Photo of Dayak Indramayu people taken from Petronela Somi Kedan’s doc.
It’s been a great weekend for me, especially because I can meet my friends from Padang in ANBTI (Aliansi Bhinneka Tunggal Ika). They held a cultural show in Fatahillah Museum to appreciate the variety of Indonesian’s culture. This cultural show followed by 33 provinces and a few traditional communities from Indonesia. Each group presented their culture with their attribute along the way circling Kota and on the performance on the stage. One of the interested community in this event is “Suku Dayak Indramayu” but they actually called themselves as “Suku Dayak Hindu Budha Bumi Segandu Indramayu”.
Suku Dayak Hindu Budha Bumi Segandu Indramayu is a long name for a community. This name created by the former of this community called Pak Tua. For this community, suku is not the same with tribe, but it means foot, what we use every day to sustain our lives. The second word, Dayak might sound like Dayak tribe in Kalimantan, but it is actually come from Sundanesse which means choosing which one is right or wrong. The next word is Hindu, it is not one of the biggest religions in the world but it refers to womb, where every human being comes from. Budha comes from the word “wuda” which means naked as we are all born naked. The words Bumi Segandu refers to the power of life. The last word Indramayu had a philosophic meaning as women or mothers as the source of life.
There are some specific characteristics with this community; first, they had a unique performance, they only used two kind of colors as their clothes, black and white, the man’s are only used pants and never use clothes, but the way their women’s clothes is unknown because the woman never appear in publics (this make me baffling how does the women’s life in this community and why does they can’t be appear to public). Second, they had their own environment with high walls boundaries their place to the society. Third, they had a unique ritual held every Friday night that makes the man sinking their naked body into the river. The last I ‘d determine from this community on the first meeting is that they don’t have an identity card as a citizen because they don’t admit any other religions, for them, what you believe as the truth doesn’t come from a religion but it comes from your own reflection.
