The Memorable Lamno

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

THE holy day of Idul Adha this year witnessed the extinction of a tradition in Lamno, Aceh Jaya. Each year, during this holy day of the feast of Korban or sacrifice, the Seumuleueng ceremony is customarily celebrated to honor the king who proselytized Islam, Po Teumeurehom.

The 525th Seumuleueng was supposed to have been commemorated in February 2005. Usually following the ritual, unmarried young men would look forward to the custom of pursuing the young women of Lamno, beautiful blue-eyed girls of Portuguese descent. But the tsunami disaster of December 26, 2004, has eliminated everything. Practically everyone in Lamno, along with its traditions, disappeared in an instant into the holes of the past.

Tempo journalists Akmal Nasery Basral, Nurlis E. Meuko, and Philipus Parera wrote this report, with the assistance of Nurdin Kalim and Abdi Purnomo.

. tempo : 178042204369.

WAS it horrifying, heartbreaking or disturbing? Not really. These words are not even appropriate to describe the confusion as we observe the faade of present-day Lamno in Aceh Jaya. The stretch of beaches and lines of mountainsides on the west coast of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD)—approximately 156 kilometers from Banda Aceh—appear as if they have been painted dark brown mixed with dried blood.

The sun was disappearing over the Indo

...