The Ways Of Nature – Mentawai People

The Mentawai people are native to the islands in the western part of Sumatra. This tribe has inhabited the Mentawai Islands since 500 BC.

Siberut Island in the Indian Ocean is part of the West Sumatra province of Indonesia. This is the home of the Mentawai people who live a semi-nomadic lifestyle in the coastal and rainforest zones.

The sky is their clock

Sustained by hunting and gathering, their lives may not be privileged with the conveniences familiar to the outside world. But one must not forget that before humans came to acquire the conveniences that govern the modern world, we had self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyles that were entirely supported by the natural world.

The Mentawai population is around 600,000. This tribe is almost entirely isolated from the outside world due to their location on a distant island covered in wetlands. The Mentawai tribes are related to other tribes inhabiting the archipelagos of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The Mentawai language belongs to the Austronesian language family. The Mentawai’s first contact with the outside world took place when they were discovered by the Dutch, who brought in Christianity.

Arat Sabulungan

The Mentawai tribe has its own religion and beliefs. The belief held by the indigenous tribes and the Mentawai community is called Arat Sabulungan. They believe all things that exist have spirit and soul. When the spirit cannot be cared for properly, it will wander around, cause misfortune, and cause disease to arise. Therefore, the Mentawai tribe strongly believes in objects that they consider sacred.

Sikere is a physician or doctor for the Mentawai tribe and is helpful for everyone without rewards or costs. If you get sick, you can use Sikere as a doctor. He’s looking for traditional medicines from leaves and other resources found in nature, depending on what disease is to be cured.

Shamanic Healers

They use herbs and vegetation gathered from the jungle for healing purposes. Each village has a natural healer (Sikere), who is essentially a shaman. The shaman’s expertise in the jungle’s flora makes him an intermediary with the spirit world.

The shaman uses forest plants to orchestrate a ceremony for chasing away negative entities from weak patients during the medicine making rituals. The shaman dresses up elaborately, including the wearing of a flower crown. Spells and enchantments are spoken, and a portion of stored herbs is transferred into a prepared container. Once the negative entities are chased away, protective spirits are invited to look after the patient. The killing of a sacrificed animal must be approved by the spirits themselves, and the sacrifice product is shared with the neighbours.

Their tattoos are very much a symbol of self-identity for the Mentawai people

Their tattoo designs are among the most prominent evidence of the Mentawai animistic traditions. Don’t be surprised if you see the whole body of Mentawai men and women painted with tattoos. To them, tattoos are like clothes. In fact, their existence creates an identity. The tattoo art they use is far from modern. The ink used comes from wood charcoal or burning residue, mashed, then mixed with sugar cane juice. Thorns or needles dipped in ink are inserted into the skin layer, forming various motifs.

Mentawai represents all islands such as Siberut Island, Sipora Island and others

Mentawai has a unique and authentic culture. Actually, it’s not only Siberut Island that has this culture, but all the Mentawai Islands used to have their own culture. Due to modern times, it can be said that only the island of Siberut still adheres to that.

Whether everything will be lost or their habits and customs are kept alive depends on the later generations on this island.

There is much that can be done

In this day and age, the new professions of Mentawai people can’t escape the tourism industry. But the management of this style of tourism is suffering from a lack of experience. It seems that tourism relies upon human resources from the outside world. These human resources come from Indonesians and Westerners who have settled here to conduct tourism business with the locals.

The ways of the Mentawai jungle people have become the highlight of tourism here since those outside the jungle are always interested in witnessing and experiencing jungle ways.

In the middle of the ocean, covered by wetlands, the Mentawai Islands have been governed by remoteness and self-sufficiency over many hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

If anyone views these lifestyles as primitive, backward and short-lived, that in itself is a great shame. The lifestyles of simplicity like these continue to shape the human experience of happiness and self-sufficiency.

If you want to visit the tribe, you must be mentally strong because it is only accessible via rivers and small boats.

How to visit the island of Siberut 

You can take a plane from Jakarta to the city of Padang Minang Kabau airport. It is best to arrive one day before going to Siberut Island because the fast boats leave early in the morning.

This article was inspired by and made possible

in collaboration with Mentawai Tour and Bandita Travel