By Andrea Sanchez
The Beginning
 They believed that through the light of Mohammed God created the
universe.
From the light came the angels and Adam and from Adam came
Alexander the Great whose wife was a nymph from Paradise. After
Alexander’s death his three sons [Diraja, Alif, and Depang] set sail
around the world. The story says that the princes fought for the
rightful ownership of the crown. During their voyage, they lost the
crown. A trickster who was also a master goldsmith created a replica
of the crown and told Diraja to tell his brothers that he found the
original. He did so and they separated. Prince Depang sailed to the
Land of Sunrise where he became the Emperor of Japan. Prince Alif
said to the Land of Sunset where he became Sultan of Turkey. Prince
Dirija found the Land between the Sunrise and Sunset where the
Minangakabau began and Maharaja Diraja became their first king.
 A legend says that the name comes from the victory
over Javanese invaders. They had a calf fight with a
bull with knives on its horns and the calf killed the
bull. Minang meant victories and Kerbau meant
buffalo.
 Another version of this story said that it was a baby
buffalo instead of a calf that was to fight the bull from
another village.
 The Minangkabau live in West
Sumatra in Indonesia.
 There are 4 million Minangkabau
 They are Indonesia’s 4th largest ethnic
group
 They call their home the Alam
Minangkabau which means
Minangkabau World.
 Their world is split into two regions.
The Darat and Rantau.

Darat is the highland home for them.

Rantau is applied to the outlying districts.
 The Darat is divided into three more
groups.
 Tanah Datar
 Agam
 Lima Puluh Koto
 The Minangkabau are matrilineal
 They are the largest matrilineal society in the world
 The Minangkabau stress education a lot and are
well-represented in all the educated professions in
Indonesia.
Ceremonies
 Turun mandi - baby blessing ceremony
 Sunat rasul - circumcision ceremony
 Baralek - wedding ceremony
 Batagak pangulu – Inaugurates the clan leader
 Turun ka sawah - community work ceremony
 Manyabik - harvesting ceremony
 Hari Royo – Islamic festivals
 Adoption ceremony
 Adat ceremony
 Funeral ceremony
 Wild boar hunt ceremony
 Maanta pabukoan - sending food to mother-in-law for Ramadan
 Tabuik - Muslim celebration in a coastal village
Religion
 The Minangkabau are Muslims, but also believe in
Animism which means that they believe that spirits
exist in plants, animals, and things other than
humans.
 Before the 18th century, Islamic practices were weakly
observed
Beliefs
 They believe that people have two souls, a real soul
and one that can disappear which is called a semangat.
 They believe that illness is caused by the capture of a
semangat by an evil spirit and the shaman or pawang
helps the family
 They sacrifice things to spirits and use things as
amulets for protection
Adat
 The Adat is their law.
 It has rules of conduct, belief, and social organization.
 According to the tambo (their historical legend), the
adat was given to the royal family.
 The first adat talks about the laws of nature.
 The second adat talks about the essence of their social
organization.
 The third category is about the preserving of tradition.
 The fourth adat talks about social behavior that is
appropriate.
 Adat and Islam reinforce each other
 In the 19th century the peaceful coexistence of adat
was hurt with the Padri wars. The Padri leaders
displaced adat and substituted it with strict Islam.
Merantau
 The practice of voluntary outmigration.
 They were originally sedentary agriculturalists and
their land in the darat was productive for their rice, but
after the growth in population, traders had to go to the
rantau.
 The merantau has changed location. At first it meant
that the merchants left from the darat to the rantau,
but at now it applies to people who keep ties to their
village, but travel elsewhere to work.
Economics
 Their main source of income comes from wet-rice
cultivation.
 They also grow fruits, vegetables, peanuts, peppers,
maize, and tomatoes.
 The local markets sell more than just produce. They
sell fish, meat, clothes, jewelry, books, and textiles.
 Artisans work In large cities and sell bamboo carvings,
pottery, and weaving among other things.
Performing Arts
 The Minangkabau’s music consists
of singing with a bamboo flute and
gong-chime music
 Their dances include the tari piring
(plate dance), tari payung
(umbrella dance) and tari indang
 They also perform the silat martial
art
 Randai is performed at festivals
and ceremonies and it is a folk
theater tradition that includes
music, singing, dancing, drama, and
silat martial art
Sociopolitcal Organization
 All matrilineal segments have a linage chief called the
penghulu.
 Even though they are matrilineal, some leaders are
men
 They perform ceremonies like weddings and funerals
 The penghulu have political, economic, social, and
ceremonial power.
 They have three associates.



One helps solves disputes
Another helps watch over security
The third gives advice about the Islamic law
Architechture
 Rumah Gadang are the
traditional homes.
 Rumah Gadang means big
house.
 Women own the home
 The roof is multi-tiered
with upswept gables
 Rumah Gadang usually
refers to communal
homes, but some singleresidence homes have the
same characteristics