Minangkabau, the World's Largest Matrilineal Society

minangkabau

The Minangkabau ethnic group (also known as Minang) is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra, in Indonesia. The Minangkabau are strongly Islamic, but also follow their ethnic traditions, or adat. The Minangkabau adat was derived from animist beliefs before the arrival of Islam, and remnants of animist beliefs still exist even among some practicing Muslims. The present relationship between Islam and adat is described in the saying "tradition [adat] founded upon Islamic law, Islamic law founded upon the Qur'an" (adat basandi syara', syara' basandi Kitabullah). 


The Minangs are the world's largest matrilineal society, in which properties such as land and houses are inherited through female lineage. Some scholars argue that this might have caused the diaspora (Minangkabau, "merantau") of Minangkabau males throughout the Maritime Southeast Asia to become scholars or to seek fortune as merchants. As early as the age of 7, boys traditionally leave their homes and live in a surau (a prayer house & community centre) to learn religious and cultural (adat) teachings. This tradition has created Minang communities in many Indonesian cities and towns, which nevertheless are still tied closely to their homeland; a state in Malaysia named Negeri Sembilan is heavily influenced by Minang culture.
The first female minister was a Minang scholar.

In addition to being renowned as merchants, the Minangs have also produced some of Indonesia's most influential poets, writers, statesmen, scholars, and religious scholars. Today both natural and cultural tourism have become considerable economic activities in West Sumatra.

Traditional Minangkabau music includes saluang jo dendang which consists of singing to the accompaniment of a saluang bamboo flute, and talempong gong-chime music. Dances include the tari piring (plate dance), tari payung (umbrella dance) and tari indang. Demonstrations of the silat martial art are performed. Pidato adat are ceremonial orations performed at formal occasions.

Saluang

Randai is a folk theater tradition which incorporates music, singing, dance, drama and the silat martial art. Randai is usually performed for traditional ceremonies and festivals, and complex stories may span a number of nights. Randai performances are a synthesis of alternating martial arts dances, songs, and acted scenes. 








Rumah gadang ('big house') - or more correctly rumah bagonjong - are the traditional homes (Indonesian: rumah adat) of the Minangkabau. 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. With the Minangkabau society being matrilineal, the rumah gadang is owned by the women of the family who live there - ownership is passed from mother to daughter.

Rumah Gadang

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.







Animism has been an important component of Minangkabau culture. Even after the penetration of Islam into Minangkabau society in the 16th century, animistic beliefs were not extinguished. In this belief system, people were said to have two souls, a real soul and a soul which can disappear called the semangat. All Minangkabau customs allegedly in conflict with the Koran were to be abolished. Although the Padri were eventually defeated by the Dutch, during this period the relationship between adat and religion was reformulated. Previously adat was said to be based upon appropriateness and propriety, but this was changed so adat was more strongly based upon Islamic precepts.

The Minang's adat and their Islam religion each help the other and thus form "a hedge against the decline of either", as follows: "The passion the Minangkabau pour into religion and adat " on the one hand strengthens adat which then limits "the destructive consequences of Western capitalism" and on the other hand guards their religion "against falling lockstep into a simplistic anti-Western Islamism."
With the Minangkabau highlands being the heartland of their culture, and with Islam likely entering the region from coast it is said that ‘custom descended, religion ascended’ (adat manurun, syarak mandaki).

Randai

Tari Payuang (Umbrella Dance)

Rumah Gadang

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Samurai "the Way of the Warrior"

Samurai  is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau. According to Wilson, an early reference to the word "samurai" appears in the Kokin Wakashū (905–914), the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the 10th century.

As de facto aristocrats for centuries, samurai developed their own cultures that influenced Japanese culture as a whole. The culture associated with the samurai such as the tea ceremony, monochrome ink painting, rock gardens and poetry were adopted by warrior patrons throughout the centuries 1200–1600. These practices were adapted from the Chinese arts. Zen monks introduced them to Japan and they were allowed to flourish due to the interest of powerful warrior elites. Muso Soseki (1275–1351) was a Zen monk who was advisor to both Emperor Go-Daigo and General Ashikaga Takauji (1304–58). Muso as well as other monks acted as political and cultural diplomats between Japan and China. Previously, tea had been used primarily for Buddhist monks to stay awake during meditation.

