KUPASONLINE.COM — The Tabuik Festival is one of the annual traditions in the Pariaman community. This festival has been going on for decades and is thought to have existed since the 19th century AD.
The tabuik event is part of the commemoration of the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein bin Ali, which falls on the 10th of Muharram. History records that Hussein and his family died in the war in the Karbala desert.
Tabuik itself is taken from the Arabic word ‘ark’ which means wooden crate. The name refers to a legend about the appearance of a creature in the form of a winged horse and a human head called the buraq. The legend tells that after the death of the Prophet’s grandson, a wooden box containing the pieces of Hussein’s body was flown into the sky by a buraq.
Based on this legend, every year the people of Pariaman make an imitation of the buraq that is carrying the ark on its back.
According to stories that have been passed down from generation to generation, this ritual is thought to have appeared in Pariaman around 1826-1828 AD. Tabuik at that time was still strong with influences from the Middle East brought by people of Indian descent who adhered to Shia. In 1910, an agreement emerged between the villages to adapt the Tabuik celebration to Minangkabau customs, so that it developed into what it is today.
