Pariaman's 'Oyak Tabuik' festival draws crowds
By Imran Rusli
PARIAMAN, West Sumatra (JP): Pariaman, a town 54 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital Padang, attracts a yearly influx of visitors for the 10-day tabuik folk festival.
Usually, under 3,000 local tourists crowd Pariaman's beach, famous for its white sand and known as Taman Wisata Pantai Putih Gandoriah. But, during the annual tabuik festival during the Muharram month the sleepy town draws 100,000 local and foreign tourists, Mukhlis R, the local tourist chief of Pariaman, told The Jakarta Post.
"You can hardly move in a tabuik crowd," he said.
The folk festival of oyak tabuik it involves all 30,000 inhabitants of Pariaman. The tabuik has to be made, funds must be collected, the festival must be implemented and also wound up after the 10-day party.
"Without the people's participation, there wouldn't be oyak tabuik," said Nasrun Syahrun, the regent of Padang Pariaman. The regent likens the festival to a healing adhesive which cures Pariaman's social conflicts and prejudices.
"During oyak tabuik, government officials, village elders, ulemas (Moslem religious leaders), youngsters -- the whole society -- are united to make the festival a success. All grievances are momentarily forgotten," he said.
"We have an expression for this mutual efforts; sato sakaki or sakeso, saketek sorang," he explained.
The ornamental Pariaman tabuik effigy stands 10-meters tall. Its hefty 8 tons is comprised of the combined framework of wood, bamboo, rattan and colored paper. It is all held together with rattan string, or, 2-inch nails. The upper part consists of nine sunshades, much like a huge paper flower bouquet, topped off with the main umbrella. The Pariaman effigy, called a tabuik in the local dialect, is a tall pair of horns resting on a plaited depiction of the buraq. The buraq is a heavenly creature or chariot of angels, who drove Prophet Muhammad to heaven.
The festival is of great religious significance as it is tied up with the Shia belief that Husein's remains were carried by the buraq in a pair of golden horns.
Oyak tabuik is the ritual commemorating the slaughter of Hasan and Husein, sons of Ali bin Abi Thalib, and grandchildren of the Prophet Muhammad.
Hasan was poisoned, Husein was beheaded and then hacked to pieces by order of King Yazid of the Umayah Dynasty who refused to surrender the Arab imperial throne to the two brothers.
Oyak tabuik actually unfolds the story of Husein's beheading at the Grand Mosque square in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in the year 680, on Friday, Muharram 10.
Tabuik contains a series of symbolic activities, like the soil culling ritual (symbolizing collection of Husein's head), followed with the ritual of collecting a banana tree trunk (symbolizing the collection of Husein's body parts), onto the procession of Husein's fingers, followed by the procession of his turban. Husein's turban symbolizes his Islamic leadership mitigating the mass fighting among tabuik supporters who are reliving the battle of the Karbala Desert.
Alendinus, 33, a historian from Padang University and also Pariaman's historian, explained: "Tabuik lasts 10 days. In the end, we will be short of sleep. And that's not because of all the activities we have to participate in, it is because of the comings and goings of uncountable visitors. We have to take care of them."
The homes near the place where the tabuik is made, will stay open all day and night. Thousands of people will mill about the roads, the sidewalks taken over by vendors selling traditional snacks like roasted corn on the cob, sala (battered fish tidbit) and hot coffee.
Marwan Jamil, 45, a member of the Pariaman House of Representatives, said that "this small town won't sleep during tabuik."
Tabuik transforms Pariaman into a city of light, and, at a certain stage, the air is sated with the sonorous sounds of drums, tambourines and tassa (thinner version of the regular tambourine renown for its high, loud tone). The shrieks and shouts of onlookers accompany the band. At some point, mass fighting, called cakak banyak, will break out. It is an intrinsic part of tabuik.
"It wouldn't be tabuik without a fight," said Ardan Jamil, 36, an employee of the Pariaman Tourist Office. He said the stone throwing matches result in bloodied eyes and gored heads.
The tabuik festival's several stages, maambiak tanah (soil culling) on Muharram 1, maambiak batang pisang(cutting banana tree trunk) on Muharram 3,maarak jari-jari (finger procession) Muharram 5, maarak sorban (turban procession) on Muharram 7, tabuik naiak pangkek (assembling of upper and lower part of the tabuik) Muharram 9, all culminate with oyak tabuik on Muharram 10.
The rituals, held in the tabuik house and the surroundings of the place containing a duplicate of Husein's coffin, are filled with grief stricken women wailing about Husein's passing. This ceremony is known as maatam.
The tabuik effigy is made of large bamboo poles and has 16 handles for the 16 bearers following the drummers and tambourine players.
An effigy costs up to Rp 3 million to make. Until 1960, construction was handed from one tabuik family to the next. They lived in a tabuik house and were fully supported by the people of Pariaman. Now traditional tabuik makers are rare. The 33-year-old Syaifud is now hired to make the tabuik.
The two effigies made every year, Kampung Jawa and tabuik Pasar, keep Syaiful traveling from one house to the other.
"Despite the presence of two effigies, the sacred meaning of the festival has not lessened in the hearts of the Pariaman public," said M. Yusuf Jamil, a religious leader in the city.
Jamil said the Pariamanese believe the tabuik effigy attracts luck.
"They snatch away parts of the effigy believing that it will improve their lives. They say that it brings good luck in trade, in matters of love, it brings good health, in short, in everything. I'm afraid for the psychological effects this fest may have on the people. It is drifting towards polytheism," he warned.
Tabuik was brought to Pariaman in 1824 by Gurkha soldiers in the service of colonial Britain, were driven away from Bengkulu where the British had a fort. Pariaman, was then an international harbor for ships from Europe, China, as well as vessels from Aceh and Java.
The Gurkha were called Kaliang (from keling, meaning black, because of their very dark skin). The soldiers introduced the tabuik festival which they had become acquainted with in Bengkulu.
The tradition was established by two tabuik experts, Sikajauna and Sikarana. They received all the support they needed from government and the public. Between 1970 and 1980, tabuik disappeared from the cultural scene when mass fighting in 1970 resulted in too many deaths. It was revived in 1982 by Anas Malik, the regent of Pariaman in those days.
"Tabuik has grown into a Pariaman tradition. It is a potential tourist attraction that could support the region's economy, and at the same time spur on social morals," said Mukhlis R.
Anas Malik secured Rp 1.5 million from the local House of Representatives to make each tabuik.
Why waste Rp. 3 million on something that will in the end be dumped in the sea?
"Tabuik creates a sense of togetherness. It spells good fortune to the small trader, to the tabuik maker, to the inhabitants of the tabuik place, their children, and people in the transportation business. It also provides entertainment to hundreds of thousands of people, and adds to the region's income. That's why I don't agree that the tabuik festival is extravagant," said Padang Pariaman regent, Nasrun Syahrun.