A Tabuik is the local manifestation of the Remembrance of Muharram among the Minangkabau people in the coastal regions of

West Sumatra West Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. The province has an area of , with a population of 5,534,472 at the 2020 cen ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, particularly in the city of Pariaman.

History

A "''tabuik''" also refers to the towering funeral

bier A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave.''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., New York, ...

s carried around during the remembrance procession, and is similar in form to several of the indigenous cultures'

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan ...

s found in the old world Western cultures. The practice of throwing a tabuik into the sea has taken place every year in Pariaman on the 10th of Muharram since 1831. The practice was introduced to the region by the Shi'ite Muslim ''

sepoy ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...

'' troops from

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

who were stationed—and later settled—there during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Q ...

The events

The festival includes reenactments of the

Battle of Karbala The Battle of Karbala ( ar, مَعْرَكَة كَرْبَلَاء) was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad Caliph Yazid I and a small army led by Husa ...

, and the playing of tassa and

dhol Dhol (IPA: ) can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily includes nor ...

drums. Although originally a Shi'a festival, nowadays most inhabitants of Pariaman and other southeastern Asia areas hold similar festivals which are even celebrated by non-Muslims.

The remembrance bier

The remembrance is referred to as ''Tabut'' or ''Tabot'' in

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesia ...

. (Tabut is the name given in the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...

for The

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an ...

.) In preparation for the ceremony, one or more tabuiks are made from

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed- canopy old-growth tropical forest ...

, and paper. During the week of Tabuik, activities include kite races, traditional plays, and dance expositions (such as the '' Tari Piring''). The memorial draws a large crowd including dignitaries such as the provincial governor. Visitors and celebrants can observe the tabuik in the morning before it is slowly taken to the beach in a procession. At noon the tabuik is thrown into the sea. Afterwards, many people go swimming creating 'memories' of the tabuik to keep.

Gallery

File:Tabuik di Pariaman, Sumatra Barat.jpg, 2018 File:Tabuik Pekanbaru.JPG File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Tabut-feest TMnr 60046750.jpg, 1915 or 1935 File:Budaya dan Tradisi di Sumbar (2).jpg

References

External links