References

- http://go2travelmalaysia.com/tour_malaysia/ns_historical.htm

Difference between Minangkabau in Sumatera and Negeri Sembilan ( PART 3 )

In Negeri Sembilan, the Minangkabau descendants are still holding fast to Perpatih tradition that was subscribed to and practiced by their ancestors (Dom [21]). These houses (figure 8) that are passed on through generations remain to this day and exist around traditional villages in Negeri Sembilan located at upstream and along the rivers found (Idrus [19]) The houses that are still embellished with traditions can be found in districts of Rembau, Kuala Pilah and small parts in Tampin (figure 9). These houses place emphasis more on the verandah, leaving few areas for room spaces. This is the opposite of the house in Western Sumatera.
 

Difference between Minangkabau in Sumatera and Negeri Sembilan ( PART 2 )

There are two types of the Western Sumatera Minangkabau house designs (Widya [9]). They are based on the Koto Piliang district system and Bodi Caniago district system. Koto Piliang house is known as the Sitinjau Laut or ‘towards the sea’ which is located throughout the Tanah Datar region, while Bodi Caniago Minangkabau house known as the Rumah Gadang or ‘big house’ covers the entire region of Agam and Kota Lima Puluh (Asri [4]; Is [5]; Soeroto [6]; Jayatri [8]; Widya [9]).

 The difference between Koto Piliang house and Bodi Caniago can be seen on the porch at the side of the house. Koto Piliang house has balcony and a different floor height from the main house (figure 6). The Bodi Caniago house does not have a balcony and the entire floor has equal height (figure 7). 

 This difference arises from the system of government practiced by the two leaders of the custom systems. Koto Piliang was led by Datuk Ketemenggungan who was bureaucratic while the Bodi Caniago people were led by Datuk Perpatih who practiced democracy. Ultimately, the equal floor levels in the Bodi Caniago house represent the leader and his people of the same status while the different heights of the Kota Piliang house floor level represent a hierarchical people (Idrus [19]). 

Difference between Minangkabau in Sumatera and Negeri Sembilan ( PART 1 )

The Minangkabau house in Western Sumatera 

-The studies undertaken by others (Asri [4]; Is [5]; Widya [9]; Manggis [17]) stated that the design of the Minangkabau houses in Western Sumatera was greatly influenced by nature. The houses are different from other ethnic groups’ traditional houses. They are easily recognised by their unique architectural features, especially the concave roof design that looks like buffalo horns or bumbung bergonjong (Idrus [19]) (figure 4 and figure 5).

 

Figure 4: The Bundo Kanduang house.

                   

 Figure 5: The Pagar Ruyung palace

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The Western Sumatera Minangkabau house is a traditional house used for living as well as a place for rituals or customary ceremonies. It can also be used for conference or communal meetings (Yovita [1]; Soeroto [6]). The house can be owned by a certain clan or certain individuals as the house is inherited from ancestors. It cannot be sold or bought like other inheritances such as farmland, paddy fields and plantations [6]. The house can accommodate more than one family that can be the family of the grandmother, the family of the mother and the family of the daughter, while the head of the house known as tungganai, will be appointed to lead the occupants (Erman et al. [20]).
 

Prayer Points

-    Pray for God to open the hearts and minds of the Minang to the Good News of God's grace and mercy.  

-        Pray for the few Minangkabau followers of Jesus to be united and faithful witnesses among their people group.  

-          Pray for God to touch the hearts of believers from other Indonesian ethnic groups to reach out to their Minang neighbours and friends.  

-           Pray for followers of Jesus serving among the Minangkabau that they may be faithful to share the Good News and to support each other.

-         Pray for more followers of Jesus to join them.

-         Pray that the seeds now being sown will one day lead to the growth ofindigenous fellowships of Jesus-followers among this people group

What Are Their Needs?

The Minang feel the need to protect their culture from future assimilation. As other areas of Negeri Sembilan have shown, mixing with other Malay groups results in a loss of their unique matrilineal customs. As a result, the Minang feel a sense of loss of identity. May the unique culture of the Minang be preserved and blessed as a culture designed by the All-Compassionate One.

In the Minangkabau homeland, agriculture is the main industry. Minang people are also well known for their business and trading ability and there are few places in Indonesia without some Minang presence. Perhaps most well known are traditional Minang restaurants, where rendang, beef cooked in coconut milk, is a popular choice.

What Are Their Beliefs?

The Minang are devout Muslims in spite of their matrilineal heritage. Polygamy is rare within the Minang culture because it conflicts with a pure inheritance line. The aspect of female inheritance and men being unable to take a second wife draws criticism from more fundamental Islamic people groups.

