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Matriarchs of Sumatra: The Women of the Minangkabau
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17680 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1990 |
2,750 Words |
| Author
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Daniel Gabriel
Currently an author and teach of creative writing based in St.
Paul, Minnesota, Daniel Gabriel holds a masters degree in
crosscultural studies. This article is based upon his travels
to Sumatra. |
Red peppers, green peppers, starfruit, and guavas; woven purses of sugarcane and reed; ketek vendors with their clove-tinged cigarettes, chickens squawking under baskets, fatjiggling women selling sweet cakes dripping with delights… It is market day in Bukittingii and, for Yusaini Zabor, a chance to combine duty with pleasure. Her grandniece has chosen a husband, and the head of the clan, Yusaini's mother, has sent her representatives to begin the wedding preparations.
Yusaini is Moslem and Minangkabau. That combination my not seem unlikely to her, but in the male-dominated world of Islam, the Minangkabau represent the far end of the sex-role spectrum. Almost alone among the world's cultures (the only other exceptions are found in India), these dwellers of the central highlands of the island of Sumatra have retained a truly matriarchal society. Women here were once queens, and still today it is the grandmother who is the final force in the family affairs. Property belongs collectively to the matrilineage, to be inherited and worked by the daughters. Children are members of the mother's family and look to her brother, rather than to their own father, for care and education.
When the muezzin makes the call to prayer, the mosques fill rapidly, for the Minangkabau are fervent in their faith. But once outside the mosque, it is a woman's world. Unlike their cloistered sisters in other lands, Minang ladies shout hearty salaams to one another in the street. They laugh - loudly and frequently - and bear themselves with the erect pride of long authority.
An anomaly of mere historical interest? Perhaps. But this is no dying tribe of hunters and
... (1996 of 16191 Characters)
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