A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ABOUT CUSTOM OF
KARO PEOPLE IN BUMI TURANG, KARO LAND
WRITTEN BY:
HANNA MEYTI BR SITEPU
3.21.11.0003
ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
AKI UNIVERSITY
SEMARANG 2014
A.
About
Karo Land
Karo
Land is a regency in North Sumatera highland which the capital city is
Kabanjahe. For this land is in high land, so the weather is cold and fresh. The
majority of the livelihood of the society are being farmer. The agricultural
products of Karo land are vegetables, fruits and kinds of flowers. The most
popular product was orange fruit, which was called “Jeruk Medan”, but several recent years this product is not as much
as before.
Karo people is known as friendly people. For Karo people, virtually every
social relationship, even a chance encounter between strangers at the market,
is conducted according to the principles of kinship. Upon meeting, two
previously unacquainted Karo people will establish a kin relation to one
another through the process of mutual interrogation known as ertutur. Each in turn asks for the
other’s paternal (merga for men and beru for women) and maternal (bebere), clan and sub clan
affiliations, home village, and in the case of a married woman, her husband’s
clan. By tracing known, and often quite distant, relationship with agnatic and
affinal kin, Karonese can usually discover person.
Bumi Turang is used to call Karo land.
It is caused by the custom of Karo people who use turang to call the person that they have not known (to their opposite
gender). Turang means brother or
sister. It will be more polite if a young man call “turang” for a young woman that they haven’t known each other. If
they want to know more each other, they usually introduce their self that in
Karo called “ertutur”.
B.
Karo
People Activities and Custom
Karo
people have some unique activities and custom. So, in this paper the writer is
going to give a brief description of them.
1.
Kerja Tahun or Merdang Merdem (Yearly Party)
Kerja Tahun
or Merdang Merdem is Karo traditional
party. Kerja in English means party. It is usually held once a year. In the
past, this party was celebrated as the form as thanksgiving to the Beraspati
gods, for him to bless the agricultural activities of Karo people. Sembiring
(1992) states that “Kerja tahun adalah suatu bentuk
ritual atau upacara penyembahan kepada Sang Pencipta atau Beraspati Taneh (dewa
yang berkuasa atas tanah menurut agama Pemena atau agama asli suku Karo) yang
bertujuan menyukseskan setiap tahapan aktivitas pertanian dan manifestasi dari
harapan akan hasil panen yang berlimpah”.
Nowadays,
Kerja Tahun has different application
as before. Karo people celebrate this party as the gathering to their family.
So, the family who lived in difference town will meet when the time of Merdang Merdem is coming. The time of
the party also different each villages or sub-districts. In some villages, it
usually celebrated on January, April, June, July, August and October. It is
depend on the deal of each sub-district government and the custom figures.
In
Kerja Tahun, we have some activities. In the past, Karo people celebrated Kerja
Tahun for a week. It means that we have several activities during the party.The
festival lasts six days, with a seventh day of rest.
The
first day: Cikor-kor - the
participants search for “kor-kor”, a specific insect found in the
soil under trees. These are eaten. The
second day: Cikurung - the
participants search for 'kurung',
animals of the rice fields. These are also eaten. The third day: Ndurung - the participants search for 'nurung', fish of the rice field or river
(no specific species of fish, just whatever happens to be found). These too are
eaten. The fourth day: Mantem - 'slaughter' - livestock such as
pigs, buffalo, and cows are slaughtered. These are eaten
as the main menu. The fifth day: Matana - the main day of celebration. Following four days of
feasting, matana is the day for music
and dancing. Gendang
Guro-guro Aron music is performed, and the perkolong-kolong sing. The perkolong-kolong are skilled male and
female singers who perform Karonese music facing each other, often making jokes
in between songs. After the perkolong-kolong
have performed, couples (married couples with their spouses, and those who are
not yet married with their impal) from each of the five
Karo clans (merga silima) dance in the same manner.
The
sixth day: Nimpa - cimpa cakes are prepared and consumed. Cimpa is Karonese traditional food made by glutinous rice powder,
with palm sugar and coconut jell inside. The cake will be wrapped in singkut leaf. In some villages, Karo
people prepare Lemang as the food,
not cimpa. Lemang is Karonese
traditional food made of glutinous rice, and it will baked in bamboo. The
seventh day, Rebu
- the day of rest. 'Rebu' meaning 'do
not greet'. People stay at home after the six days of celebration, work is
prohibited, and people are not allowed to talk to certain of their in-laws.
The
explanation above are some activities during Merdang Merdem. The writer has told that Kerja Tahun has different application in this modern era. Nowadays,
this party is celebrated in two days only, mantem/motong
and matana. In the first day, mantem, the people prepare all the food
that should be served. Especially slaughter the pigs and cows. The family or
guests usually come start from in the evening of the first day through the
second day. Gendang Guro Guro Aron
also started in the first day, in the evening. It will continued in the second
day, matana. In the second day, Karo
people also make cimpa or Lemang.
2. Ndurung
As
the writer has described above, that ndurung
is the activity of searching for nurung
or fish in rice field or river. In the past, most of Karo people loved ndurung. They tried to find fish in rice
field or river. But nowadays, this activity is not as popular as before. It may
be caused by the some factors such as: the rice filed is not as much as in the
past, it is easy to find the fish seller in the market, the Karonese in this
time have more kinds of occupation, not like in the past, that most of Karonese
were farmers.
IMAGES ATTACHMENT
a.
Lemang, Karonese traditional food
b.
Cimpa, Karonese traditional food
c.
Dancing in Gendang Guro Guro Aron, in
Kerja Tahun
d.
Ndurung
Ja ka kin kena ndurung ena bi???
BalasHapuscekdam lah.. hahahaha :D
BalasHapus