Lembah Alas

The Alas, uRang Alas or kalak Alas, are an ethnic group who, for the most part, inhabit the Alas valley in the northern region of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. In former days, the name was also spelled Allas (Marsden 1783:313; Radermacher 1781:8; Rosenberg 1854:464-5), but in 1908 the spelling of Alas was officially adopted by the Dutch government (Lijst 1806:8). The noun Alas refers to the people, to the land, and to the language itself. It is also used as an adjective: the Alas valley is called Lembah Alas, and Alasland is tanoh Alas. This term is used by other ethnic groups as well as by the Alas. There are several folk etymological views about the origin of the term Alas. Kreemer insists that this term originates from the name of a Batak chief who settled down in the Alas village of Batu Mbulan (1822:64; 1823:243-4). These days, however, no Alas whom I asked knows this tradition, and only a few Alas still believe the term Alas originates from the na

Marga Asli Menurut cerita masyarakat di Aceh Tenggara, ada empat Marga Asli adalah Alas, Kroeas (KeRuas), Pagan, dan Kepala Desa (Kepale Dese), menurut sejarah awal tanah alas (lih,  Akifumi Iwabuchi, 1990:13 ). Sumber lain menyebutkan bahwa ada empat marga asli, yaitu: Marga Anggas (MeRge Anggas), Marga Pagan (MeRge Pagan), Marga Pereudeustee (MeRge Kepale Dese), dan Marga Keursuas (MeRge KeRuas) (Zainuddin, 1961:187), Menurutut Akifumi Iwabuchi, Sekurang-kurangnya ada delapan marga Asli di Tanah Alas, yaitu: MeRge Bangko, MeRge CibeRo, MeRge Deski, MeRge Keling, MeRge Kepale Dese, MeRge KeRuas, MeRge Pagan, MeRge Selian, adalah klan Asli di Tanah Alas. MeRge Bangko, marga ini mempunyai tali persaudaraan dengan MeRge CibRo, MeRge Deski, MeRge Keling, MeRge Kepale Dese, MeRge KeRuas, dan MeRge Pagan, sehingga dahulunya dilarang ada ikatan perkawinan diantara tujuh marga ini dan marga Bangko tidak boleh dengan dua puluh lima marga lainnya di tanoh alas selain deng