This black & white silent educational film is a study of the Battak people of Sumatra, Indonesia, conducted by the Anthropology Department of Harvard University. Copyright 1929.
Opening title: Peoples And Cultures of the World – The Battak of Sumatra (:07-:49) (also spelled Batak). Sumatra, one of the largest islands of the Malay Archipelago. Map of Asia, Australia , New Zealand, New Guinea, An arrow points out where Sumatra is in relation. Map of Sumatra, Boreno, Malay Peninsula. Battak Country in Sumatra is pointed out. Northwestern highlands. A village of the Battak. Palm trees, a village hut. Village at the base of a mountain (:50-2:42). Houses are built on piles to be above the ground. The tops of the houses. People walk around the village. Many houses in a row. A villager is bent over as he ties wood sticks together. A baby stands as an adult walks down a ladder. A woman who is the Battak village. A woman has a baby and children, they stare at the camera. Men look at the camera (2:43-5:14). A Battak man smiles at the camera, shows his blackened teeth. A woman wears a silver ornament. She smiles. Women with ornaments look at the camera. Battak use long pointed sticks and plow the field as a unit (5:15-7:12). A woman eats a betel-nut and line, a narcotic for the Battak people. A rice mill where women pound the grain into flour. Inside a house, women find cool places to sit and weave. A woman weaves as children sit near her (7:13-9:00). Men are seated, some are standing. Some men and women dance. Men look on. Women tend to sway more than dance due to the ornaments they wear. The camera goes from head to toe to show the sway. Men dance and hold a pose as they do. The men move slowly while holding the pose. A man plays an instrument, another man gongs an instrument. Volcanoes in the distance (9:01-12:01). End credits (12:02-12:16).
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, Angkola, and Mandailing which are related groups with distinct languages and traditional customs (adat). The traditional occupation of the Batak was agriculture, hunting and farming. The great lake of Toba provided vast opportunity for freshwater aquaculture since ancient times. Interior rural Batak communities relied heavily on rice farming, horticulture and other plant and commercial crops, and to some extent, acquiring forest products, such as hard wood, plant resin, and wild animals.
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