The Achehnese Calendar and Festivals comprised the system of time-reckoning and seasonal observances that governed social, religious, and agricultural life in Acheh, as described by C. Snouck Hurgronje in Chapter II of The Achehnese (pp. 194–294).
The Islamic Lunar Calendar
The Acehnese used the Mohammedan lunar calendar, known as the Achehno-Mohammedan divisions of time. The twelve months of the Islamic year each carried distinct religious and social associations in Acehnese practice. Two months in particular were singled out for avoidance:
Muharram (Month 1): The first ten days were regarded as unlucky — the unlucky days (ureë sial) — as a survival of the commemoration of Hasan and Husain. On these days no work of importance was begun, no marriage with a virgin consummated, no child circumcised, no rice sown or planted out. The name “fire-month” (buleuen apuy) given to the Achura-month (Muharram) possibly alluded to the dances of the Hasan-Husain feasters round fires, as practised in Trumon and the Deccan.
Safar (Month 2): Rabu Abëh (the “final Wednesday” — the last Wednesday of Safar) was universally observed. Many took a bath, the dwellers on the coast in the sea, others in the river or at the well. It was considered desirable to use water consecrated by contact with certain verses of the Quran, written on slips of paper by a teungku in the gampong and given to all who asked.
The Great Feast (Ureë Raya)
The ureë raya (Eid al-Fitr, first of Shawal, after Ramadan) was the greatest feast of the Acehnese year. On the first day, many went to visit their family burial places (bhöm), decorating the head of the tomb with flowers (jeumpa, seumanga) and the bungöng peukan (“market-flowers”), burning incense, and reciting the fātihah (Mohammedan Lord’s Prayer). The six days’ fast after the feast day, recommended in the books of the law, was kept by scarcely anyone in Acheh. The feast lasted about five days, during which men indulged excessively in gambling.
The Meuled (Prophet’s Birthday)
The meuled — the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday — was one of the principal Acehnese religious festivals, celebrated with prayers, communal meals, and recitations.
Court Ceremonies
The prolix ceremonial with which such feasts used to be celebrated at court in the brief period of prosperity of the port-kingship is recorded in ancient documents (the sarakatas), though long since entirely forgotten. Within living memory the rajas of Acheh had but very rarely taken part in public worship and all that pertains to it.
Agricultural Calendar
The agricultural calendar (Chapter II, § 4) governed rice-planting, sugar-cane planting, and the tenths system, as well as the determination of auspicious and inauspicious times for beginning agricultural work.
See Also
- Great Acheh
- Gampong
- Meunasah
- Kanduri
- Hikum
- Achehnese Navigation and Fisheries
- Achehnese Domestic Life
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906. Chapter II, §§ 1–2, pp. 194–245.