The peusijuk — also spelled peusijue or peusijuek, the “cooling” ceremony — was one of the most pervasive ritual observances in Achehnese life. A propitiatory rite performed with leafy boughs, flour-and-water aspersion, and other symbolic substances, the peusijuk formed the customary accompaniment of a wide range of important acts and undertakings — from the building of a new house, to the holding of a wedding, to the commencement of the most important agricultural operations, to the slaughter of sacrificial beasts at the tombs of saints. Its purpose was always to abate the “hot,” destructive influences believed to inhere in beginnings, transitions, and accumulated spiritual tensions.
As C. Snouck Hurgronje repeatedly observes, “every important act or occurrence, according to the popular belief, sets in motion ‘hot’ (i. e. dangerous) influences, against which precautions are necessary.” The peusijuk provides the standard Achehnese precaution. Its implements are few and constant: breu’ëh padé (husked and unhusked rice) to scatter over the subject of the rite, teupong taweue (flour and water) for aspersion, and a besom formed of the three “cooling” plants — the pineung (betel-nut palm), the mane manoe, and the sisijue — by which the aspersion is performed. The rite is opened with the bismillah (“In the name of Allah”), and the subject is then sprinkled, anointed, and otherwise treated with the cooling substances until the “hot” influences are believed to have been abated.
In the agricultural cycle, the peusijuk was observed at the commencement of the planting-out of the padi, where it is known as peuphòn padi — “the commencement or inauguration of the padi.” For the cooling of the umòng (rice-field), the Achehnese employed leafy fronds of the pineung (betel-nut palm) and the plants called mane manoe and sisijue, which were tied together and soaked in flour and water to besprinkle the centre of the rice-field. After this was done the green besom was planted right in the middle of the umòng. Some omitted the sprinkling of flour and water, and simply planted the bundle of boughs in the centre. Both methods alike were known as peuphòn padi. Planting then proceeded from the centre outwards, after the indispensable beseumelah (“In the name of Allah”) had been uttered.
In the life-cycle, the peusijuk was the indispensable accompaniment of the peutron (the ceremony of the infant’s first contact with the earth), of the circumcision of boys, of the piercing of the ears of girls (tèb glènyueng), of the erection of the tombstones over a newly buried relative, and of the marriage. The set of plants and articles used in the peusijuk varied somewhat according to the occasion. In the more elaborate coolings — such as those performed at the slaughter of sacrificial beasts at the tombs of saints, as at the kurubeu’en of Bitay — the tray (dalong) of articles presented to the slaughterer included raw eggs, husked and unhusked rice mixed together, perfumed oil, seureuma (antimony powder for the eyelids), baja (blacking for the teeth), a small mirror, a comb, a razor, a sunshade, and a piece of white cotton cloth four ells in length. The “cooling” of all hot, destructive influences was performed in the usual way, and the slaughterer would shave a little hair from the animal with the razor, hold the mirror before its eyes for a moment, and then cover it with the white cotton cloth as with a shroud. Only after these rites was the animal killed.
The cooling ceremony was, as Hurgronje observes, “the accompaniment of a whole host of important acts and undertakings.” It was performed at the building of a new house, at a wedding, at the planting-out of the padi, at the departure of a traveller, at the assumption of a new office, and at moments of recovery from illness. Through this single ritual grammar — besprinkling, anointing, the binding of leaves, the propitiation of hostile influences — the Achehnese expressed a coherent theory of beginnings: that every transition in life is fraught with peril until the “hot” agencies around it have been formally “cooled.” The same rite thus binds together the whole cycle of Achehnese life and labour, from the sowing of the padi to the burial of the dead.
Additional account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Peusijue
The peusijue (also spelled peusijuk) or “cooling” ceremony was, in one of its most distinctive Achehnese applications, a rite of reconciliation employed to wash away the insult inseparable from an injury done, where the offender was a person of high rank and the injured party an ordinary citizen. Where persons of equal rank were concerned, the offender asked forgiveness of the injured party; but where the disparity of rank was great, the insult could be obliterated without recourse to the formal meulangga (the gampong-adat of reconciliation), simply through the peusijue or another form of compensation in which all ceremonies were dispensed with.
The cooling of insult
Bodily injuries, hurt or manslaughter originating in ordinary quarrels were avenged without recourse to any authority by the injured party with the help of his kawom (kindred). If at the end of the mutual reprisals a considerable debit balance remained over on one side, the matter was submitted to the uleëbalang, who in this case simply directed the payment, in accordance with religious law, of the diët (the price of blood) by the offender to the injured party. The peusijue, by contrast, was the rite that “washed away the insult inseparable from the injury done,” and did not interfere with the debt in blood or money which accrued therefrom. It was thus a complementary rite, addressed to the wounded honour of the victim rather than to the material debt of vengeance.
