The musem piche or kot blang (literally the “season when the land is closed” or “cooped land”) was the approximately eight-month period in the Achehnese agricultural calendar during which the sawahs and umòng (rice-fields) were under active cultivation and therefore protected by unusually severe sanctions against trespassing livestock. The season opened with the universal commencement of ploughing at keunong lheëh blaih (the sixth keunong of the Achehnese year, falling in late May) and continued until the harvest was completed, after which the land became “free” once more in the succeeding season of the freedom of the land.
Legal consequences of the closed land
The decisive feature of the musem piche was the rule of strict liability that it imposed on the keepers of cattle, buffaloes and other livestock. From the moment the padi was sown until the harvest was complete, any animal trespassing upon a rice-field could be put out of harm’s way by the owner of the field without prior warning. Crucially, the cultivator was not required to slaughter the beast in the ritual manner, which would have rendered its flesh lawful for food; instead he was entitled to run it through with a spear, lop off a hoof, or otherwise disable it. Such killings and maimings occurred with some frequency, and every householder was therefore obliged to watch his cows, bullocks and buffaloes carefully for the eight months during which “the land is closed.” This harsh rule, observed Snouck Hurgronje, protected the padi-fields, which would otherwise have been exposed to constant danger through carelessness or malice.
Contrast with gardens and other enclosures
Gardens and other tilled enclosures did not enjoy the same protection, since their fences were presumed to be sufficient. If an animal was so wild as to cause actual damage to a fence, the aggrieved party was expected to warn its owner first. Only if the owner failed to take preventive measures might he expect an angry cultivator to render the offending animal “harmless for good and all.”
Superstitions attached to the season
The opening of the musem piche also closed off a range of otherwise ordinary activities. The setting-up of tombstones (peulapat hareuë), the burning of lime (peut gapu) and—in the highlands—the ear-piercing of young girls (tob glëe nyucng) were all postponed until the musem indah blang. It was generally believed that the rice of an entire field would be spoilt if tombstones were erected, or lime burnt in its neighbourhood, during the period between seedtime and harvest; and the holes in a girl’s ears would never attain the breadth desired by Achehnese women if made while the ground was “narrow” or “closed.”
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.