The Ritual Calendar of South Acèh, Indonesia

This publication addresses the manner in which Islam manifests itselfin the culturally specific representations and actions of the societyof Aneuk Jamee of South Acèh, Indonesia. Based on long-term socialanthropologicalfield research it explores the relations between theso-called normative Islam - as that has been laid down in the canonicaltexts of the Qur'an and hadith- and the ways in which these normativeideas, locally understood and valued, are expressed in the ritualsconducted. The research has revealed how in local perception theseritual actions generate a reproduction of the social relationshipsand the moral foundation that make up this society. The meticulousexamination of the village ritual calendar shows that three differentperspectives on this social and moral order prevail: a traditional adatperspective, the historical Islamic perspective, and the modernistIslamic perspective. This attributes to Aneuk Jamee a complex dynamicsocio-religious identity within the field of Indonesian cultures.