NAGANESE CULTURE

Naga is one community which resides in a relatively small area called the Naga village. In the formal governmental administration structure, the Naga village is one "Rukun Kampung" (RK), consists of two smaller regions "Rukun Tetangga" (RT). The village is part of the Nagasari village, district of Salawu, regency of Tasikmalaya, West Java province.

.:: DEMOGRAPHY ::.

In 1981, the population number of the Naga village is 363 people, divided into 92 families, stayed in 92 houses. Houses occured in the middle of a one hectare land looks like a group. The houses stand with charming esthetic. The residential part of this village looks clean. Beside the houses, there's also a mosque, a "bumi ageung", which whas the place of the "karuhun" worship the God, and now become the place to keep the heritage, and a meeting hall. The existing area doesn't give anymore possibility to add up another residential section. A part of the villagers build their houses in another village. In this village, there's a sustained forest, which no one may touch. The sustainability of this forest s being kept sacred in accordance to the ancestor's words.

.:: STYLE AND CONSTRUCTION ::.

Their houses take form of a stage house, made of wood and bamboo, with palm-fibre roof. The houses stretch from east to west facing either north or south. The walls are made of bamboo braid (seseg), while the doors and windows are made from wood, the floor is made from rows of wood or boards. The corner of the roof resembles a bull's horn, as if it's one of their house's special characteristics. The house floor is about 40-80 square meters wide. Rooms inside the house include living room (tepas), bedrooms, kitchen, and rice-barn (goah). They use a stair (golodog) to climb up to the house. Inside the house, they only use a mat to sit or to sleep, either for family members or for guests. All of these describe the simplicity of their life.

.:: HISTORIC BACKGROUND ::.

For long, the Naga village and it's villager has drawn the people outside attention, because they always sustain their ancestor's (karuhun) traditions. They infact feel and identify themselves as Sundanese or a part of the Sunda tribe around them. But on certain things, they practise their belief system and special value system differently compared to other Sundanese.

The history of the Nagas is told to be encrypted in Sanskerta language in a script. In 1921, the script was "borrowed" by the Dutch, and haven't been returned since. The Dutch did send a duplicate, but then burnt down on DI/TII incident. In the past, the history is always read every month of Maulid. On the contrary, about learning the history, there are some days to fast, which are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

The Naga village's ancestor is called Sembah Dalem Singaparna. This Karuhun is buried in the hills, about 500 meters west of Naga village. his tomb is visited every 13 and 14 month of Maulid. Sembah Dalem Singaparna has six siblings, two are buried in the Tasikmalaya area, which is in Taraja and Karangmanunggal, the other four are buried in the Garut, Banten, Cirebon, and Yogyakarta.

.:: OCCUPATION ::.

The Naga villagers live from farming, and rice as their major product. Additional income comes from vegetables, goats, chickens, handicraft, such as rice pots, farmer's hat, and "nyiru". The farming land in the village is each farmer's private belonging, but it belongs to all of the villagers. Many Nagas have private lands outside the village. Many are very rich outside their village, because according to the tradition, there is no restrictions against being rich. But people who reside in the Naga village must live humble, because it's just the way it is.

.:: RELIGION ::.

The Naga villagers are Muslims, but they also hold traditional ceremonies which are not contradictory to their belief, such as bathing the heritage, paying respect to Sembah Dalem Singaparna. The day before fasting, they bathe (munggahan) in the Ciwulan river together, but they are also allowed to bathe privately in the shower or public well. Bathing together is usually done after dhuhur, which is about two o'clock noon. At night they do tarawih (voluntary nightly prayers in the ninth month of Moslem Year) and tadarusan. At two in the next morning the big mosque drum is stroke to wake people up to eat sahur (meal in the latter part of the night). Three days before Lebaran, "khataman" is held, as a thank for completely reading the Al-Quran.

On the Lebaran, they visit the "karuhun"'s tomb. This visit is only done by the men. Before the ceremony starts, they all bathe first in the Ciwulan river. The people wear white robe, white belt, sarong, and headband (totopong). They may not wear any underwear, nor any jewelry, nor sandals. Before departure, they pray in the mosque lead by "kuncen", asking for safety from God. In the tomb, they ask for forgiveness from the "karuhun" for all of their mistakes, and then ends up cleaning the sacred tomb.

The people of Naga still kept their tradition running in their splirits, but it dosen't mean that they should isloate themselves from the outside world. On the contrary, they send their children to school just like any other kids. Some even have the opportunity to study abroad.