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Exploring Baduy: the Old Culture of Sunda

Sunda is one of the Indonesian ethnic group; and the Baduy is the old culture of Sunda. The journey into the Baduy homeland involves an arduous trek over steep hills. The Baduy ethnic group, or Urang Kanekes, are a remnant of the original Sundanese who live in the isolated highlands in Banten, centered in and around the village of Kanekes in Lebak Regency. They currently number around 10,000, dispersed through 59 villages.
The name Baduy may come from the Cibaduy river, which flows through their land, or perhaps from the Baduyut tree, a variety of banyan that grows in their forests. The baduy people refer to themselves as Urang Kanekes , or simply “people who live in Kanekes”.
Lebak Regency Ordinance No.32 of 2001 on Protection of the Traditional Rights of the Baduy community, which is aimed at preserving the laws and traditions of this community as part of the national cultural heritage, has enabled the Baduy to firmly uphold the rules laid down by their pikukuh, or ancestors.

The traditional Baduy social structure is headed by a pu’un or traditional leader ; a holy man of noble descent (karuhun) who is responsible for protecting the sustainability of the earth and able to lead his people, guided on certain absolute rules of behavior. Below the pu’un are the jaro pamarentah , or village heads, who are also in the Lebak local government.
The Baduy are divided into three groups, there are Tangtu (inner Baduy), Panamping, and Dangka (outer Baduy). Tangtu or inner Baduy follow their traditions most strictly and reject all forms of modernity and technology. They live in three villages ; Cibeo, Cikartawana and Cikeusik. The three pu’un – the community’s highest leaders – come from these three sacred villages. They can be identified by their characteristic black and white clothing. Tangtu men wear white headcloths, long-sleeved white shirts with no buttons, and dark blue knee-length sarongs. Tangtu women wear a broad sash or kemben to cover the upper part of their bodies and a single large wrapcloth (kain) or lunas for the lower part.

The Panamping live in several villages. Those are Cikadu, Kadu Ketug, Kadu Kolot, and Cisagu; that surround the territory of the Inner Baduy. Panamping men wear headcloths, two layers of upper garments – an inner white shirt and an outer black or blue long sleeved shirt, and knee length trousers or sarongs.
The outer Baduy can also be recognized by their attire. They live in the outermost parts of the Kanekes region, in the villages of Padawaras (Cibengkung) and Sirahdayeuh (Cihandam) ; they dress nearly the same as the Panamping, though some of the men now wear modern shirts. Outer Baduy women wear plain colored blouses or kebaya and dark blue batik kain. The Outer Baduy serve as a filter for the various outside influences that might enter Baduy society.
The Baduy are adherents of the Sunda Wiwitan religion, a teaching based on belief in Allah as the creator of the universe (guriang mangtua) and in Adam as their ancestor. This belief system also upholds simple living as a form of worship in daily life and opposes modernization.

The Baduy lands as one of the tourism destinations in Lebak Regency, the Baduy territory can be easily accessed by public transport or private vehicle by heading to Ciboleger; the gateway located around 43 km from Rangkasbitung.
Kedu Ketug is the first village from Ciboleger. You can found tidy rows of typical bamboo Baduy platform houses. In nearly every house, women were weaving, using thread they make themselves from pelah leaf fibers. Their batik cloth is brought in by the men from the markets outside their village, usually from Rangkasbitung. The cloth they weave is used for daily wear and in fact the Outer Baduy are required to weave cloth to make clothing for the Inner Baduy, though they also sell some cloth to tourists as souvenirs.
From Kedu Ketug, you can took a walk along a steep trail and into dense forests. Your physical determines how long it will take you to reach the Inner Baduy territory. Most travelers prefer hiking when the weather is clear so they can avoid slippery trails, but the Baduy themselves walk quickly and easily in the rain. They always walk in single file, which they call huyunan, because the trails on the slopes of the Kendeng Mountains are so narrow. They maintain this habit even when they are in the city.

When you entering this village, you can found open fields and observing the people living in their basic, simple lifestyle is quite an experience: you see farm produce set out to dry, women pounding the daily rice, and Baduy men at home, cultivating their fields, or working together to renovate their house. They all have a similar layout, with an area of primary forest (leuweung kolot) on the hilltops as a sacred, preserved forest area, secondary forest (leuweung reuma) as farmland and village forests (leuweung lembur) with limited use as the hinterland for their residential area. The Ciujung river flowing through the area completes the perfection of this indigenous zoning pattern.