Siallagan Village located in Ambarita, Long House, traditional Batak roof houses, 19-20th Century. Toba Batak ,Lake Toba,Sumatra,Indonesia)
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups found in the highlands of North Sumatra Indonesia. Their heartland lies to the west of Medan centred on Lake Toba. In fact the "Batak" include several groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and customs (adat). While the term is used to include the Toba, Karo, Pak Pak, Simalungun, Angkola and Mandailing groups, some of these peoples prefer not to be known as they became subjects of the colonial Dutch East Indies government, the Batak had a reputation for being fierce warriors. Afterwards Christianity was embraced widely, and the HKBP (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan) Christian church is presently the largest Christian congregation in Indonesia. Batak societies are patriarchal with family names or Marga in Bataknese from the male line. They believe they originate from one ancestor "Si Raja Batak", with all Margas, descended from him. For detailed information about Batak Margas check Batak are known traditionally for their weaving, wood carving and especially ornate stone tombs. Their burial and marriage traditions are very rich and complex. The burial tradition includes a ceremony in which the bones of one's ancestors are reinterred several years after death (mangongkal holi). A traditional Batak houseThe Bataks themselves today are mostly Christian with a Muslim minority. The dominant Christian theology was brought by Lutheran German missionaries in the 19th century. One of the most famous German missionaries involved was Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen. Christianity was introduced to the Karo by Dutch Calvinist missionaries and their largest church is GBKP (Gerja Batak Karo Protestan). Mandailing Batak from the part of North Sumatra bordering with West Sumatra province, are descended from Toba Batak but stand out for being majority Moslem. Bataks speak a variety of closely related languages, all members of the Austronesian language family. The PakPak and Karo languages
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Location: Insdonesia
Photo credit: © Peter Horree / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 19-20th, ambarita, ancestors, batak, beliefs, century, child, children, curse, devil, ethnography, house, houses, indonesia, lake, located, long, magic, mystery, mythology, north, occult, religion, ritual, roof, siallagan, sorcery, spirits, sumatra, toba, traditional, tribes, village, voices, voodoo, witchcraft, woman, worship
