Dayak rituals drink in meaning of 'tuak'

Dayak rituals drink in meaning of 'tuak'

By Yetie M.G. Tamen

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): The majority of the Dayak
subethnic group in West Kalimantan consider tuak, its local
alcoholic beverage, a drink with cultural and highly social
values.

It is therefore not surprising that in a traditional ceremony,
be it a wedding, a rice harvest, a death, a circumcision or other
ritual, tuak is always served.

"The Dayak community knows tuak as a cultural drink. It is
presented as an offering at traditional ceremonies," says Andreas
Deka, a researcher on oral tradition in West Kalimantan.

The way of drinking tuak differs from one place to another.
There are people who drink it together from a tempayan (large
jar). Others consume the drink individually from a bamboo
container or a glass.

Andreas, 53, says that the essence of tuak is life itself.
"There is life and death, there is day and night, there is woman
and man, there is food and drink. For the Dayak, the drink is
tuak." That is his analogy.

Tuak as a cultural drink is strongly rooted in the Dayak
communities of the regencies of Ketapang, Sintang, Kapuas Hulu,
Sanggau, Bengkayang and Sambas.

There are various types of tuak. Each subethnic Dayak group
proceeds in its own way and uses different raw material in making
the drink.

The most common ingredient for making tuak is glutinous rice.
However, other material such as rice, ubi (sweet potatoes), tebu
senjoli (a kind of bulgur) and fruits can also be used.

Generally, tuak does not cause drunkenness except when the
drink has been stored for a long time. Then it is called tajok.
Unfortunately, sometimes people make use of a traditional
ceremony to get drunk.

Andreas rejects the opinion of some people that tuak is an
intoxicating drink that may shorten a man's life.

"Formerly, the life expectancy of many Dayak was more than 100
years old. If people get drunk, it is because they drink
excessively. Now with many prohibitions and the community's
knowledge of health, the age of the average villager has declined
to 50 years," Andreas said.

On the other hand, a health analyst, Corry said that drinking
a large quantity of tuak can cause heartburn. Many inhabitants in
her village suffer from coughs because they drink too often or
too much tuak.

"Because tuak is not strong enough (its alcoholic content is
not too high) some people distill it further to make white wine.
This white wine can damage the nerves and cause heartburn," Corry
says. However, until now, no laboratory research has ever been
made on the alcoholic content of tuak.

The taste of tuak varies: sweet, sour, bitter and hot, or a
combination of them all. The taste is determined by the process
of distillation.

Although the Dayak cannot be easily separated from tuak, not
all of them, especially the younger generation, know how to make
the beverage.

In short, cooked rice is cooled and yeast is put on it, and
then placed in a container protected from air for a smooth
process of fermentation. The container is tightly closed. After
one month, the mixture becomes watery tapai (fermented rice). It
is this water that is called tuak.

There are a few prohibitions to remember before starting the
process. First, women having their menstrual cycle are not
allowed to make tuak. Second, if a relative (especially a
sibling) has died, people are forbidden to make tuak. If these
directions are violated the product will be bad for sure. Tuak
will show some mucus and its taste will certainly be below
expectation.

Meanwhile, many Dayak are concerned that the tuak tradition
will vanish from their life's rituals.

This concern is well-founded with the coming of religious
values that forbid all things smelling of alcohol.

The reality is the paddy variety that is good for making
quality tuak is becoming harder to obtain with the reduction of
good soil for this type of paddy and this has contributed to the
concern.

Sunarti, a housewife, 28, hopes that the tradition of tuak
will continue. "There is tuak at every ceremony. Our elders say
there must be tuak at each offering, so we must obey them," she
said.

Benyamin Efreim, 25, a graduate of ethnomusicology at the
Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) in Yogyakarta, has expressed
worry that the tuak tradition, which identifies the Dayak, will
vanish.

"I am worried that if this drink becomes extinct, the Dayak
culture will vanish. I cannot imagine what the situation will be
if there is no more tuak. The values of togetherness, harmony and
solidarity in the Dayak will also disappear," he says
philosophically.

Actually, tuak itself has become the symbol of the sacredness
of life for the Dayak. A number of community figures well-versed
in custom link tuak with an homage to the paddy and rice which is
seen as life itself. The traditional Dayak society considers the
paddy as having a soul. Therefore, it stands to reason to treat
it in a special and respectful way. Rice is the main raw material
for tuak.

The sacred value of the beverage is so high that many people
believe a traditional ceremony will fail if tuak has no part in
it.

Theresia Game, a Dayak of Kayaan Mendalam, a subethnic Dayak
group mostly residing in Putussibau, 400 kilometers from
Pontianak, was a witness to the sacredness of tuak when her dance
group participated in a competition in the city.

"At the time, we forgot to include tuak in the offering when
our dance group was to make the pelangkah (a custom for certain
activities, distant travel and ritual ceremonies). The priest
leading the ceremony reminded us about it, but since tuak is
difficult to obtain in urban areas, we were compelled to go on
without tuak. The result was ... we lost," said Game.

It is certainly not easy to believe Game's story that the
defeat of her dance group was due to the absence of tuak in the
pelangkah ceremony, but, whether you like it or not, that is one
of the values that people still adhere to in the Dayak community
in West Kalimantan.