesting to find out that the"datuk" is also responsible for teaching self defence (silat) and Qur'an the holly book for Muslim to his sisters' sons and daughters.He will find out well known Silat coach for them and it is usually done during the school holiday.It is given to them as the preparation before doing Merantau or self-migration after high school.To the daughters, her mother prepares them with cooking skill and teaches them the famous food of Rendang.It is not surprising to see that so many Padang Restaurants all over Indonesia even abroad.
Therefore,it is very interesting to learn different ethnic groups entities in Indonesia.