397
the tamat, i. e. until it has completed the recitation of the whole Qurān to its teacher's satisfaction. Some teachers give notice to the parents when the task is half finished, whereupon the latter are considered bound to send the teacher a dish of yellow glutinous rice (bu kunyèt) with little cakes of rice-flour (kětan) and cheuneuruët, a sort of gelatinous network of the same kind of rice, or grated cocoanut and sugar (u murah), for the "cooling" of the Qurān, as they express it. When the teacher's task is entirely finished, the adat prescribes that the guru should subject the pupil to a final "cooling." As we have repeatedly observed, every important act or occurrence, according to the popular belief, sets in motion "hot" (i.e. dangerous) influences, against which precautions are necessary. Thus husked and unhusked rice (breuëh padé) are sent to the teacher to scatter over his pupil, and flour and water, together with the plants[1] which serve as sprinklers, so that he may perform therewith the usual ceremonies. Besides this, he gives his pupil a bath. This is called "the bathing (of the pupil) on account of the completion (of the recitation)"—pumanòë tamat—and is recompensed by certain gifts, viz. a large dish of yellow glutinous rice, (whence may be taken at the same time what is required for the peusunténg), a piece of white cloth, an under-garment, a kerchief and from two to ten dollars in money. The ceremony takes place in the house of the teacher, in presence of the father and a few guests.
Well-to-do people, however, invite the teungku (for this title is applied to instructors in the Qurān both male and female) to their house, and give a great kanduri to which, besides the teungku, a number of people from the gampōng, and in particular the keuchiʾ and many leubès are invited. A teungku, whether the teacher or another, but in any case a man, directs the peutamat, the making of the tamat or completion, in the front verandah where the guests sit. As a matter of fact, however, this ceremony only serves to set a seal on the already finished task; for the custom that prevails elsewhere, as in Java for instance, of making the pupil give a sample of his proficiency, is unknown in Acheh.
When the pupil is a boy, he sits arrayed in his best clothes along with the others in the front verandah, with an open Qurān before him,
- ↑ See p. 305 above.
