Aceh has a unique tradition that does not exist in other areas in welcoming the holy month of Ramadan. A tradition commemorated two or a day before the fasting is called _makmeugang or meugang;_ buy meat, cook and eat it with family.
Residents flocked to the market to buy meat, then brought back home. Hangers of meat that have been slaughtered, lined up on the wood in the stalls-seller meat special that grow today mushroomed at some point. This unique landscape can be found throughout the corners. No wonder when the meugang activity partially paralyzed, because they are dissolved with a tradition that has been passed down this generation.
For the people of Aceh, meugang without buying meat is not yet complete. Although the price jumped dramatically when meugang, stalls meat sellers still dikerumuni buyers. Each family usually buys one to three kilograms of meat to eat together.
Rich people usually buy meat in large quantities, then distribute to orphans or poor neighbors. For newly married men, it would be a disgrace if meugang not bring meat home to his mother-in-law. Instead it will be the pride of the family, if he brings home the head of cow or buffalo.
Meat becomes the main menu as a side dish of rice eaten with the family at Meugang. Traditional cooked meat menu such as sie reuboh (boiled meats) in Aceh Besar and sie puteh (white meat) in Pidie are very easy to find in homes.
In the still strong traditional countryside, parents will forbid their children from playing to their neighbors 'or schools' homes on day day. They are obliged to eat at home.
Meugang not only commemorated before Ramadan. A day ahead of Eid and Eid al-Adha, this tradition is still dilakoni Aceh residents. But meugang fasting is always more lively, because Ramadan has its own meaning for the people of Serambi Mecca.
"If in the villages, long before the fasting month, people have cleared the yard and searched firewood to the mountains for cooking fuel for meugang and fasting days," said Chairman of the Aceh Traditional Council, Badruzzaman Ismail.
According to the first meugang history once commemorated during the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam led Sultan Iskandar Muda in power in 1607-1636 M. The term makmeugang set in Qanun Meukuta Alam Al Asyi or the Kingdom Act.
The work of governing village apparatus lists the poor, then verified by the imperial institution (Qadhi) of the sultanate to choose the right to receive meat. The sultan then cut many livestock, the meat was distributed to them for free. "This is a manifestation of gratitude for the prosperity of the kingdom, the king invites his people to be happy to welcome the fast," he said.
When the Dutch invaded Aceh since 1873, the kingdom was defeated and bankrupt. The Acehnese continue to commemorate tradition by buying their own meat. This tradition survives today. "Meugang has a double meaning. Besides silaturrahmi also as a form of joy to welcome the holy month. "
