Maq meugang (in Kreemer’s spelling) is the Atjehnese term for the two great annual ritual slaughter-days that fall immediately before the beginning and at the end of the Vastenmaand (the Ramadan fasting month) — the two days on which, in Groot-Atjeh, the *teungkoe meunasah* (village religious official) was entitled to his slaughter-fee (a neck-piece three fingers wide below the ears), and on which the *poewôê siê* first-year husband meat-obligation was discharged. The term is recorded in Kreemer’s *De Karbouw* ([[1956)]] (p. 118) and in his *Atjeh* (vol. II, p. 209) as one of the named slaughter-occasions of the Atjehnese calendar, distinguished by the fact that the teungkoe’s fee was paid on these days — in contrast to the Moloet (Mawlid), the hakikah (newborn) sacrifice, and the kanoeri’s (sacred meals on other occasions), on which the teungkoe received no fee.
The slaughter-fee system
The maq meugang passage in De Karbouw (p. 118) is part of a longer account of the Atjehnese ritual-slaughter fee-system:
“Het slachtloon voor de door de teungkoe geslachte dieren bestaat uit een stuk van de hals van het slachtdier, drie vingers breed onder de oren. Niet bij iedere slacht ontvangt hij dit loon, wèl bijv. bij die op de beide slachtdagen vóór het begin en bij het einde der Vasten (maq meugang), maar niet bij die op de gedenkdag van Moehammad’s geboorte (Moloet), evenmin bij het slachtoffer ten behoeve van pasgeborenen (hakikah) en ten slotte ook niet bij de heilmaaltijden (kanoeri’s) bij andere belangrijke gebeurtenissen.” The structural elements are:
- The two slaughter-days: maq meugang — the two days immediately before the beginning of Ramadan and at its end (the latter being Idul Fitri).
- The fee: a neck-piece of the slaughtered animal, three fingers wide below the ears.
- The recipient: the *teungkoe meunasah* — the village religious official who served as ritual slaughterer in Groot-Atjeh.
- Contrast with non-fee occasions: on the Moloet (Mawlid, the anniversary of Muhammad’s birth), the hakikah (sacrifice for a newborn), and the kanoeri’s (sacred meals on other important occasions), the teungkoe received no fee.
Significance
Maq meugang is significant for the encyclopedia of Acheh history as the named frame for the two principal ritual slaughter-days of the Atjehnese Islamic calendar — the days on which the teungkoe’s slaughter-fee was paid, on which the poewôê siê first-year husband obligation was discharged, and on which (by the *peuteumbôn* custom) the fattened buffaloes were slaughtered. The term thus anchors the integration of the buffalo-slaughter complex with the Islamic ritual calendar of Atjeh, and is one of the principal adat institutions documented in Kreemer’s *Atjeh* and re-cited in *De Karbouw*. The contrast between the fee-paid maq meugang and the non-fee Moloet, hakikah and kanoeri’s occasions documents the graded ritual-economy of the Atjehnese slaughter-calendar.
Sources
De Karbouw — Zijn betekenis voor de volken van de Indonesische Archipel, by J. Kreemer (‘s-Gravenhage / Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve, 1956), p. 118.
Atjèh, by J. Kreemer, vol. II (1923), p. 209.