Sigale-gale samosir: from the sacred to the secular

Abstract

Sigale-gale is a life-sized wooden puppet carved in the likeness of a human male. It is used during burial rituals and in modern Sigale-gale dance performances in the Toba Batak community, Samosir, North Sumatra. The traditional myth of sigale-gale has become folklore which depicts the making of a wooden statue in human form given to Raja Rahat who is ill because his favorite son Manggale died in the battle. The sigale-gale is used by the community as well in funeral ceremonies for the dead who have died childless. In contemporary practice sigale-gale has been reconceived as public performance mostly for tourists. The sigale-gale thus now functions differently socially and culturally, moving from the mythological towards the worldly. The sigale-gale dance was originally only accompanied by the music of sordam but mostly now by a mixed ensemble comprised of taganing, gong, and suling. A performance can include five to seven dancers (panortor). Sigale-gale also vary in size from human dimensions as well as smaller or even bigger. Sigale-gale in its new forms represents an effort to sustain the cultural values of the Toba Batak.