The Kanduri la’ot — the “sea-kanduri” or fishermen’s kanduri — is the annual religious feast held by each lho’ (literally “bay,” but in this context a division of the foreshore) of Achehnese pukat-fishermen to invoke God’s blessing on the labours of its pawangs. As C. Snouck Hurgronje records, the feast “is supposed to bring to the pukat-fishers the same good luck as the Kanduri blang does to the planters,” and is timed to coincide with the compulsory holiday enjoyed by the fishery during the rough weather of the monsoon changes. Thus the foreshore at Ulee Lheue, for example, is divided for the pukat-fishermen into two lho’s, one of which gives its kanduri la’ot in keunong 17 at the beginning of the south-west monsoon (about April), and the other in keunong 5 at the beginning of the north-east monsoon (about September).
The day for the feast is fixed by the panglima of the pawang guild, who invites to it the neighbouring pawangs and the notables of the gampong. The expenses of the feast are borne by the pawangs of the lho’, but they can claim a contribution of about four dollars from each of their contract buyers. A buffalo is always slaughtered for the occasion, and the feast is, by Achehnese standards, a luxurious one. Before the company proceeds to attack the good cheer spread on the shore of the lho’s foreshore, the kanduri is consecrated by one of three forms of religious recitation: the like (Arabic dhikr), the seulaweuet (the repetition of psalms of praise in honour of the Prophet), or the liha’i — the recitation in chorus of portions of the Quran by the teungkus and leubes present.
The significance of the lho’ as a unit of organisation is most clearly displayed at the kanduri la’ot. At ordinary times the boundary between one lho’ and the next has little practical meaning: the pawangs of a given lho’ use that stretch of foreshore for laying up and repairing their sampans and as the base for their fishing trips, but the right to catch fish in the waters facing that strip of coast is open to the pawangs of other lho’s just as much as to them, and it is no offence for one of these others to land in their territory. At the kanduri la’ot, however, the boundary acquires its chief significance, for it is by lho’ that the feast is organised and the blessing of the year’s fishing invoked.
For the seven days following the kanduri la’ot, it is “high festival for the fish in that lho’”: during this week neither the pawangs belonging to that bay nor their colleagues from neighbouring parts may fish in its waters. This compulsory close-time is a remarkable example of the way in which a religious observance may serve as a piece of practical conservation, allowing the fish a brief respite at the very moment when the season’s labour is about to begin. The kanduri la’ot thus accomplishes three ends at once: it consecrates the year’s fishing to God; it reaffirms the solidarity of the lho’ as a community of pawangs; and it gives the fish a week’s grace before the nets are set again. In this combination of piety, fellowship, and prudence, it is typical of the Achehnese kanduri at its best.
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.