Perpatih: Taboos

In every culture, each have their own beliefs and it might not have anything to do with their religion. It is true that religion is about believing in something like a higher power and doing a certain rituals and culture is something like that but just slightly different. Most people can’t differentiate which is culture and which is religion. Well, when it comes to culture, it is mostly about influence, mindsets and attitude. So mindset about certain cultures would be different. Some believes in bad and good luck, some believes in science and some like the people of Minangkabau, believes in taboo.

It is very interesting to see how taboos actually work. Taboos are pretty much restriction for certain events or places, what they should and should not do. It ranges from sleeping taboos to giving birth’s taboo. When it comes to sleeping, they believe that they should not sleep in the evening as it will attract you to diseases and they should also not sleep in the afternoon as it leads to life shortening. They also believe that girls should not sleep lay on their back as that will attract snakes.

When it comes to their eating taboos, they believe that you can never eat using two stacks of plates as it leads to having two marriages and if you eat while your other hand holds on to the ground since they mostly eat on the floor especially for village people, it will weakens your body. It is very rare to see the generation today to still follow these taboos. However, I went to a friend’s hometown on the 10^th of March 2011 and saw it for myself how the mother who is a Minangkabau, taught all of her nine kids about these taboos. She taught me a little bit too as she feels that I need to know what is the right thing to do in their culture and since I am the outsider, I feel that I should know as I don’t want to offend anybody and that is how I got to learn about the Minangkabau’s taboos.

The people of Minangkabau practice a lot of restrictions because of the taboos that they believe in. The most interesting part about these taboos is that it came from their ancestors, a very long time ago where they use taboos to teach their children and grandchildren the right way to live. The consequences for all taboos were actually made up by the ancestors to scare the young ones so that they would avoid being rude, live healthily and safely. So, the taboos were passed down from generations to generations as guidelines for them to never forget their own culture.