South Aceh, the Nature and Culture Vulture

elshadr (62)in #aceh • 7 years ago (edited)

A Little Information About South Aceh "Nature and Culture"

The people of Aceh are a group of people consisting of several indigenous tribes and races, migrants from outside areas scattered within the province and composed of several districts / municipalities located at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra and several islands in the Malacca Strait and Indian Ocean.
There are hundreds of tribes with different customs and cultures according to their origins and locations, although they are in diversity, but basically the whole of Aceh continues to practice all the customs according to their religious guidance, namely Islam.
This time I want to briefly review the customs of our people who are in one of the districts with beautiful nature, abundant agricultural products and crops, mineral deposits spread all over the region as well as the unique community and religious culture of South Aceh.

The Natural

Being right on the Indian Ocean Beach famous for its ferocious waves makes its natural elevation a beach with steep cliffs, as well as land with rocky mountains, lowland and flat percentages are very small when compared to mountainous terrain, most of the lowlands and valleys are utilized as the location of residence of the people and the agricultural area of horticulture.

The dominant agricultural products from South Aceh are Corn, Beans and Rice, while the most dominant plantation products are Nutmeg and a few Cloves and Oil Palm.

Mountain soil in the area is a very fertile land, so it is not surprising that in planting the Nutmeg, local people just come to plant their lips, then wait for two years to reap the rewards, without the need for special care or fertilization, they only occasionally visit the garden to just see circumstances and clearing land around trees from weed disturbance.
Although minimal maintenance, but the Nutmeg and the resulting processed form of Dry Nutmeg and Nutmeg Oil, is the best product with world-recognized quality and has been exported to overseas
So this area is also called State of the Nutmeg

This time I do not want to discuss further about Agriculture and Plantations in South Aceh, but I would like to briefly review the Local Wisdom of South Aceh residents when going to open the forest location as the Gold Mine of People's land.

As I told you at the beginning of the story, South Aceh is an area dominated by a plateau with a rocky rock texture.

Post-Peace Aceh from the long war, many companies that conduct mineral rocks surveys in various regions in Aceh, South Aceh is one of the targets, while conducting a survey the Company also recruited some local workers as a guide.
After Exploring for several months, they managed to map the region according to the Minerals contained in the rocks of the earth's bowels, some dots containing iron ore, manganese and lime, while most other mineral rocks contain Gold.

The survey was completed, the Company went home.
Only a few local workers return to their activities as usual, from information about the content of Gold in South Aceh spread through word of mouth.

And the Golden Exploitation Begins

The people of South Aceh immediately invited the "Java Island Miners* who have been accustomed to processing mineral stones into Gold Powder with simple equipment, generally they come from West Java.

But before the mining activity begins, the Custom Leaders and local community leaders first counsel to carry out the Indigenous Rituals, namely Mountain Scavenging which is generally carried out in every land clearing or new activities, once the agreement has been reached and the time has been set, .

One day before the event, the locals were already busy in preparation, some of the men helped by carrying groceries, women were busy cooking menus, while some of the other men went to the mountains to clean up the venue.

Mountain Scavenging Procession

On the day of thanksgiving, early in the morning some community leaders had arrived at the thanksgiving site, they rolled out mats and installed White and Yellow flags as a sign that although mining was allowed but extra caution was needed to survive the natural disaster.
A few moments later other residents began to arrive, they brought a basket of food that will be enjoyed together after the event is over.
The event began with a briefing from the village head containing the advice and the prohibitions to be obeyed by the workers, both outside workers and local workers, followed by the advice and discourse of some of the prominent figures and stakeholders and concluded with the event of Prayer together .
After the prayers are finished, then eating together is the end of all the customary processions of this forest jungle, along with some of the pictures I managed to take while the event was in progress.