In general, samurai, aristocrats, and priests had a very high literacy rate in Kanji. For example, court documents, birth and death records and marriage records from the Kamakura period, submitted by farmers, were prepared in Kanji. Both the Kanji literacy rate and skills in math improved toward the end of Kamakura period.

The marriage of samurai was done by having a marriage arranged by someone with the same or higher rank than those being married. Most samurai married women from a samurai family, but for a lower ranked samurai, marriages with commoners were permitted. A samurai could have a mistress but her background was strictly checked by higher ranked samurai. If a samurai's wife gave birth to a son he could be a samurai.

A samurai could divorce his wife for a variety of reasons with approval from a superior, but divorce was, while not entirely nonexistent, a rare event. A samurai could divorce for personal reasons, even if he simply did not like his wife, but this was generally avoided as it would embarrass the samurai who had arranged the marriage. A woman could also arrange a divorce, although it would generally take the form of the samurai divorcing her. After a divorce samurai had to return the betrothal money, which often prevented divorces. 

Some rich merchants had their daughters marry samurai to erase a samurai's debt and advance their positions.
A samurai's wife would be dishonored and allowed to commit jigai (a female's seppuku) if she were cast off.
The philosophies of Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, influenced the samurai culture. The Buddhist concept of reincarnation and rebirth led samurai to abandon torture and needless killing, while some samurai even gave up violence altogether and became Buddhist monks after realizing how fruitless their killings were. Painting of Ōishi Yoshio committing seppuku, 1703.

The philosophies of Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, are attributed to the development of the samurai culture.

A notable part of their code is seppuku (切腹 seppuku?) or hara kiri, which allowed a disgraced samurai to regain his honor by passing into death, where samurai were still beholden to social rules. Whilst there are many romanticised characterisations of samurai behaviour such as the writing of Bushido (武士道 Bushidō?) in 1905, studies of Kobudo and traditional Budō indicate that the samurai were as practical on the battlefield as were any other warrior.

Despite the rampant romanticism of the 20th century, samurai could be disloyal and treacherous (e.g., Akechi Mitsuhide), cowardly, brave, or overly loyal (e.g., Kusunoki Masashige). Samurai were usually loyal to their immediate superiors, who in turn allied themselves with higher lords. These loyalties to the higher lords often shifted; for example, the high lords allied under Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉) were served by loyal samurai, but the feudal lords under them could shift their support to Tokugawa, taking their samurai with them.

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Italy: Tuscany, Countryside with Beautiful Landscapes

Tuscany  is a region in Central Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 sq mi) and a population of about 3.7 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.

Tuscany is known for its beautiful landscapes, its rich artistic legacy and vast influence on high culture. 

Tuscany is widely regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some of the most influential people in the history of arts and science, such as Petrarch, Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci, Luca Pacioli and Puccini. Due to this, the region has several museums (such as the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace and the Chianciano Museum of Art). Tuscany has a unique culinary tradition, and is famous for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino).

Six Tuscan localities have been designated World Heritage Sites: the historic centre of Florence (1982), the historical centre of Siena (1995), the square of the Cathedral of Pisa (1987), the historical centre of San Gimignano (1990), the historical centre of Pienza (1996) and the Val d'Orcia (2004). Furthermore, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves. This makes Tuscany and its capital city Florence very popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of tourists every year. Florence itself receives an average of 10 million tourists a year by placing the city as one of the most visited in the world (in 2007, the city became the world's 46th most visited city, with over 1.715 million arrivals).

Roughly triangular in shape and situated between the northern part of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the central Apennines, Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres (8,878 sq mi). Surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few (but very fertile) plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country. Most of the work done here is farming.

Whereas mountains cover 25% of the total area — 5,770 square kilometres (2,230 sq mi), and plains a mere 8.4% of the total area, almost all coinciding with the valley of the River Arno, summing for 1,930 square kilometres (750 sq mi), — overall hills make up two-thirds (66.5%) of the region's total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres (5,904 sq mi).

The climate, which is fairly mild in the coastal areas, is harsher and rainy in the interior, with considerable fluctuations in temperature between winter and summer giving the region a soil building active freeze-thaw cycle in part accounting for the region once having served as a key breadbasket of ancient Rome.