The reversal of deference
An insult offered by a person of high rank to an ordinary citizen was obliterated without recourse being had to meulangga, simply through the peusijue or another form of compensation in which all ceremonies were dispensed with. Indeed it sometimes happened that an injured villager, on receiving compensation at the hands, say, of an uleëbalang’s son who had done him an injury, actually begged the latter for forgiveness. The cooling thus took on a paradoxical form: the very man who had been injured was the one who begged pardon of his injurer, so great was the disparity of rank and so persuasive the gift of compensation.
Where the formal request for pardon was required
Injuries done to persons of position by those of inferior rank were never atoned for without a formal request for pardon. One of the lower orders who had committed some offence against a chief below the rank of uleëbalang sought the presence of the chief with gifts, accompanied by relatives and friends who pleaded in his behalf. To an uleëbalang, the offender was brought wrapped up in a cloth as though he were dead or seriously ill. Where the ceremony of “cooling” took place between two persons of equal rank, the offender asked forgiveness of the injured party who was seated opposite, and to this end rose first from his place; but if the parties were of unequal rank, the relative positions were reversed.
A pervasive ritual grammar
Like other forms of the peusijue, this cooling of insult employed a single ritual grammar—besprinkling, anointing, the binding of leaves, the propitiation of hostile influences—through which the Achehnese expressed a coherent theory of transition: that every breach in the social order is fraught with peril until the “hot” agencies around it have been formally “cooled.” In the context of insult and injury, the cooling complemented the material settlement of vengeance and blood-debt, addressing the spiritual dimension of the wrong that no payment of diët could discharge.
Additional account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Peusijue (Cooling ceremony)
The peusijue (also spelled peusijuk) or “cooling” ceremony was one of the most pervasive ritual observances in Achehnese life. A propitiatory rite performed with leafy boughs, flour-and-water aspersion, and other symbolic substances, the peusijue formed the customary accompaniment of a wide range of important acts and undertakings—from the building of a new house, to the holding of a wedding, to the commencement of the most important agricultural operations. Its purpose was always to abate the “hot,” destructive influences believed to inhere in beginnings, transitions, and accumulated spiritual tensions.
The cooling of the rice-field
In the agricultural cycle, the peusijue was observed at the commencement of the planting-out of the padi. For the cooling of the umòng (rice-field), the Achehnese employed leafy fronds of the pineung (betel-nut palm) and the plants called mane manoe and sisijue, which were tied together and soaked in flour and water (teupong taweue) to besprinkle the centre of the rice-field. After this was done the green besom was planted right in the middle of the umòng. Some omitted the sprinkling of flour and water, and simply planted the bundle of boughs in the centre. Both methods alike were known as peuphòn padi—“the commencement or inauguration of the padi.” Planting then proceeded from the centre outwards, after the indispensable beseumelah (“In the name of Allah”) had been uttered.
Substances and implements
The set of plants and articles used in the peusijue varied somewhat according to the occasion. The naléng sambo and bayam Itiba’ employed in other ceremonies of cooling were not used for the rice-field, where the betel-nut fronds and the mane manoe and sisijue sufficed. In the more elaborate coolings—such as those performed at the slaughter of sacrificial beasts at the tombs of saints—the tray (dalong) of articles presented to the slaughterer included raw eggs, husked and unhusked rice mixed together, perfumed oil, seureuma (antimony powder for the eyelids), baja (blacking for the teeth), a small mirror, a comb, a razor, a sunshade, and a piece of white cotton cloth four ells in length. The “cooling” of all hot, destructive influences was performed in the usual way, and the slaughterer would shave a little hair from the animal with the razor, hold the mirror before its eyes for a moment, and then cover it with the white cotton cloth as with a shroud. Only after these rites was the animal killed.
Pervasive use in Achehnese life
The cooling ceremony was, as Snouck Hurgronje observes, the accompaniment of a whole host of important acts and undertakings. It was performed at the building of a new house, at a wedding, at the planting-out of the padi, at the departure of a traveller, at the assumption of a new office, and at moments of recovery from illness. Through this single ritual grammar—besprinkling, anointing, the binding of leaves, the propitiation of hostile influences—the Achehnese expressed a coherent theory of beginnings: that every transition in life is fraught with peril until the “hot” agencies around it have been formally “cooled.”
Additional account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Peusijue’ (‘cooling’ ceremony)
The peusijue’ (also written peusijuk) or “cooling” ceremony was, in one of its characteristic Achehnese applications, the rite observed at the building and inauguration of a new house. Snouck Hurgronje notes the odd contrast between this Achehnese “cooling” of a new house and the English “house-warming” by which a new dwelling is inaugurated: to natives of warm climates, coolness and not warmth appears the desideratum. The same process was resorted to whenever there had been any unusual feast or ceremony in the house, since such occurrences were supposed to set the heat—that is, the powers of evil—in motion.
The cooling of a new house
A favourable time for commencing to build was carefully chosen. The work always began with the setting up of the two principal posts, with the cross-beams that united them; while this was in progress, sundry prayers and formulas were repeated. These two posts—which, when the house was completed, stood in the juree—were called the raja and the putroe (“prince” and “princess”). For them the soundest and best wood was selected; the raja was first set up, and then the putroe. At a wedding the bridegroom took his place next the “prince” post, while the bride occupied a seat under the “princess”.
