Of Adats and water buffalos
They call themselves the ‘triumphant (through) water buffalo’. They are the Minangkabaus. The tribe inhabits the Sumatra islands. And they thank the water buffalo a thousand times over. Their majestic architecture, their headgear, their reverence all for the water buffalo. After all, when the Javanese appeared with their giant male buffalo in a conquest that was to seal their fate, it was a combination of trickery and the suckling hungry buffalo calf that saved them. All they did was to tie some sharp knives to the horns and when, in the arena, the calf sighted the opponent buffalo, it went straight under it to nurse and slit the animal fatally. Now there weren’t any rules to what could be used in the fight, were there?
When a woman puts on this head dress, she puts on ‘adat’. One such suggestive head dress pictures ducks returning home in the afternoon never breaking their single hiking trail. Adat represent adats which are the traditional code of conduct that a Minangkabau must never break.