The Minang practice the five pillars of Islam and wear Muslim clothing that is consistent with other Malay groups throughout Malaysia. A large majority of Minang women wear a head covering and the percentage that do not are of the younger generation.

Marriage ceremonies and funerals are in keeping with Islamic tradition and both male and female children are circumcised: boys when they are twelve years old and girls when they are still babies. Only the circumcision of the male is celebrated.

What are their lives like? (ll)

Clan leaders within the Minang estimate that there are approximately 35,000 square kilometers of clan land in the region. This land is in the name of the female, but male clan leaders balance the scales of power. Clan leaders have their own titles within their suku (clan group) and strict hierarchy designates how many leaders each clan group is allowed.

Housing and architecture for the Minang have become more modern over the past generation though older, more traditional homes are still being occupied. The roof of a traditional home is peeked at both ends to represent the horns of a water buffalo. These roofs along with spicy food are two trademarks of the Minangkabau.

What Are Their Lives Like? (l)

The Minang are most noted for their adherence to adat pepatih (matrilineal inheritance). Certain areas of Negeri Sembilan have moved away from this tradition due to the complexities of the matrimonial ceremonies and the blending of communities with peoples from different Malay groups who use traditional male inheritance. However, the areas of Kuala Pilah, Tampin, Seri Menanti, and Jelebu are still strong in their unique culture and consistently practice this tradition. The Minang place great emphasis on their women. In order to protect the rights of the female, the name and property are passed down through the line of the mother. Daughters are strongly encouraged to marry within the same people group or else they are not allowed to live on family land. Sons are allowed to marry outside of the people group, but they, too, forfeit their right to live on family land since the wife would have no land inheritance of her own. Newlyweds either live on their own or with the family of the bride.

State Museum Complex

Minangkabau culture and history is housed at the State Museum (Teratak Perpatih) within the grounds of the State Museum Complex on Jalan Sungai Ujung in Seremban at the Seremban/Labu exit off the Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Highway. The museum showcases a fine display of ceremonial keris (daggers), Bugis and Minangkabau swords, and royal ornaments. The museum’s main building however, is the 19th-century Ampang Tinggi Palace from Kuala Pilah town that has been carefully reconstructed here. Next door is the Negeri Sembilan House, another fine piece of Minangkabau architecture and built without a single nail. Unlike the palace’s attap roof, the house has a cover of wooden shingles. 

Green hills and landscaped gardens provide the setting for the beautiful Diraja Sri Menanti Museum (tel: 06-762 1149/763 5388; daily 9am–5pm; free) in the royal town of Sri Menanti. A former palace, it was built in 1903 without a single nail. Pieced together with hardwood dowels and rivets, the four-storey timber structure sits on 99 pillars, representing the warriors of the various luak. It ceased to be a royal residence in 1931, when a new palace was completed in the shape of the blue-tiled Istana Besar nearby. The museum showcases the regalia of the Negeri Sembilan royal family as well as ceremonial weaponry and costumes. 

It is a proud tribute to the heritage of a group of settlers from west Sumatra who made their new home in the fertile valleys and hills behind Melaka, attracted by the port’s success. They brought their style of architecture and, protected by the Malay sultans, continued adhering to the unique adat pepatih customs that follow a matrilineal system, which governs laws, political organisation, traditions and social systems. 

The small principalities founded by the original settlers formed the nine luak or states that became the federation of Negeri Sembilan. Today, although the modern state is divided into districts, the luak remain. Violent clashes over tin that resulted in British intervention in the 1800s have reduced the number of luak to five.

Minangkabau of Negeri Sembilan II

The people of west Sumatra who resettled here brought with them customs that favour the women and unique architectural and cuisine styles.

The sweeping, peaked-roofed “buffalo horn” architecture is the most distinguishing feature of the Minangkabau or People of the Victorious Buffalo of Negeri Sembilan, Melaka’s northern neighbour. It appears everywhere; in the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur, at luxury hotels fringed by swaying palms, even at a highway petrol station. The roofs have come to signify not just Minangkabau, but Malaysia.

Constructions of the Minangkabau

The construction of a house is subject to specific regulations, laid down by the ancestors and formalised in adat, that need to be observed if the house is to become a beautiful and pleasant building. The construction and maintenance of a rumah gadang is the responsibility of ninik mamak, the elder male blood-relatives of the matrilineal descent group that owns and builds it. In Indonesia, the construction of the house symbolizes the division of the macrocosm into three regions: the upper world, the seat of deities and ancestors. The typical way of buildings in Southeast Asia is to build on stilts, an architectural form usually combined with a saddle roof. Another characteristic of Southeast Asian houses is the forked horn on the roof, which is considered to be a symbol of the buffalo, regarded throughout the region as a link between Heaven and this world. The most famous stilt houses of Indonesia are those of the Dayak in Borneo, the Minangkabau and Batak on Sumatra, and the Toraja on Sulawesi.

