Batak (Indonesia)
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Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups found in the highlands of North Sumatra Indonesia. Their heartland lies to the west of Medan centred on Lake Toba. In fact the "Batak" include several groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and customs (adat). While the term is used to include the Toba, Karo, Pak Pak, Simalungun, Angkola and Mandailing groups, some of these peoples prefer not to be known as Batak.
Before they became subjects of colonial Dutch East Indies government, the Batak had a reputation for being fierce warriors that occasionally practised cannibalism. Afterwards Christianity was embraced widely, and the HKBP (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan) Christian church is presently the largest Christian congregation in Indonesia.
Batak societies are patriarchal. The Batak culture(s) stands out in weaving, wood carving and especially in its ornate stone tombs. Their burial cultures are very rich and complex, and includes a ceremony in which the bones of one's ancestors are reinterred several years after death (mangungkal holi).
The Bataks themselves today are mostly Christian with a Muslim minority. The dominant Christian theology was brought by Lutheran German missionaries in the 19th century. One of the most famous German missionaries involved was Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen.
Bataks speak a variety of (closely related) languages, all members of the Austronesian language family.
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