"U CAN HAVE EVERYTHING U WANT IN LIFE, IF U HELP OTHER PEOPLE GET WHAT THEY WANT"

Senin, 01 November 2010

MENTAWAI : THE GARDEN OF EDEN


The remote and sparkling Mentawai islands sur­rounded by a splendid coral reef, are situated to the West of Sumatra, at the extreme western point of the vast Indonesian archipelago। The Mentawai islands are made up of the islands of Siberut to the North, Sipora in the centre, and the Pageh island-group to the South and have a surface of 6.011,35 square Km.


It takes days to reach the inland villages travelling by canoe and on foot in the tropical jungles। In spite of the weariness and discomfort, the traveller has the distinct sensation of being in one of most enchanting yet secluded places on earth.


Sir Thomas Raffles in 1821 had defined these is­lands as "the garden of Eden".

UNESCO has declared these islands to be a natural preserve.



These islands are covered by a rain forest crossed only by rivers and smaller waterways, which offer the means of inland communication. In addition to the water ways, there are dangerous and inextricable jungle foot ­paths which the people of the Mentawai go through daily with skill and agility that only nature can explain,


The majestic tropical jungle is the home of the most unique flora and fauna on earth : 60% of the mammalians are endemic, including four species that cannot be found in any other place on earth, among which the "beyuk", a large monkey and the "lutung", a black monkey.


These islands have a tribal population of 68.097, who are among the most interesting on earth: they are living in an old and primitive culture drawing their resources from the forest and knowing the secrets of living in harmony without disrupting the surrounding environment.


"Primitive" is the term most literally apt to describe the Mentawai people, who are unacquainted with time, unaware of sophisticated technologies and modern comforts and whose current way of life dates back thousands of year.


Their measurement of life is not by days, weeks and years but instead it is counted by their unique "seasons of life"; those being birth, youth, marriage, illnesses and death. The ascending to adulthood and marriage is often quick partially because of the Mentawai people's short life span.


While the people of the islands are truly isolated socially and economicaly, they are not at all barbarian nor have they ever practiced slavery or cannibalism. The Mentawai are born, they live and they die free. They are a calm people; peaceful and exotically refined, sociable and surprisingly amiable and hospitable. Com­pared to our material world, these people do not have possessions, in fact they show a serenity that makes one wonder whether civilization made a wrong turn some­where. The Mentawai people do not have many clothes and their bodies are adorned with detailed tattoos. These elaborate decorations confer a natural elegance and a rare fascination and represent for them an in­visible but fundamental and proper garb.


The designs on the body are works of art and vary according to the clan and village, the marks indicating where they belong and the tattoos are for the people a sign of strength, elegance, character and represent the different moments of the life of a person. The Mentawai "garb" is also rich with accessories, necklaces, bracelets, and the body is embellished with flowers and leave. The costume is extraordinarily elegant and the Mentawaians have a deep inborn and uncommon sense of esthetics and are a people of rare beauty.


The inhabitants live on hunting, fishing and gather­ing products offered by nature, feeding on fruits, sago a flour extracted from the trunks of palm tree। Here exotic dishes include their menu of meats of monkey, snake and bat.


Their houses (uma) are built up above the ground on bamboo and tree trunks. The huge canopy roof of palm-leaves will often shelter more than one family. Each dwelling also has a large veranda used for cere­monies and dances. There are whole villages where only children live. These have joined an elementary school. Their parents come once in a while to bring them food and to encourage the children to follow them into the jungle.


The Mentawaians consider the soul as a kind of spiritual counterpart of life, duly endowed with its own capacity of insight and movement, quite able to leave the body to meet the ancestors and lastly, to depart definitely from the body। Beyond their own souls, they also respect and revere many other forces of the spirit world; those conjured through the souls of ancestors, as well as those originating from animals and nature.


Only the kerei (medicine-men) can communicate with souls and spirits. In order to do so they carry out dances at night, and while the ancestors gather in an atmosphere of tension and mystery, the dancers fall into a trance; finally, when the dance becomes too intense due to the presence of super-natural forces, the kerei in­vite the ancestors to return to their abode.


The main ceremonies of the clans are called "Puli­aidjar". At the beginning of the "Puliaidjar", the souls of the ancestors are invited with sacrifices of pigs and chickens followed by an offering by the medicine-men of food, flowers and herbs, in one hand, and a small bell in the other, both used in an attempt to capture the souls. The medicine-men then begin to dance in a circle, leaping in the air and crying out lamentations, always in a state of ecstasy, to appease the ancestors. These scenes go on all night, accompanied by pantomines of animals and scenes of daily life with improvised dialogues.


