The peutamat (also called simply the tamat—“completion”) was the Achehnese ceremony that sealed the completion of a child’s elementary instruction in the recitation of the Qur’an. It marked the moment at which a boy or girl had finished reciting the whole of the sacred book to the satisfaction of the teacher (ureueng peumubeu’et), and it was celebrated with a “cooling” rite, a ceremonial bath, a feast, and—especially for boys—an immediate circumcision. Together the peutamat and the circumcision constituted the principal religious rites of passage of Achehnese childhood.
The instruction that the ceremony concluded
At about the age of six or seven, Achehnese boys were brought by their father (and girls by their mother) to the school where they were taught to recite the Qur’an. This instruction was given chiefly by women, though some men who had not been able to find a more lucrative means of livelihood also acted as ureueng peumubeu’et. Wednesday was generally chosen as the day for bringing the children to the schoolmaster or mistress. As a gift for the teacher, they brought a large dish of glutinous rice with grated cocoanut and red sugar on top; the parent addressed the teacher with the formula: “I come to hand over my child to you. Teach it and spare not the rod; so you make it not lame or blind, let the rest be at your discretion.” From this time forth the child attended school pretty regularly until the tamat—until it had completed the recitation of the whole Qur’an.
The teacher’s final “cooling”
When the teacher’s task was entirely finished, the adat prescribed that the guru should subject the pupil to a final “cooling.” As Snouck Hurgronje repeatedly observed, every important act or occurrence, according to the popular belief, set in motion “hot” (i.e. dangerous) influences, against which precautions were necessary. Thus husked and unhusked rice (breu’eh padé) were sent to the teacher to scatter over his pupil, and flour and water together with the plants which served as sprinklers, so that he might perform therewith the usual ceremonies. The teacher also gave his pupil a bath—called the peumanòë tamat (“the bathing on account of the completion”)—and was recompensed by certain gifts: a large dish of yellow glutinous rice, a piece of white cloth, an under-garment, a kerchief, and from two to ten dollars in money. The ceremony took place in the house of the teacher, in the presence of the father and a few guests.
The great kanduri and the formal tamat
Well-to-do people, however, invited the teungku (for this title was applied to instructors in the Qur’an both male and female) to their house, and gave a great kanduri to which, besides the teungku, a number of people from the gampong, and in particular the keuchi’ and many leubè’s, were invited. The teungku—whether the teacher or another, but in any case a man—directed the peutamat, the making of the tamat or completion, in the front verandah where the guests sat. As a matter of fact, however, this ceremony only served to set a seal on the already finished task; for the custom that prevailed elsewhere (as in Java, for instance) of making the pupil give a sample of his proficiency was unknown in Acheh. When the pupil was a boy, he sat arrayed in his best clothes along with the others in the front verandah, with an open Qur’an before him, but took no active part in the proceedings, simply listening to a number of leubè’s chanting certain chapters (Surah 93–114) from the sacred book. When they reached the 112th Surah, all present joined in and closed the ceremony with one of the prayers specially used for concluding every recitation from the Qur’an (meuhatam). If the pupil was a girl, she sat inside the house with an open Qur’an before her, for it was always considered unbefitting for men and women to sit together during such religious ceremonies. When the reading was finished, the paraphernalia of “cooling” were brought into the house—always by a woman.
Circumcision and early marriage
In the case of boys, the peutamat was usually followed by the circumcision (kòh boh 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 was often unattended by festivities of any kind, so that even near relations and neighbours were sometimes ignorant that the operation had been performed. Owing to the early marriages of Achehnese maidens, it often happened that a girl became a bride long before her elementary instruction was at an end. When such a young wife was with child, the ceremony of peutamat was performed in all haste, for fear of her dying before she had completely chanted the word of Allah. The peutamat thus served both as the liturgical seal of childhood instruction and as a precaution against the spiritual peril of unprepared death.
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.