Wow! I found my Family Tree!

Upacara pemasangan rumpong di laut khas Mandar

January 31, 2009
1:12 PM
After school


For all of us, as an Indonesian, family has a very influential impact in every day life. We are type of people who proud of our ancient culture and heritage, passed from our ancestors to the next generation. We develop the idea of modernity and elaborate it with the traditional thought or idea, the result is something that is really 'Indonesia'. So that is why family has an important role for us. family is the basic institution for human being to learn about life, in other word, family is the first start to begin the real journey on society.

I just got back from my father's hometown at Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi. It has been 4 years since I never step in on that area. Honestly, i don't know much about that place, their people, and their culture. Well, I was born in Dili (East Timor), then moved to West Sumatera and Bali during my primary school years. I could speak several traditional languages of those area, but I never learned about my own father's traditional language. Mandar (his ethnicity) never interested me. I never heard about them from other people, and the lack of information made me so ignorance. That because I was raised in amidst of strong Javanese family (from my mother side) and Minangkabaunese-Balinese environment for a couple years. Until on 2005 for the first time my family brought me to South Sulawesi, the land of 4 ethnic groups; Makassar, Bugis, Toraja and Mandar.

So, what's the deal w/ my family tree? On the beginning of the year, my history teacher asked all of his students to work on an assignment to create a family tree. Each of us have to trace our ancestor until 5 generations up. I felt kinda confuse because I don't know much about it and so does my family. My grandparents from both sides already died. And either my dad or my mom didn't remember who was they're great grandfather. But on January 25, my dad brought my mom, me, my sister Nanda and her friend Idha to Polewali Mandar. He planned to take care of our farm-field there and will planted it w/ rambutans/durians trees.

Luckily, I found the answer of my assignment here. My father has a big family, and some of them have a book that told us the history of Mandarese. kak Kada, my cousin, also knew about the history of our family. It was so fascinating! I got the list of Mandarese big family bloodline. It's a very long list and kinda complicated, but still fun to be read. Isn't it great when you know that you were the descendant of those people? The list was a copy of the Lontar Version. Lontar is an old traditional manuscripts of South and West Sulawesi culture. Some people treat it with so high respect because it's contained legend, family tree, testament or holy mantras/prayers. The real Lontar was saved on Tinambung and if you want to open it, you need to sacrifice a goat and perform traditional ceremony. But I was kinda skeptical of my own family tree because some names on that list wasn't clear and there's a blank place that need to be filled. However, the blank place happened because some of the ancient literature wasn't kept properly or the writers by some reason just let it blank.

And here is it, my family tree;

M. Ahlul Amri Buana son of Muhammad Dawasir son of Fatta son of Summaq the descendant of To Tande (a woman) the daughter of I Manyambungi Todilaling Maradia Balanipa I, from the kingdom of Balanipa son of Apasa son of To Ketapa (a woman) a daughter of Ta Bittoeng (a title, literary means; 'Son of the Star') son of To Mepani Bulu (a woman) a daughter of Daeng Lumale. Daeng Lumale's wife is To Metaeng Bose a daughter of Iwello Rate. Iwello Rate is the son of Karaeng Sanra Bone from the kingdom of Gowa and his wife's name is Ipallu, the daughter of Ipaq Dora. Ipaq Dora is the son of To Banua Posi, and To Banua Posi is the son of To Wisse Ditallang and his wife; To Kombong Diwura, the mother of all Mandarese.

That's it! I am a descendant of some people with weird name from the Seven Kingdoms of the Downstream (Pitu Baqbaqna Binanga) and the Seven Kingdom of the Head Handle (Pitu Ulunna Salu), 14 old kingdoms that formed the Union of Mandar along time ago.


And how about you? could you trace-back your own family tree?