Tuscany has an immense cultural and artistic heritage, expressed in the region's numerous churches, palaces, art galleries, museums, villages and piazzas. Much of these artifacts are found in the main cities, such as Florence and Siena, but also in smaller villages scattered around the region, such as San Gimignano. The UNESCO estimated that Tuscany has 10% of the World Cultural Heritage! 

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Indonesia: Night in Yogyakarta City

Yogyakarta city name may no longer sound familiar to fans tour the streets, in Indonesia the city became the second tourist destination after Bali for foreign and domestic tourists. Various epithets aimed at this particular area, ranging from the cultural city, university town, city to city gudeg batik. Not to mention writing a variety of Jogjakarta, among others, Ngayogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Jogjakarta, Djogjakarta, or Jogja make this city unique impression.
In addition to cultural heritage, Yogyakarta has beautiful natural panorama. Sites or objects of cultural heritage relics of the past widely spread in the region of Yogyakarta. The city is never dead, day or night Jogja still presenting the beauty for everyone. 

-Malioboro 

When the night, Malioboro more alive. Malioboro, which in Sanskrit means "bouquet" became the basis of naming the street. Malioboro is a one-way streets are flanked by hotels, shops, markets, and restaurants. Every night, at roadside stalls filled with typical lesehan Jogja with bright lights. On the patio stores and souvenir sellers teradapat many souvenirs of Jogja at bargain prices. Variety of goods ranging from local handicrafts, batik, silver and trinkets sold in shops along the corridor.

 

-Kilometer Zero Zone 

Regions zero kilometers is the end of Malioboro street, naming the 'zero kilometer' because this place is the center of the start of counting kilometer in Yogyakarta. Various historical buildings in the region, among others, St. Francis Xavier Church, Bank Indonesia (the former building of De Javasche Bank), General Post Office Building, Bank BNI 46, a former building Matschcappij Nill, Building Societeit de Vereeneging, the Great House as a Keraton presidency during a visit to Yogyakarta, Ngejaman (Stads bell-shaped), and Margo Mulyo Church is banguan Dutch heritage that still functioned until now.
In addition to historic bangunah, as night zero kilometer area became the center of the community and tourists. In one corner there is a monument General Offensive March attack that is often used for exhibitions, festivals, and concerts at night. Zero kilometer area also became a public space to communities in Yogyakarta, call it music community, Bike community, as well as community artists often spent the night in the region.
The arrangement of lights and parks also enhance this area, as well as a variety of foods of Jogja is easily found at night when the tourists indulge tongue. 



-Angkringan 

Angkringan derived from the Javanese language, which means sit back angkring. Angkringan usually a pushcart that sells a variety of cat food such as rice, quail egg satay, fried, wedang ginger, and so on. Angkringan is an egalitarian place for visitors to vary from various walks of life. Starting from the artists, humanists, students, families, an office employee all blend into one. They all enjoy a night on the famous place to chat while eating late into the night.

-Masangin 

If a visit to the cultural center of Keraton Yogyakarta, visitors will pass through an area large enough that a court of the Keraton, called the Alun-alun. Keraton itself flanked by two Alun-alun, the first Alun-alun north and south of the Alun-alun. In Mawlid, when nighttime plaza north enlivened by the night market which is a folk festival market. In this place also often a big music event held at night. 




-Tugu Jogja 

One symbol that is quite famous in Tugu Jogja Jogja is a handsome old building still standing in downtown. This monument is located at the intersection of Jalan P. meeting Mangkubumi on the south side, Jalan PM Sangaji on the north side, Jalan Sudirman in the east, and P Diponegoro Street on the west. 15-meter-high monument was unveiled on October 3, 1889 or 7 Sapar Java Year 1819. The building of this cone is the imaginary axis that connects the South Coast, Kraton Yogyakarta and Mount Merapi.
The building history is a favorite visitor at night, late at night, many tourists who visit the monument was to take pictures. At night, Tugu Jogja is the main attraction for the travelers as the exotic beauty of the lights in the middle order is captivating. 

other picture:

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Dayak, the Native People of Borneo

Traditionally, Dayak agriculture was based on swidden rice cultivation. Agricultural Land in this sense was used and defined primarily in terms of hill rice farming, ladang (garden), and hutan (forest). Dayaks organised their labour in terms of traditionally based land holding groups which determined who owned rights to land and how it was to be used. The main dependence on subsistence and mid-scale agriculture by the Dayak has made this group active in this industry. The modern day rise in large scale monocrop plantations such as palm oil and bananas, proposed for vast swathes of Dayak land held under customary rights, titles and claims in Indonesia, threaten the local political landscape in various regions in Borneo.

