The History of Minahasa Batik Motifs and Explanations

History of Minahasa Batik Motifs and Explanations. Minahasa is very famous for the beauty of its woven fabrics, and now also has another cultural wealth, namely Minahasa batik cloth made in various images of motifs and ancient writings that refer to cultural values and traditions that develop in every aspect of the social life of the Minahasa community. One source of batik motifs that are quite popular and often presented in Minahasa batik motifs is the form of the graves of the ancestors of the Minahasa residents who used to call them waruga, which are the tombs of the Minahasa people’s ancestors made of stone consisting of;

  • The top of the triangular shape resembles a house ridge.
  • The bottom is a cube, where in the middle there is space.

The arrangement of the Minahasa batik motifs on the upper part of the waruga in the form of a triangle has reliefs displayed, namely tonaas, where this decoration is divided into two parts, namely;

  1. Tonaas ang kayobaan or a tough man who can control other living things.
  2. Tuama loor or leos as a representation of a man in the form of a straddle man.

At the bottom of the waruga also added reliefs in the form of lotus flowers in opposite positions, one facing up and the other side facing down alternately forming a relatively neat line. The batik motif is called the ma’sungkulan motif.

Minahasa Batik Motif

In addition to these two batik motifs, Minahasa batik also has other motifs such as tarawesan paredey, wewengkalen, ma’suiyan, and so on. The Tarawesan Pareday batik motif is created in a geometric shape (pakarisan) that resembles a looping line which represents a symbol of the wave of human life that comes from two directions, namely from the top and from the bottom. It is different with the wewengkalen batik motif which has the characteristic image of a two-headed snake, representing a symbol of immortality that describes the human ability to reincarnate in life.

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While the ma’suiyan batik motif emphasizes the form of expression of the wing manuk pisok (teteleb ne pisok) which is very popular in Minahasa. In addition to these batik motifs, modern society gradually began to make new creations as a result of a combination of the various Minahasa batik motifs that exist today, until a relatively new Minahasa batik motif emerged, quite unique and characterized by Minahasa batik, namely the karengkom batik motif.

Minahasa batik pictures

Minahasa Batik Model

Bibliography History of Minahasa Batik Motifs and Explanations

  • Batik Minahasa, Wikipedia. Online: https://goo.gl/11tTFM accessed on 15 April 2017
  • Batik Minahasa, FitInline. Online: https://goo.gl/VHqZGq accessed on 20 April 2017
  • Sizzy Natalie Matindas Keindahan Sulawesi Utara Pada Sehelai Batik, Tabloid NOVA. Online: https://goo.gl/z0PuQB