Batak
Batak designates two distinct peoples, one living in Indonesia, the other in the Philippines. Both speak languages of the Austronesian family.
The Batak of Indonesia
The term "Batak" is used to identify a number of ethnic groups found in the highlands of North Sumatra Indonesia. Their heartland lies to the west of Medan centred on Lake Toba. In fact the "Batak" include several groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and customs (adat). While the term is used to include the Toba, Karo, Pak Pak, Simalungun, Angkola, and Mandailing groups, some of these peoples prefer not to be known as Batak.
Before they became subjects of colonial Dutch East Indies government, the Batak had a reputation for being fierce warriors and cannibals, although there is some controversy over how widespread the practice of cannibalism actually was. Afterwards Christianity was embraced widely, and the Toba Batak Christian church is presently the largest Christian congregation in Indonesia.
Batak societies are patriarchal and a dowry system exists. The Batak culture(s) stands out in weaving, wood carving and especially in its ornate stone tombs. Their burial cultures are very rich and complex, and includes a ceremony in which the bones of one's ancestors are reinterred several years after death.
Recently, Balinese missionaries have converted many of the Karo Bataks to Hinduism in 1977. The Bataks themselves today are one-third Muslim, one-third Christain, and one third Animist or Hindu. They have came under strong Hindu-Buddhist influence since the earlier Hindu period of Indonesia.
Bataks speak a variety of (closely related) languages, all members of the Austronesian language family.
Ancestors of the Bataks are believed to have sailed across the Indian Ocean and colonised Madagascar
See also
