Pariaman's 'Oyak Tabuik' festival draws crowds

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.