Peusunat (also called khít bah or peusunat, from the Arabic sunnah) is the Achehnese ceremony of circumcision. In the case of boys, it usually follows the peutamat — the completion of the child’s recitation of the whole Quran — at about the age of nine or ten. As C. Snouck Hurgronje describes it, “the peutamat is usually followed by the circumcision (khít bah or peusunat), either immediately or after the lapse of a couple of days. In contradistinction to the practice in the great majority of Mohammedan countries, this ceremony is often unattended by festivities of any kind, so that even near relations and neighbours are sometimes ignorant that the operation has been performed.”
Under the Mohammedan law circumcision is a duty but not a chief obligation or “pillar” of religion. “Popular feeling, however, attaches great importance to this rite, regarding it more or less as the outward form of adoption into the Mohammedan community. In Acheh, however, this special significance is given to circumcision only in case of unbelievers who embrace Islam and not for the children of Mohammedan parents.” The vows (ka’oy) which in many cases lend distinction to the ceremony of circumcision are the principal source of its festive character. “In accordance with such vows, Rapa’i performances are sometimes given on one or more nights, but oftener still the parents bind themselves to visit a holy tomb (in some cases accompanied with geundrang music) one or two days before the performance of the rite.”
The procession to the holy tomb is the most distinctive feature of the Achehnese circumcision. “A great procession is organized; the boy is dressed just like a bride, except that he wears the high Achehnese kupiah or cap, round which is folded a tangkulo’ (head-cloth). Sometimes he is set on horseback and rides to the holy place. His head is washed (srah ulèë) at the foot of the tomb, and a great kanduri is given. If one of the boy’s ancestors happens to have been in his lifetime a very learned or distinguished person, the grave of the latter is first visited, and the procession then moves on to the tomb of the saint.” Persons of wealth and rank “inaugurate the circumcision with other festivities, which owing to their purely secular character cannot form the subject of a vow, such as the ratèb sadati, peulet or a piasan.”
The operation itself is performed in a manner distinguished from the Javanese practice. “The bath which in Java is regarded as an indispensable prelude to circumcision is not made compulsory in Acheh. The boy is simply cleansed prior to the operation. He is placed on a mat which is strewn with ashes from the cooking-place covered with plantain leaves, or upon a krikay, a small tray standing on a foot and thus serving as a table. The implements used in the operation are a pureh (a piece of the bark fibre of the aren palm, of which native pens are also made), chalk to make a line to guide the operator, a forceps and a razor.” As a rule, the only styptic used is a prayer (du’a peuidong darah), “that employed being the first part of a formula used to exorcise the burong, or some other such tangkay or charm, in which occurs the word tèntab (motionless or fixed) and the words that rhyme therewith from the 21st chapter of the Quran. This symbolizes the checking or stopping of something — as the blood in the case in point.” The operation is absolute circumcision and not incision merely: “Incision, which is universal in the Native States of Java, and the removal of a triangular patch from the end of the prepuce which is sometimes resorted to, are unknown in Acheh. The absolute circumcision is becoming more common in Java of later years.”
In the case of girls, circumcision follows very soon after the peutron. “Not a semblance of festivity attends the ceremony; some yellow glutinous rice is simply brought to the teungku and he repeats the fatihah over it a single time. In presenting it to him the women say: ‘we have here a small offering in honour of the Prophet’ (neù hajat bachut ken Pangulee), without further elucidation. The teungkus receive such little gifts almost daily with a request for a fatihah or a prayer. The secrecy observed in this matter is much greater in Acheh than in Java. In the latter country there is not indeed a feast given to celebrate the circumcision of girls, but there is on the other hand no concealment where they are circumcised at the feasts given to celebrate the performance of the same rite upon their brothers or cousins. The midwife acts as surgeon.”
See Also
- Peutron
- Peutamat daroh
- Kanduri (general)
- Peusijuk (cooling)
- Rateb Saman
- Teungku Anjong
- Teungku di Kuala
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.