| Abstract: |
p. 68 burial procedure of the Karo Batak depends upon a variety of factors - no uniform method or programme. but depends on family membership and social status. p.70 magician priests and those struck by lightening are buried sitting up with their hands tied together. members of respected families may have no hole dug but earth mounded over the body. Some wrapped in a bamboo and suspended. "Personal objects belonging to the dead man were not laid in the grave but on top of it... Boiled rice in a little basketwork bag or a variety of coing vessels was used as a foor offering. These vessels were either laid on the grave or hung over it on a stick. Palm wine or water was placed on the grave in bamboo vessels. To these were added personal possessions of the deceased such as opium pipes, coing vessels, tools etc. Since the be'gu still remained for four days in the immediate vicinity, it was believed that it could be kept near the grave with the help of personal objects. There are also accounts of the practice of breaking off a corner from each of the objects placed on the grave or using objects that were already damaged. Karo Batak do not use any chipped plates, bowls, pots etc for fear of ill consequences since only begu and hantu (nature spirits eat from such vessels." graves of insignificant people were marked with a bush or stone, a bamboo fence. Graves of members of respectable families had a house or roof structure with offerings placed on the beams or on the grave.
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