Should the ceremonies at the setting up of the principal pillars prove propitious for continuing to build, then as soon as the house was finished a lucky day was again chosen for moving into it. On this occasion a kanduri or religious feast was given, to which the teungku of the meunasah and some leubè’s were invited. After this gathering there commenced the customary “cooling” (peusijue’), which consisted in sprinkling all the posts with flour and water (teupong taweue) by means of a broom formed of plants and twigs having a “cooling,” that is an evil-dispelling, influence. Of all the pillars, the raja and the putroe received most attention on such occasions.
The “royal” pillars and their turbans
The two “royal” pillars, and sometimes others as well, were at the time of building covered at the top with a piece of white cloth, over which again was placed a piece of red, so that they looked as though they had turbans on their heads. This was also supposed to contribute to the protection of the inmates from evil influences. The cooling of the new house thus extended from the practical sprinkling of the posts to a more permanent symbolic marking of the principal pillars as sacred objects—protectors of the dwelling against the “hot” influences that might otherwise gather around it.
The cooling of shed blood
A second distinctive application of the peusijue’ was in the reconciliation that followed a quarrel between members of different gampongs. The day after the symbolical satisfaction (the uprooting of trees and courtyard-fence by the offended gampong), the parties met again to consult as to the guarantees for the establishment of peace. An idang of yellow gelatinous rice (bu kunyet) and a piece of white cloth must without fail be offered by the offender for “cooling of the blood of others” (peusijue’ darah gob) which he had shed, as the saying was. To this was often added a money present of some considerable amount. This method of settling a quarrel was never applied to real cases of theft, adultery or homicide, or even of bodily hurt of a serious description; the wounds inflicted must be healed before recourse was had to meulangga (the formal reconciliation).
Additional account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Peusijuek
The peusijuek (Achehnese peusijuëk, “making cool”) is the central Achehnese rite of “cooling” — the ceremonial besprinkling of a person or thing with flour-and-water (teupòng taweue) in order to avert evil influences, confirm well-being, and purify from the “hot” or baneful influences that threaten every transition of life. The rite rests on the conceptual opposition, common to the native languages of the East Indian Archipelago, by which all happiness, peace, rest, and well-being are united under the concept of “coolness,” while the words “hot” and “heat” typify all the powers of evil. When a person has either just endured the attack of a “hot” influence, or has luckily contrived to escape it, the adat prescribes methods of “cooling” in order to confirm him in the well-being which he has recovered or escaped losing.
The most effective method of cooling consists in besprinkling the person or thing to be cooled with teupòng taweue — water mixed with a little rice-flour — and the strewing over the object of a little husked and unhusked rice mingled together (breuëh padè). The besprinkling is performed with the help of certain small plants bound into an improvised holy-water sprinkler. Among the plants which always appear in this besom are the sisijue (a name which in itself implies cooling), the manè’-manòe (in the highlands called peunchrueng), and naleu’eng sambo, a kind of grass the flowers of which bear a likeness to those of the cooling plants; according to Dr. P. van Romburgh the manè’-manòe is the Eleusine indica, known in Java as jampang and used there as cattle-fodder. The use of leaves and twigs of certain plants for such purposes is universal among the Malays; the Achehnese rite is the local form of a widely diffused Indonesian practice.
The occasions on which the peusijuek is performed are numerous and include virtually every transition of life. The completion of a house, the launching of a newly built ship, and the holding of a kanduri on board are made the occasion for a process of cooling; before the padi is planted out the ground must be purified from “hot” or dangerous influences; the return of a traveller, the recovery of a sick child, the andam and ear-piercing of a bride, the appointment of a panglima kawom or uleebalang — all are “cooled” by the same rite. A person who has narrowly escaped shipwreck, or fallen into the water and narrowly escaped drowning, or a child which has fallen from the steps of the house, is “cooled” by an old woman of the family.
In the case of human beings, the cooling with flour and water is followed by the peusunteng, the smearing of a little yellow glutinous rice (bu kunyèt) behind both ears. In some cases this last only is done: a child that has fallen from the stairs is simply smeared behind the ears with a little clay from the ground on which it falls — the simplest and most domestic form of the rite. All these coolings, except when recognised experts are employed, should be performed by old women; otherwise the good result is very doubtful. The rite thus stands at the head of the Achehnese life-cycle ceremonies, of which the mamplenc wedding procession and the various kanduris that punctuate the ecclesiastical year are the more public expression.
See Also
- Peutron
- Peusunat (Circumcision)
- Pula batee
- Great Feast of Sacrifices)
- Kanduri (general)
- Musem ludih blang (Season of the freedom of the land)
- Peusijue (Cooling ceremony)
- Peusijue’
- Meulangga
- Uleëbalang
- Tabu system of sowing padi
- Kot blang
- Kanduri blang
- Peuchichab
- Peusunteng
- Andam
- Kanduri
- Mamplenc
- Rapa’i
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.