The Friday (Jumu’ah) prohibitions are a body of Achehnese pantang rules — customary taboos — that forbid certain kinds of work on Friday, the Mohammedan day of public worship. C. Snouck Hurgronje treats them in The Achehnese chiefly in connection with the rules of the fishing community, but they extend to agricultural labour as well and reflect the universal Achehnese respect for the sanctity of the day of assembly.
Pukat-Fishing and Ploughing
The best-known Friday prohibition in Acheh relates to fishing with the pukat or seine-net. As Snouck Hurgronje describes, pukat-fishing in the open sea — called mupayang — is only carried on for a small part of the year, requires the cooperation of two sampans, and presupposes great skill on the part of the pawang or master-fisherman. Among the rules universally observed is that which forbids fishing with the pukat on a Friday under any pretext. Other methods of catching fish may be practised with impunity on this day, but pukat-fishing is prohibited as strictly as ploughing. Thus, on Fridays, the pawang and his crew may be seen lounging about in their best clothes, having neither net nor plough to attend to.
Theoretical Foundation
The Friday prohibitions do not rest on any formal provision of the Mohammedan law. The law requires the performance of the Friday service in the mosque at noon, but does not forbid secular labour on that day beyond what is necessary to enable the worshipper to attend. The Achehnese prohibition of ploughing and of pukat-fishing is an adat extension of the legal rule, the work being regarded as too heavy or too absorbing to be combined with the proper observance of the day. In the case of the pukat-fishing, the prohibition is also bound up with the elaborate system of ilmu (magical lore) that governs the seine-net fishery; Friday is the day on which the pawang and his crew rest from their struggle with the spirits of the sea.
Relation to the Fishing Pantangs
The Friday prohibition is one of a large class of pantang rules observed by Achehnese seafaring men. Among the fishermen on the north coast of Java whole lists of words can be collected which are prohibited at sea and have to be replaced by others, and the same is the case to some extent among the seafaring folk of Acheh. Those at sea must not, for example, call a mountain by its proper name gunong, lest waves as high as mountains should overwhelm their vessel; the euphemism employed is tanoh manyang (“high ground”). The elephant, gajah, must be called by his nickname si meurah. If the fisherman wishes to say that something is “ready,” he must not use the ordinary word beukeunong, because this has also the meaning of “free” or “loose,” and its use might give the imprisoned fish a chance of escaping; the less dangerous synonym teungka is employed. To this class of universal lore must be added the special pukat mysteries, in which the Friday prohibition holds a central place.
See Also
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.