The pula or seuneulong system is the Achehnese method of rice cultivation by transplanting, in contrast to the direct-sowing method known as tabu. It is one of the two principal systems of padi-growing described by C. Snouck Hurgronje in The Achehnese, employed in a portion of the Achehnese highlands, occasionally in the lowlands (notably the IV Mukims), and with certain modifications in swampy districts such as the VII Mukims Bueng.
The system consists of two distinct operations. The first is the preparation of a nursery bed (libuë), in which the seed (bijih) is strewn (tabu) to produce seedlings known as padé seuneulong. The padi obtained in this way is called padé peunula or “planted padi,” in opposition to the padé teunabu (“scattered padi”) or padé due (“sitting padi”) of the direct-sowing method. The nursery is sown in the same manner as a field under the tabu system, but the seedlings are subsequently lifted and transplanted to the umòng or rice-field proper.
The timing of the transplantation is governed by both practical and ritual considerations. The cultivators endeavour, if possible, to plant out on the 44th day after sowing the nursery — a number whose ritual significance recurs throughout Achehnese custom, as in the “removal of the oven” (beulëh dapu) 44 days after childbirth and the setting up of the tombstone 44 days after death. Before planting begins, the superstitious usage of the peusijië or “cooling” is observed: leafy fronds of the betel-nut palm (pinéung) together with the plants called manè-manòë and sisijië are tied together, soaked in flour and water (teupong taweue), and used to besprinkle the centre of the rice-field. The green besom is then planted in the middle of the umòng, a rite called peuphon padé, the “inauguration of the padi.” Planting proceeds outward from the centre, after the indispensable beseumelah (“In the name of Allah”) has been uttered, and follows the direction of the wind so that the young plants may acquire the slant regarded as a guarantee of straight, strong growth.
The pula-season falls in keunongs 5 and 3, or sometimes, when rain is unusually late, in keunong 1. In swampy ground the tabu-system cannot be applied at all; the seed would rot in the water, so a nursery must be made on drier ground nearby. Where time presses, the system is modified by wetting the seed and spreading it out to sprout before sowing — a compromise that allows the cultivator to catch up with the season.
A surviving custom whose original meaning has been wholly forgotten is that of the inòng padé: when planting out is completed, a handful of leftover seedlings is planted in a clump in the umòng. The word inòng in modern Achehnese means “woman” or “female,” but folk-lore indicates it once also carried the sense of “mother.” In herds of buffaloes and flocks of goats or poultry there is usually one tamer animal called the inòng, which acts as leader and is never sold or slaughtered, since to do so would bring ill-luck on the rest. By analogy the inòng padé was probably a “rice-mother,” intended to ensure the prosperous growth of the crop — a meaning now faded from the popular mind, but paralleled in the indung pare or “rice-mother” of the Sundanese.
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.