Life in the village has very strong kinship ties between residents. We can feel these social relationships in everyday life. We can also see it when there are events in the village. All residents took part in making the event a success. Society does not discriminate in helping others, all citizens and individuals are seen as equal.
Yesterday I took part in helping prepare the 7th day commemoration of a neighbor who had died. Incidentally, the funeral home is right behind my house. The 7th day of death in Aceh is called the istila "seunujoh" (seventh day). This is the closing day of a series of 7 consecutive days of mourning.
On the 7th day yesterday, all of us villagers flocked to the funeral home. Different from the previous days, on the 7th day the scale of food cooked was very large, considering the large number of mourners who came. So extra energy is needed to prepare everything.
Early in the morning the people arrived. Without a command, one by one the residents started doing what they could. Starting from preparing cooking spices, chopping food ingredients, cooking rice, boiling water, cleaning eggs, fish, and so on.
Usually, men cook rice specifically. Likewise for the cooking part of the accompanying menu. Yesterday, the main accompanying menu was "boh banana sauce". Traditional sauce using young bananas mixed with typical Acehnese spices, similar to curry. For other accompanying menus such as fish, eggs and sauteed vegetables, the cooking process is carried out by the mothers.
If you pay attention, the scale of cooking is very large, and the work involved is also very large and complex. However, this felt easy because it was done together with the community's self-help who did it selflessly. All that much work and preparation was completed on time. Starting at 7 in the morning, and finishing at 9. This is the result of close togetherness among the village community.