Motorcycling around Lake Toba - We meet Si-gale-gale

Motorcycling- the only way to see Samosir Island. We picked up our 150cc Honda beauty and headed off for Lontung, the farthest point south that you can reach on reasonable roads. It was Good Friday- and all the people were dressed in their spring finery and heading to church.

It was so strange to be in a Muslim country and see Christian churches everywhere. It seemed like there was a church every few kilometers. The bike gave us a different perspective on traveling- all the little boys hold out their hands as you pass to give you the ‘high five” and we practiced our Batak greeting, “Horas” (the all purpose Hello-Goodbye in Batak). We stopped at St Thomas’s Catholic Church as they were getting ready for Good Friday services. (And get grilled on our knowledge of Indonesian- and our religion).

The gravesites were interesting- they were almost as large as the houses- and placed close to the houses or in the fields. Worship of ancestors is common- a way of keeping them happy and in their graves.

After we reached our southern most point, we headed north, through the villages of Ambarita, Sanskal and all the way to Simanmindo. The views were spectacular- high cliffs above the lake, amazing tropical foliage and very friendly people. After 8 hours on the bike, we were sunburned and had “biker’s butt”. It was time for a quick stop at Tabo’s for an ice-cold beer, a quick email and a cheese and tomato sandwich on homemade brown bread.

We did one last excursion to Tomok to see the tomb of King Sidabatu and his stone sarcophagus. In front of the tomb was a statue of “Si-Gale-gale”- which set us off on an expedition to find one to take home. After a shopping expedition that involved almost all of the streets’ vendors, we finally found an “antique” wood representation of “Si-Gale-gale”:

“Tortor Si Gale-gale” – The Story
The worst that could befall a Batak was to die without issue which would condemn his spirit “Begu” to roam the Middle-World without anyone to venerate it or make it the necessary offerings and food called “Pelean” which might satisfy it. If such a fate was to be dreaded for the unfortunate deceased, the rest of the clan and thee whole villagers were just as disturbed at the prospects of the unfortunate, jealous, and lonely spirit of the childless deceased. To overcome the problem, the Toba has invented the so-called “Papurpur-Sapata ritual. The most unfortunate fate that could befall a Batak having no descendants, in particular boys in the family, that could ascertain his line presented in his genealogical tree, the “Tarombo” of his own “Marga” or clan.
In this ceremony, an articulated life-size wooden puppet, clad in Toba costume with the traditional cloth called “Ulos” and headkerchief, called “Si-Gale-gale” (Gale: weakling, the Unfortunate) was used to perform a special funeral dance known as the “Tortor” (dance) of the “Si-Gale-gale”. The purpose of this dance was to satisfy and permanently neutralize the Begu or spirit of persons without any descendants by symbolically mourning his unfortunate fate and destroying his corpse substantiated by the Si-Gale-gale puppet at the closing ceremony.
These puppets and dances were peculiar to a group of villages on the shores of Lake Toba and especially on the isle of Samosir. The Si-Gale-gale was placed up right on a wooden chest through which passed all the different strings which by a clever arrangement of pulleys, made possible the animation of the puppet. It was the Datu who had the honor of pulling on the grips at the ends of the strings and thereby causing Si-Gale-gale to execute as simulator of a dancer.
The machinery was very elaborate and made possible not only movements of the wooden puppet’s limbs but also the turning of the head and even the opening, closing of the eye-lids sometimes even dropping tears. These strange puppets are very rarely found, for normally, they should be totally destroyed and thrown far away from the village at the conclusion of the funeral ceremonies.
“Batak Art and Culture” by Dr Jamaludin S. Hasibuan
J Mahoni
10. Medan
Indonesia
A revised edition of a book written in English by Dr Jamaludin Hasibuan published in 1982 by Yayasan K.J.M. J Mahoni 10 Medan Indonesia, under the title: “Primative Art of the Ancient Batak”, Code: Yayasan K.J.M. 01-1982

The skies started to turn black and it was a downpour- and we were still in Tomok. After waiting about 20 minutes, we finally decided to head back. It was only a few kilometers, but about half way there, the skies really let loose and we were drenched. In an effort to keep our bags dry, we took out the umbrella, drove at a snail’s pace and tried to keep some of the water off of us. The villagers got a few laughs as they watched us making our way back to Tuk Tuk. A hot shower and we were off again--- back to Linda’s for dinner and talks with Theresa. It was a downpour all through dinner- and it stopped just long enough for us to make our way through the mud back to our hotel.