My Trip: The Countryside Legend of Middle Tapanuli
Previously, I've written about the "Barus". I want to share the stories from there, when I visited the site a few months ago. If you've been to Sumatra, you will be at the end next to the west coast of the South (the middle part if measured from the horizontal side of the island of Sumatra). The road to get there there are 3, but have to go into the middle of the the causeway, if measured from where I live, Lhokseumawe, it will take about 18 hours drive, using a road trip.
Barus districts is a city that has many mysteries, legends, and folklore. Barus is a name derived from the type of wood, known as camphor, and is now widely referred to as mothballs. Camphor believed in the legend as a preservative that is used to preserve the mummies of the Pharaohs in Egypt. I am still have little information related to this, but folklore has grown by word of mouth since the first.
On occasion I, when visiting the city of Barus, I have documented some unique things, like sculptures created over the grave, and artifacts that are hundreds of years ago. Everything will I show in the photographs below.
Arrival
I started when I was first up in this city, after driving as far as 1200km (of course I rested every tired), when it came, I immediately visited some burial complex of ancient (uniqueness found on tombstones carved), and is also believed to be the tomb of the sultans who once inhabited this city since hundreds of years ago. The following photographs:
Climb Up the 800 Stairs
I climb the stairs that are in the picture below, made by the North Sumatra provincial government, was intended as a way to go to a graveyard of ancient kings. in every 150 steps, there are sellers of drinking water, due to come up to 800 of stairs need to employ a very exceptional.
Altitude of 3000 Meters Above Sea Level
It was a sight that I took after successfully climbing over 800 stairs, on his way here. Here too there are the graves of the kings who once inhabited the area of Barus. I saw only one person up here, he was dressed in white, and he was very focused in prayer, alongside the king's grave. This area is referred to as rural of "Papan Tinggi". In English, it's mean "High board".
A small hill that has a diameter of 50 meters, making us dumbfounded, about how the ancients brought the body here, to be buried, in the high hills of this. See 2 structure their graves on two images below:
Barus civilization of the city is not a new civilization, but has existed since hundreds of years ago, and now, I will show you all about the strangeness of Barus new culture, a culture that emerged in the 20th century upwards.
They Carved Human Sculptures on top of the Grave!
The statues that you'll see in below is a new culture, I do not know exactly, when the tradition of sculpture on the grave has become a culture in Barus.
These statues sculpted body structure and the face of the owner of the cemetery. They did not hesitate to sculpt as the original, even if the bodies are buried in the cemetery in their lifetime was a biker, it will be sculpted also bike above their graves. Which strangely, sculpting the statues have nothing to do with religion, is merely cultural. So often I see there are various sculptures with varied religious backgrounds.
Almost the entire area of Barus met by various types of unique tomb, until today, the pilgrims, travelers and historians began to arrive here. If you have a chance, visit here. Because in addition to beautiful scenery, you will be amazed by the variety of its history remains.
Steemian's, this is the story about my experience when visiting the city of Barus, Central Tapanuli. I hope you all like it. By: @steemvest17
Here are my other articles about travel and history:
- Various Diorama Art in the MONAS. Jakarta, Indonesia
- Old Town of Malacca
- The Luxury Witnesses of Sultan Deli
- Feel the Skyway Sensation - In Southeast Asia's
- Historical Travels & Trips in Aceh
- Aceh Traditional House
- Baiturrahman Grand Mosque
- Gayo Highland: Awesome Countryside