Local Wisdom of Giving Ulos in The Adat Ceremony, Sari Matua, in Batak Toba Community

Abstract

Ulos is a specific Bataknese handmade piece of cloth which symbolizes the bond of love and affection between parents and their children. Sari matua is a deceased person whose some of his off  spring  are  still  single.  Ulos  and  sari  matua  are  closely  related  in  the  Bataknese  adat ceremony, and special ulos is given to a deceased widow or widower. The objective of the research was to find out the procedure of sari matua ceremony and the ways of giving ulos as a local wisdom. It was also aimed to inventory the giving of ulos as a local wisdom in the sari matua adat ceremony and to conserve the Bataknse culture as the national one. According to Robert’s theory (2012: 114), local wisdom is local ideas and knowledge which have wisdom, good values, and good character which should be owned, guided, and implemented by certain community members. The research used descriptive method; it was conducted based on the empirical facts and phenomena found in their speakers so that the result was like a picture, as if it was real. Sari matua adat ceremony is not the same as saur matua adat ceremony. The former is can be held when some of the descendants are unmarried yet while the latter was held when all of the descendants are married and have their children and grandchildren. There were 19 pieces of ulos in the research, along with sortali, headbands for men and women worn in grief and joy adat ceremonies. The types of Ulos given by hulahula, tulang, tulangrorobot, binatulang, bonaniari, mataniaribinsar, hulahulanaposo, and hulahulanamarhamaranggi are varied, depending on who is giving it. Jambar which has to be conveyed to all hula hula should be in accordance with ru ria raja (mutual agreement or consensus). The output of this research is the indexed proceeding seminar, reputable international journal, and textbook.