Revealing the History and Philosophy of the Meukeutop Kupiah

One of the indigenous clothes of Aceh that we have to celebrate in daily life is not a time serimonials but we should make clothes in the daily form of Kupiah Meukeutop. In ancient times during the Dutch colonial period, this meukeutop kupiah called Kupiah Tungkop, this kupiah is now more familiar with Kupiah Meukeutop. But there are still some people who call it kungkungkungk, especially people tungkop and neighbors around tampop gampong.

Some people mention that the KU meukeutop comes from the settlement of Tungkop or more details in the village of RawaTungkop Indrajaya District Pidie District was first made by the grandmother Sapiah in the Dutch era first.

Be aware of the story of parents in the gampong, in the days of Dutch colonialism is often there are people who come to visit the house of Nek Sapiah to see, take pictures of kungkung tungkop and aceh house almarhumah nek Sapiah home.

Besides nek Sapiah, there is also a friend of Sabi nek who make this tongkop kukar together with Sapiah nek. But after he died, this handicraft was continued by his descendants.

Era used to be very few people who make this tongkop rupiah because in addition to making a little difficult and takes a long time, people tungkop who make this rupiah has not tau want to be sold where the work of their hands.

Of course this is used by people who have their own distribution network and buy it from people tungkop with cheap price. Over time, more and more generations of tungkop that make this kerajian, yes even though there are also people from the neighboring villages that participate to preserve this rupiah.

Based on the story of some people in the village of Rawa Tungkop now has formed one studio that is Sanggar Kupiah Meukeutop which is chaired by Kak Mah. This studio has been established several years ago. With the establishment of this studio already many who know about the making of this rupiah, even the governor of Aceh had once visited the village Rawa Tungkop to see, appreciate, even buy works by hand from this Meukeutop rupiah.

The philosophy of Kupiah Meukeutop

We know the endatu first of every thing can not be separated from the aesthetic value and philosophy. So also in the meukeutop kupiah there are 5 colors of colors each of which has its own meaning.

In the red color symbolizes heroism, yellow color means kingdom or country, green color signifies religion, black color means firmness or determination, whereas white color means holiness or a sincerity.

Based on the above exposure as a whole, the rupiah meukeutop is divided into 4 parts. Just like the color of meukeutop kuta, each part also has its own meaning. In the first section, the meaning of law, in the second part, means custom, while in the third meaning kanun and in the fourth meaning reusam.

Meanwhile, the form and also the motif of the meukeutop in general. It's just the color on the songket cloth that wrapped around the circle of the rupiah is different. Generally adapted to the color songket on custom clothing.

Moving from the above exposure at least we are trying to knit back the legacy of endatu through the socialization of the rupiah cover Meansutup in everyday life and implement its values. Hopefully.

• Helmi Abu Bakar, Coffee Lovers of Aceh and Literacy Lovers.

Reference: Compiled from various sources