Minangkabu ft Negeri Sembilan

There has been a sizable Minangkabau settlement in Negeri Sembilan (now in Malaysia) since the seventeenth century, with the chief of the Minangkabau still ruler there. The Negeri Sembilan Minangkabau, however, have adopted the Malay-style roof construction, with continuous ridge piece thatched with lengths of palm-leaf attached to battens. Although this has meant the loss of the characteristic curved roof and has blunter eaves, it is still considered dignified and beautiful.More orthodox Islamic influence has also led to variations such as modifications to the interior layout, as women are more restricted to the rear of the house than in the case of the matrilineal Sumatran Minangkabau.

The series of Minangkabau Architecture

A Minangkabau traditional council hall, known as a balai adat, appears similar to a rumah gadang. This type of building is used by clan leaders as a meeting place, and it is not enclosed by walls, except for the anjuang of the Koto Piliang model. The Pagaruyung Palace is built in the traditional Minangkabau rumah gadang architectural style, but one unusual aspect is that it has three levels. In West Sumatra some modern government and commercial buildings, and domestic houses (rumah gedung), have adopted elements of the rumah gadang style.

Variations

The rumah gadang is built in one of two basic designs: koto piliang and bodi caniago. These forms reflect different two variations of Minangkabau social structure.The koto piliang design reflects an aristocratic and hierarchical social structure, with the house containing anjuang (raised floors) at each end to permit elevated seating of clan leaders during ceremonial events. The bodi caniago design reflects a democratic social structure, with the floors being flat and on one level.

Large communal homes are entered through a doorway in the centre of the structure which is usually surrounded by a perpendicular porch with a triangular gable and upsweeping peaked ridge end. The variation with no entry porch is named bapaserek or surambi papek ("without veranda").

The larger and more opulent houses, have higher walls and multiple roofs, often with five elements inserted into each other, and supported by large wooden columns. Variations on the number of columns are known as the gajah maharam ("elephant kneeling"), which may have forty columns resulting in a shorter and stouter form, and the rajo babandiang ('design of grandeur') with fifty pillars and a more slender form. An additional six columns are required at each end for the anjuang of the Koto Piliang variation.

Symbolisms

Some symbolisms of the house, for example, relate to the gonjong reaching to god and the dindiang tapi, which is traditionally made of plaited strips of bamboo, symbolizing the strength and utility of the community which is formed when individual Minangkabau become part of the larger community instead of standing alone.

The pillars of the ideal rumah gadang are arranged in five rows which run the length of the house. These rows divide the interior into four long spaces called lanjar. The lanjar at the rear of the house is divided into bedrooms (ruang). According to adat, a rumah gadang must have at least five ruang, and the ideal number is nine. The other lanjar are used as a common area, called the labuah gajah (elephant road), for living and ceremonial events.

A number of rice barns (rangkiang) ideally accompany a rumah gadang, with each having a different name and function. The rangkiang sitinjau lauik, contains rice for the family, particularly for adat ceremonies. The rangkiang sitangka lapa contains rice for donation to poor villagers and for times of famine in the village. The rangkiang sibayau-bayaucontains rice for the daily needs of the family.

Architectural elements

Interior of the Pagaruyung Palace, showing the long common area of a rumah gadang. The two-level floor is a symbolic element specific to the palace.

Each element of a rumah gadang has its own symbolic meaning, which is referred to in adat speech and aphorisms. The elements of a rumah gadang includes:

• gonjong, hornlike roof structure
• singkok, triangular wall under the ends of gonjong
• pereng, shelf under the singkok
• anjuang, raised floor at the end of one style of rumah gadang
• dindiang ari, the walls on the side elevations
• dindiang tapi, the walls on the front and back elevations
• papan banyak, front facade
• papan sakapiang, a shelf or middle band on the periphery of the house
• salangko, wall enclosing space under a house that has been built on stilts

History

Rumah Gadang (Minangkabau "big house") or rumah bagonjong (Mingankabau : "spired roof house") are the traditional homes (Indonesian : "rumah adat") of the Mingankabau. The architecture, construction, internal and external decoration, and the functions of the house reflect the culture and values of the Minangkabau. A rumah gadang serves as a residence, a hall for family meetings, and for ceremonial activities. In the matrilineal Minangkabau society, the rumah gadang is owned by the women of the family who live there; ownership is passed from mother to daughter.

The houses have dramatic curved roof structure with multi-tiered, upswept gables. Shuttered windows are built into walls incised with profuse painted floral carvings. The term rumah gadang usually refers to the larger communal homes, however, smaller single residences share many of its architectural elements.