The weather is clouds here. Errr…I don’t like this. Did you know, actually I want to write this blog with many food recipe from my area. But, I always forgot about that. Umm never mind. Now, I want to share a story which I cut from BorneoNews newspaper. A folklore from South Kalimantan, Hampang Datu.
Short Story from South Kalimantan
Once upon a time in South Kalimantan, there was a village named Padang Batung. The village were farmers. They were very grateful to have such a fertile land. They all lived prosperously.
To show their gratitude, they regularly held a ceremony. It was held after they had harvest. They nemed it Manyanggar Banua. In the ceremony they preparedofferngs. The villagers just harvested. Soon they would have Manyanggar Banua ceremony. Men and women, young and old started to prepare their place. Some were busy cleaning and preparing their place.
Everything was set. Food and beverages were ready. Their place was clean. On the following day they would hold the ceremony. It was dawn. Someone was screaming!
“Hey! Where’s the food? Who stole the food for the offerings?”
People immediately came to see what happened! They all were shocked to see their offerings were in a mess. “What happened here? Who did this? Who ate this food?.” Those were the questions. Nobody knew the answers.
“We have to find who did this! We have to punish the thief!”
“Yes, but how?” asked someone.
“I have an idea. We set the food and the beverages once again. But, we put the rice in a leaked pan. When the thief brought the pan, we can follow the trail of the rice.”
“It’s a good idea. Let’s do it.”
Then the villagers once again set their offerings. They cooked some rice and put it in a leaked pan. They all hoped they could catch the thief.
They set the offering as they did it earlier. They also cleaned the mess. At night they all went home. In the morning, all the villagers woke up and immediately went to the place of their ceremony. And yes, the place was in a mess again. And the pan was missing.
“Hey, look! There is some rice here. Let’s follow the trail!”
The vilagers carefully followed the trail. They did not want to miss the rice on the ground. The trail stopped in front of a cave. The villagers were hesitant.
“What should we do? Should we enter?” “No!” said an old woman. She continued, “Do you know who lives here?”
“I don’t. Please tell me who lives here.”
“It’s a spirit called Datu. It’s very dangerous if we go inside the cave,” said the old woman. “So, what should we do?”
“Just close this cave with bamboos. I’m sure the spirit will never disturb us again.” The villagers collected some bamboos and they all closed the cave. After that they all went home.
On the following morning, they all went to see their offerings. And nothing happened. Their offerings were still nicely arranged. They could hold the ceremony well. Since then, they named the place as Hampang Datu. Hampang means closing with banboos and Datu means spirit.
Hey! I also found this folklore on this blog [http://dhedhe-lee.blogspot.com/2012/01/hampang-datu.html] , I think that’s more complete than mine ^^
I took the picture from there too. Thanks for the writers haha 😀
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