Arat Sabulungan

Arat Sabulungan is the traditional belief of the Mentawai of the islands off West Sumatra. The Mentawai are said to have come from Nias in ancient times, and lived apart until they met the Dutch in 1621. The name comes from sabulungan, leaves, which are always used in the rites as a go-between with the spirits.

Everything in nature holds a spirit. Offended or forgotten spirits bring illness and bad luck, so the Mentawai thank them and take no more than they need.

The ancestors are revered, as are Tai Kalelu, god of forest and mountain, and Tai Kamanua, the sky god who gives rain and life. The sikerei, shaman and healer, speaks with the dead and treats the sick. During a punen, a communal period of rest, no one works.