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Nias people are an ethnic group native to Nias, an island off the west coast of North Sumatra, Indonesia. In the Nias language, the Nias people are known as Ono Niha; which literally means 'descendants of human'. While Nias island is known as Tanö Niha, where Tanö means 'land' in the Nias language.
Contents
- Mythology
- Archaeological observations
- Nias clans
- Food
- Drinks
- Household appliances
- Traditional proverbs
- Other traditional practices
- References
The Nias people are a community that still actively living within the norms and practices of the indigenous culture. Customary law of the Nias people is generally referred to as fondrakö, which regulates all aspects of life from birth to death. Historical evidence of megalithic structures and carvings of stones that are found in the interior of the island proved that ancient Nias people practiced megalith culture. The caste system is also recognized in Nias society, whereby the highest level out of the 12 levels in the Nias caste system is Balugu. In order to reach this level of the caste, one must be able to carry out big festivals by inviting thousands of people and slaughtering of thousands of pigs for several days.
Mythology
According to the people of Nias, one of the mythical origins of Nias tribe comes from a tree of life called Tora Sigaru'a which is located at a place called Tetehöli Ana'a. According to the myth, it is said that the arrival of the first human on Nias island began in the days of King Siaro, whose nine sons had been banished out of Tetehöli Ana'a for fighting over the throne. Hence the nine sons of King Siaro were considered as the first people to set foot on the island of Nias.
Archaeological observations
Archaeological observations have been conducted on Nias island since 1999. The observations has found that human habitation on the Nias island has been since 12,000 years ago through migration from mainland Asia to Nias island during the Paleolithic period. In fact there are indications of this migration as far as 30,000 years ago. During that period there is only Hòa Bình, Vietnam civilization which is similar of those that are in Nias island, until it was presume that the origins of the Nias people came from an area in mainland Asia where today it is modern day Vietnam.
New genetic research has found that the Nias people of North Sumatra came from the Austronesian peoples. The ancestors of the Nias people is also thought to have come from Taiwan through the Philippines 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.
In a research that lasted for 10 years with blood samples of 440 Nias people in 11 villages in Nias island has shown the Y-chromosome and DNA mitochondria of the Nias people are very identical with the Taiwanese aborigines and Filipino peoples. The observation has also found that the genetics in today's Nias people no longer carry any traces of the ancient Nias people, as of those whose remains were found in the Togi Ndrawa cave, Central Nias. Archaeological findings of the stone tools found showed that humans living in the cave are 12,000 years old. The genetics diversity of the Nias people are very low compared to other people groups, especially from the Y-chromosome. This indicates that there was once a "bottle neck" population in the past history of Nias. Studies have also found that the Nias people does not share any genetics with other ethnics living in the Andaman-Nicobar islands in the Indian ocean, which are geographically considered as neighbours. Although it is known that there was a migration of the Austronesian peoples between Taiwan and the Indonesian archipelago including Nias, but it is still uncertain if the migration started from Taiwan to Nias or vice versa.
Nias clans
Nias people practice a clan system that follows the paternal lineage. Clans generally come from the existing village settlements.