The Kanduri of the 44th Day was a commemorative funeral feast held forty-four days after a death in Acheh, counted from the day of burial as the first day. It belonged to the same series of mourning kanduris as the kanduri of the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 10th days, the kanduri of the 100th day and the annual kanduri to’ thon. On the intermediate days—the 30th, and indeed any of those between the early commemorations and the hundredth—only small kanduris (kanduri beu’et ban) were given to the needy, or the Quran was recited in the evening by a few leubes supplied with food before or after the performance. The 44th day, however, was marked by distinctive observances of its own.
The female members of the family went in a body to visit the grave on this day. They carried water to pour upon the tomb, flowers as an offering, and plantains to be eaten upon the spot. If among them were one or more female teungkus—women of religious learning—they rendered further service to the deceased by reciting portions of the Quran at the graveside. The ceremony thus brought the women of the household into the burial-ground in a formal act of pious remembrance, complementing the male-centred observances of the earlier kanduris held in the meunasah or the house of mourning.
The 44th day was also commonly chosen for the pida batèë or “planting of the stones”, that is the setting-up of the actual tombstones in place of the ricinus-plants which had been put down as temporary grave-marks after the burial. The tombstones were imported from neighbouring islands such as Pulo We, and sold for one or two dollars a set; wealthier families had chiselled stones cut from the porous, easily workable stone of Pula Batee (Stone Island) opposite Ulee Lheue. The planting was accompanied by its own kanduri, sometimes at home and sometimes on a larger scale at the place of burial. Yellow glutinous rice was indispensable, and it was thought desirable to slaughter a goat. The teungku of the gampong acted as “planter”: first scattering breuëh-padè (husked and unhusked rice) over both stones, besprinkling them with flour and water from the besom of three “cooling” plants, and saying bismillah before finally setting up the stones and consecrating the feast with a prayer.
The 44th-day kanduri was not, however, unconditionally available. The adat forbade the planting of tombstones during the musem piche blang—the “close season” of the rice-fields—and even during the sowing of padi in the nurseries while the land was “open”. To transgress this prohibition was held to endanger the harvest of the whole neighbourhood, and the keuchi’ was bound to interpose his authority to prevent it. Where funds were lacking or the season was adverse, the planting was postponed for a considerable time. The widow was expected to see to the pida batèë; should she or her husband’s family fail to do so, social stigma followed.
See Also
- Kanduri of the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 10th Days
- Kanduri of the 100th Day
- Kanduri to’ thon Tuan Meurasab
- Kumunjong
- Pula Batee
- Pantang
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.