gatja-avonden (English: “henna evenings (three evenings before wedding)”) is a term or concept described in Jongejan’s Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu in relation to Aceh. Three evenings preceding the wedding at the bride’s house; palms, soles, and tips of fingers and toes of the bride are smeared with the red sap of ground gatja-leaves.
Translation
henna evenings (three evenings before wedding)
Description
Three evenings preceding the wedding at the bride’s house; palms, soles, and tips of fingers and toes of the bride are smeared with the red sap of ground gatja-leaves. No one from the groom’s house may participate. From these evenings until the 7th day after the wedding, the young man and girl bear the names ‘bruidegom’ and ‘bruid’. Also observed in Gajo and Alaslanden (in Gajo preceded by instruction from the dorpsgeestelijke and his wife about wedding ceremonies and marital duties).
Significance
The term gatja-avonden is recorded by Jongejan as part of the cultural, administrative, or institutional vocabulary of Aceh.
See Also
Source
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 124, 125.