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Putri Aprilia
Rabiatul Adawiyah
Rensy Juanita Hidayat
Rizqin Nafisah Nasution

Title : “SIPITU DAI” Traditional death ceremony of Batak Toba and its
attachment to the natural wealth in Dolok Sanggul, Humbang Hasundutan

1st Paragraph : What is “SIPITU DAI” and when will Batak Toba in Dolok
Sanggul do “SIPITU DAI”

2nd Paragraph : “How SIPITU DAI” run and what kind of materials that needed?

3rd Paragraph : The condition of natural wealth in Dolok Sanggul, Humbang

Hasundutan

4th Paragraph : What is the relation between “SIPITU DAI” ceremony with
natural wealth?

5th Paragraph : Closing (Suggestion to the reader to keep the culture and also
save the natural wealth)
 “SIPITU DAI” Traditional death ceremony of Batak Toba and its attachment to
the natural wealth in Dolok Sanggul, Humbang Hasundutan

Batak Toba is one of the tribes in Indonesia. This tribe has a lot of ritual
from pregnant ritual, birth, wedding ceremony, until death ceremony. Each
ceremony has its own unique like in the death ceremony they will bring some leaf
and a specific wood and put them in the graveyard. Like in Dolok Sanggul,
Humbang Hasundutan, North Sumatera there a traditional death ceremony named
“SIPITU DAI”. In Dolok Sanggul this ceremony will happen after the day of the
funeral. So actually in this city, the death ceremony has two times or two days, the
first days the Batak Toba rite of death, and the second days is the Sipitu Dai ritual.
But one thing that we should know is this ceremony could happen if the family of
the departed or his children has been married or already have a grandchild or more
than age 50th.

SIPITU DAI ritual will run well if the family of the deceased can collect seven
leaves and a wood that has their own meaning, they are:

1. “Saurmanaek”, this leaf symbolize that offspring of the deceased will more
than the deceased include more success, more powerful and etc,

2. “Bunga Rintua”, hope that all the offspring will get fortune and luck in their
life,

3. “Sanggar” represent the rice that all of the work or what they do is always
good and run well,

4. “Ria-ria” this leaf personifies the family that abandoned always happy and
never become sad with anything

5. “Bulung ni si Pilit”, an image that in his family always sufficient and never
deficiency,

6. “Silinjuang”, hope that the offspring will always fight for their future and
never go down,

7. “Sinta-Sinta”, wish that every ambition and what the offspring want will
come true.

And to make this ritual complete, they should have a wood, a wood that has latex
and still young, can’t take an old wood. Usually, they use a rubber tree, these
woods represent the blood that becomes our life and makes the deceased still
alive. It will be the place that these seven leaves hung. Actually, all of these leaves
is a pray or hope that will bring the offspring to a better life.
 This ceremony can’t be separated from the natural wealth that Dolok Sanggul
regency has. Generally, the forest becomes the place that these seven kinds of
leafs growth but nowadays there are some of them hard to find and should get
more time to find them.

Ibu lasria said that now hard to find saur manaek, sanggar, bulung ni sipilit, and
sinta sinta because some of the forests have become field.

“Seven leaves in sipitu dai ritual always run as usual but now like all of the people
in this village say we hard to find Saurmanek, Sanggar, Bulung ni Sipilit and also
Sinta-sinta that once easy to find but now we must go to the deep forest to find
them.”

The main point of this ritual is these seven leaves. The Batak Toba tribe in
Dolok Sanggul will can’t do this ritual if the leaves are can’t find. This leaves like
the blood in this culture, as we are human, when our blood is run out we will die,
so do with the SIPITU DAI ceremony.

Maybe, someday this ritual will extinct and can’t find in Dolok Sanggul, so we
as the young generation or the villagers or the residents in Dolok Sanggul should
save the natural wealth because we want this ritual always happen and not stop
because we broke the natural wealth.