Further problems continue to arise in part due to the shaping of the modern Malaysian and Indonesian nation-states on post-colonial political systems and laws on land tenure. The conflict between the state and the Dayak natives on land laws and native customary rights will continue as long as the colonial model on land tenure is used against local customary law. Underlying the world-view is an account of the creation and re-creation of this middle-earth where the Dayak dwell, arising out of a cosmic battle in the beginning of time between a primal couple, a male and female bird/dragon (serpent). Representations of this primal couple are amongst the most pervasivel motifs of Dayak art. The primal mythic conflict ended in a mutual, procreative murder, from the body parts of which the present universe arose stage by stage. The practice of Kaharingan differs from group to group, but shamans, specialists in ecstatic flight to other spheres, are central to Dayak religion, and serve to bring together the various realms of Heaven (Upper-world) and earth, and even Under-world, for example healing the sick by retrieving their souls which are journeying on their way to the Upper-world land of the dead, accompanying and protecting the soul of a dead person on the way to their proper place in the Upper-world, presiding over annual renewal and agricultural regeneration festivals, etc.Religious differences between Muslim and Christian natives of Borneo has led, at various times, to communal tensions.Muslim Dayaks have however retained their original identity and kept various customary practices consistent with their religion.

An example of common identity, over and above religious belief, is the Melanau group. A few practise a distinct Dayak form of Kaharingan, known as Liko. Liko is the earliest surviving form of religious belief for the Melanau, predating the arrival of Islam and Christianity to Sarawak. Social cohesion amongst the Melanau, despite religious differences, is markedly tight.


Despite the destruction of pagan religions in Europe by Christians, most of the people who try to conserve the Dayak's religion are missionaries. For example Reverend William Howell who has contributed to the Sarawak National Gazette. His contributions were also compiled in the book The Sea Dayaks and Other Races of Sarawak.


Kinship in Dayak society is traced in both lines. Although, in Dayak Iban society, men and women possess equal rights in status and property ownership, political office has strictly been the occupation of the traditional Iban Patriarch. The most salient feature of Dayak social organisation is the practice of Longhouse domicile. The Iban of the Kapuas and Sarawak have organized their Longhouse settlements in response to their migratory patterns. Iban Longhouses vary in size, from those slightly over 100 metres in length to large settlements over 500 metres in length. Longhouses have a door and apartment for every family living in the longhouse. Dayak headhunters

Headhunting was an important part of Dayak culture, in particular to the Iban and Kenyah. External interference by the reign of the Brooke Rajahs in Sarawak and the Dutch in Kalimantan Borneo curtailed and limited this tradition. Apart from massed raids, the practice of headhunting was then limited to individual retaliation attacks or the result of chance encounters. Early Brooke Government reports describe Dayak Iban and Kenyah War parties with captured enemy heads. At various times, there have been massive coordinated raids in the interior, and throughout coastal Borneo, directed by the Raj during Brooke's reign in Sarawak. Metal-working is elaborately developed in making mandaus (machetes - 'parang' in Indonesian ).

The combination of these three factors (short, cutting edge up and protrusion) makes for an extremely fast drawing-action. There are various terms to describe different types of Dayak blades.

Dayaks in Indonesia and Malaysia have figured prominently in the politics of these countries. Organised Dayak political representation in the Indonesian State first appeared during the Dutch Administration, in the form of the Dayak Unity Party (Parti Persatuan Dayak) in the 30s and 40s. Feudal Sultanates of Kutai, Banjar and Pontianak figured prominently prior to the rise of the Dutch Colonial rule.


Political circumstances aside, the Dayaks in the Indonesian side actively organised under various associations beginning with the Sarekat Dayak established in 1919, to the Parti Dayak in the 40s, and to the present day, where Dayaks occupy key positions in government.


In Sarawak, Dayak political activism had its roots in the SNAP (Sarawak National Party) and Pesaka during post independence construction in the 1960s. Under Indonesia's transmigration programme, settlers from densely-populated Java and Madura were encouraged to settle in the Indonesian provinces of Borneo. In 2001 the Indonesian government ended the gradual Javanese settlement of Indonesian Borneo that began under Dutch rule in 1905.

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