The Mentawaians see the world in a state of balance, in a happy condition of total harmony and be­lieve that any abusive interference in the environment may upset this harmony. They thus feel compelled to constantly carry out ceremonies and exorcisms to ward off danger and live in peace.


Prior to cutting down a tree, killing an animal for food or tampering with an element of the environment, the people carry out a series of rites to explain to the spirit of the tree or animal that this is being done for a necessity.


A classless society, in perfect communion with the surrounding environment, with a strong sense of taking part in the life of others and a refusal to hoard; these are some of the features of the people of the Mentawai.


Catholic missionaries reached the islands at the beginning of 1950 and since then many Mentawaiians have become Catholics, but in their daily life they still honour ceremonies that stress the periods of life, animis­tic cults, primordial philosophic conceptions, superstitions and ancestral rites. However, these practices are blended with the Catholic pracices and Christian doc­trines introduced by the missionaries; and it is certain that their religious conviction of life is very strong.


The missionaries were able to overcome difficult­ies related to human and environmental factors, and succeeded in introducing a system of elementary education in the villages that has made and continues to make a considerable contribution to the development of the people and to the improvement of their living conditions.


Unfortunately, the more negative influences of the outer world have also changed the new generations' attitude toward the outer world and their cultural heritage. Their pride and dignity for their traditions are being transformed into shame and embarrassment, while they become ever more conscious of life in the modern World.


The psuedo-modern generation, unfortunately, go through a real drama: from the one side they no longer believe in their authentic traditions, on the other, they are being forgotten by the rest of the world।


In particular, the youngsters live a sad and hard reality of a dichotomy between their own civilization and the modern one, between the impossibility of a complete integration in time। Their future for now is to return to the forest where their limited education and knowledge will eventually become obsolete.


This situation has drastically widened the gap between the old and the new generations, giving rise to a situation of "limbo" for the new generations where their future is uncertain. The rejection of the tribal in­heritance, traditional values and practices, does not seem to achieve positive results. The outer world now has a responsibility for righting these people. There can only be hope that a solution exists that will not place their traditions, their dignity and their world in jeopardy.


Currently, however, the outer world is in a sad direction where the Mentawai's usages and customs are becoming pointless and are being placed as a low priority behind the greater motives of our consumer civilization. It is indeed a civilization that is dying out. An Eden in danger.


This process is advancing unrelentingly. We can only hope that a human, cultural and social promotion may bring about the consciousness of their dignity and lead them to re-discover and re-appraise their culture.


However, a yet more tragic aspect of life of the people, is not only tied to the disappearance of this culture but to the limited capacity of the people to control the high death rates.


The environmental conditions, health factors, lack of any form of precautionary measures and treatment, bring about pernicious epidemics and fatal illnesses; the average age there does not exceed 35 years and infant mortality is very high.


Medicine is practiced by the medicine-men (kerei) and they drive away evil influences which bring on sicknesses and strengthen the patients with herbs and exorcisms. A conception of magic in practicing medicine is still in use and a sickness is considered as a conse­quence of the act of evil spirits, as destiny or as punish­ment.


Daily confrontation with sickness and death set the medicine-men as central figures in the life of the villages, wearing unequalled costumes made from leaves and flowers, they take part in each moment of life: birth, marriage, exorcisms against curses and malice, and above all to treat and to heal. Their unending and surprising dances inspired by gestures and movements of animals, spaced by scenes of trance and frenzy, are meant to ward off the negative influences of evil spirits and to appeal to the good spirits, but unfortunately, medical herbs and ceremonies of the witchdoctors and the limited availability of modern medicines that reach the islands, are currently not enough to curb the epidemics that strike whole villages.


Without doubt, the civilization of the Mentawai islands is not inferior to the nearby and neighbouring civilizations in Indonesia: Sumatra, Celebes, Moluccas, Bali and Java but there is nevertheless a difference due to lack of information and cognizance.


The Mentawai islands are certainly gems to be dis­covered, and without doubt a proud part of the variety of races and cultures of which Indonesia is composed.


It is truly hoped that the Mentawaians will survive as a people and as a civilization, taking from our pro­gressed world the values and the means that will allow them to live in better conditions, without losing their identity and above all without having to feel ashamed of their history and of themselves.

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