Pariaman's two Tabuik towers end the festival in the sea
Related guide: Tabuik 2027 in Pariaman
During Tabuik, the Pasa and Subarang districts of Pariaman each build a tower. The name comes from the Arabic tabut, a wooden chest. In the legend, the buraq, a winged creature with a human head, carried a chest holding Husayn's body up to heaven, and the towers show the buraq bearing that chest.
Husayn, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, was killed at the battle of Karbala, and Tabuik falls in Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, as an Ashura commemoration. Local oral tradition dates its arrival in Pariaman to about 1826–1828, with early influence from Shia Muslims of Indian descent. From 1910 it followed Minangkabau custom, and in 1982 it joined the Padang Pariaman tourism calendar.
The rites begin on 1 Muharram with the taking of soil (maambiak tanah), then the cutting of banana stems, maatam, the parading of the jari-jari and the saroban turban, and finally the assembly of the full tower (naik pangkek). Each finished tower is more than a dozen metres tall and weighs hundreds of kilograms. Neighbours carry it together to the beat of gandang tasa drums.
On the last day the towers are first shaken (hoyak), then carried to Gandoriah Beach before sunset and cast into the sea. In Minangkabau this step is Tabuik dibuang ka lauik, literally "throwing the Tabuik into the sea".
The full guide to this festival
Tabuik 2027 in Pariaman: est. start around 6 June, towers cast into the sea at Gandoriah Beach before sunset
Full guide: dates, getting there and what you can book →
