Medan Journal (Day 5): Parulubalangan

The Trial Stones

In addition to the very well preserved nature, Samosir is a land rich in cultures and legends of the Batak people. So today, we'll spend a bit of time exploring this territory in Ambarita, situated very near to our accommodation, Bagus Bay.

Our first destination today is the Historical Site of Parulubalangan.

Horas is a word from the Batak Toba'a language. 

It can be loosely translated as good morning/after/night/welcome!

A stone-carved effigy guarding the entrance to Parulubalangan. 

Upon entering this site, we were greeted by an old man, the keeper of this place. According to him, this local area was once an orchard belonging to a village and this particular site was like an ancient local court if you may, where the fate of any orchard's trespassers will be decided here by the elders of the village. Oh, this place also served as a worship site[1].

The Stone Table, an Ancient Court. Before the execution, the trespasser will be given his final meal, whatever his heart wished. 

Remember my previous entry on cannabalism? This place is the perfect site to learn about their practice. Their target: usually the wrongdoers (e.g. trespassers in this case). Those who were deemed guilty will deserving death will be beheaded and their blood drank by the villagers so that they may share a portion of the trespassers' strength. Of course the practice of cannabalism has long gone from the people of Batak Toba (as least as far as I know!), bust still, fascinating stuff, isn't it?

The Execution Site. Not an ideal way of dying, in my humble opinion.

Clumps of human hair, amongst other historical relics seen at the site. I don't even wanna know where they got the hair from.

The keeper explaining the history of this place to me.

From Parulubalangan, we continued our journey to Huta Siallagan, a small village in Ambarita, located ~10km from Tuk Tuk. It's about 10 minutes drive from Parulubalangan.