The uròe mamèunggang is the collective Achehnese name for the three non-official feast days that immediately precede the fasting month of Puasa (Ramadhan) — the 27th or 28th, the 28th or 29th, and the 29th or 30th of Sha’ban (called in Acheh the month of Kanduri Bu). The three days bear the individual names uròe peutron (“the day of bringing down” — of cattle from the highlands), uròe pupò (“the day of fighting”), and uròe seumeusih (“the day of slaughter”); the last is also specially known as uròe mamèunggang. Together they form one of the most bustling of the annual festivals of Acheh, during which the Sultan’s court was formerly opened by the Sianta proclamation with beat of gong in the marketplace of the capital.
The Sianta and the Sultan’s market
On the first day of the fair, just before noon, the Sianta took place. This was a proclamation with beat of gong, in the name of the Sultan, that the annual market had begun. Five or six young men of the Sultan’s suite (which, as Hurgronje elsewhere notes, “was not recruited from the best class of the people”) appeared in the market, where buyers and sellers had already assembled in unusually large numbers. Business was however in full swing in the market before its official inauguration, “for every one knew that the fast was close at hand, and even the exact date of the first day of the Puasa became generally known long before its official announcement.” The emissaries of the Sultan now proceeded to beat loudly and repeatedly on a great gong in the midst of the bustling crowd, and in the intervals between the strokes one of their number, who acted as herald, cried aloud: “Twenty-six, twenty-five, twenty-two! Such is the command of our lord (the Sultan): on this day (the cattle is) brought down (from the highlands); tomorrow let the beasts fight; the next day let them be slaughtered.” (The people of the three sagis of Great Acheh — the XXVI, the XXV and the XXII Mukims — are here addressed, in the same traditional order of precedence observed in the coronation of a new king.) The adat permitted these royal messengers to take without payment on this day all that they wished of the victuals, sirih, tobacco etc. displayed on the stalls.
The three days
The names given to the three non-official feast days correspond exactly with the herald’s proclamation. Collectively they are known as uròe mamèunggang, which appears to mean “days of the inauguration of the fast”. (In Malay the days immediately preceding the fast are called hari mulud or hari mulgang, while the Javanese name them megeng. The Achehnese attach no special meaning to the expression and regard it as being of foreign origin.) The first day, that is the 27th or 28th of the month, is called uròe peutron = “the day of the bringing down”; the next uròe pupò = “the day of the fighting”; and the last uròe seumeusih = “the slaughter day”. This last is also specially known as uròe mamèunggang.
We must not, Hurgronje warns, “attach too exact a significance to these names”. Livestock were brought down to the town before as well as on the uròe peutron, and also if necessary on the following day. The uròe pupò was not devoted to beast-fights as the word might lead us to suppose. “Popular as this amusement is among the Achehnese, no one had time for it on this busiest of all market days. The name was given half in jest, because this was the day of the fair on which most cattle were sold and thus underwent examination with a view to their purchase.” This examination is named after the trial of strength of their beasts, which excites such universal interest among Achehnese onlookers. The great crowding and bustle of the uròe pupò always gave rise to street fights, generally originating in accidental affronts such as occur in all densely crowded gatherings; it is said that the highlanders, ever eager for fighting and pillage, used to seize the opportunity to appropriate their neighbours’ goods during the conflict which they had purposely provoked with that very object.
The day of slaughter
The “day of slaughter”, alone of the three, corresponds exactly with its name. On this day the teungku slaughters the beasts, the authorities of the gampong divide the meat among the purchasers, the women cook it; “in short, the whole community is in a state of incessant bustle.” In spite of the coming privations, the approach of the fasting month is joyfully welcomed: “Those who have begun to join in the fast while still young can endure the daily abstinence without much effort, if not required to do any heavy work during this month, and if allowed to accommodate their occupations to the change of living which the fast involves.” The nights of the Puasa in an Achehnese gampong are full of noisy merriment, especially among the young men in their own particular sphere, the meunasah; and with this in view, “these combined clubs and chapels are put into some sort of order at the end of Sha’ban.” A second series of three pre-feast fair days recurs at the end of Ramadhan itself, before the great feast that closes the fast.
See Also
- Ramadhan (Puasa)
- Sianta
- Two Great Mohammedan Feasts
- Kanduri Bu
- Great Acheh
- XXII Mukims
- Coronation of the Sultan
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.