The tabu (or tabu due) system was the principal Achehnese method of sowing padi, practised throughout a large part of the country. The term tabu literally means “to strew” or “scatter abroad,” and refers to the sowing of the crop, which took place immediately after the ploughing. In the tabu method the seed (bijèh) was sown out at once on the field, instead of being first planted in a nursery and then transplanted—a more laborious alternative known as the peunula or “planted” system.
Description of the method
Under the tabu system, the seed was scattered directly across the prepared umòng (rice-field) immediately after ploughing. Rice sown in this way was called padi teunabu (“scattered padi,” or rather “padi obtained through scattering”) or padi due (“sitting padi,” i.e. padi which does not require transplanting). About two or three months after sowing, the sprouting padi had to be thinned out (peulidih, peuseulidih) where it grew too thick, and supplemented where it was sown too thinly. This task fell in or about keunongs 5 and 3. Weeding, where required, was performed with the eumpòë, a kind of hoe or changkol.
Comparison with the peunula system
The alternative to the tabu method was the peunula (or pula) system, in which a nursery bed (lheu’è) was first prepared, the seed (bijèh) strewn in it to obtain seedlings or padi seuneulòng, and the seedlings subsequently transplanted to the umòng. The padi obtained in this way was called padi peunula (“planted padi”), in opposition to the padi teunabu or sown padi. The peunula system was adopted in a portion of the highlands, and occasionally in the lowlands (in the IV Mukims and, with certain modifications, in swampy districts such as the VII Mukims Buëng).
Achehnese cultivators claimed that padi in the tabu fields throve as a rule much better than that which was first sown in the nursery, even under favourable circumstances. Snouck Hurgronje cautioned, however, that where the Achehnese employed the nursery system, they ploughed the fields in a much more slovenly manner than they did in the case of the tabu lands—so that the comparison was not entirely fair. Under the tabu system more seed was required than in the nursery-process: the proportion, according to the Achehnese, was 16–20 : 12.
Modifications for swampy ground
On swampy ground the tabu system could not be applied, and a nursery had to be made in a somewhat drier spot close by. When time pressed, the system was modified as follows: the seed was wetted and spread out on mats or plantain leaves (which were also kept wet), and in this way it sprouted in two or three days. This sprouting seed was then spread out (peularoë or peularaë) on a comparatively dry piece of the swampy ground, which was called lheu’è laroë (“spreading nursery”). To promote quick growth a little water was occasionally let into the nursery, and as soon as the plants were big enough they were planted out in the swamp.
Complementary ritual
The commencement of the planting-out of the padi under either system was accompanied by the peusijue or “cooling” ceremony. For the cooling of the umòng 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. Both methods alike were known as peuphòn padi—“the commencement or inauguration of the padi.”
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.