Baduy Community and Traditional Life
📌 The speaker, Kasim, is from Gajeboh village in the Kanekes region of Banten, home to the Baduy people.
🛖 Ancestors of the Baduy were highly dedicated to tradition, forbidding the acceptance of modern culture due to the fear that modern intelligence could lead to deception.
⚫ Baduy Dalam (Inner Baduy) strictly adhere to tradition, wearing black and white attire, with a white head covering being mandatory.
⚪ Baduy Luar (Outer Baduy), like the speaker’s village, are more open, with some adopting city-like appearances, though core customs remain.

Adherence to Customary Rules
🏡 All houses in the village are stilt houses (rumah panggung), which helps keep the interior warmer in the cool forest climate.
🧘 A crucial custom is that houses must face south, as this direction is the Qibla for the Sunda Wiwitan faith.
💧 Usage of the Ciujung River is strictly regulated; not all parts of the river can be used for bathing to maintain the cleanliness and sustainability of the headwaters.

Economic Activities and Sustenance
🌳 A primary livelihood is making gula kaung (palm sugar), derived from the sap of the Aren (Arenga pinnata) tree.
🎋 Sap is harvested twice daily (morning and evening) and collected in bamboo containers called *lodong*.
🔥 Sugar processing occurs in a saung (hut) rather than the home due to the large fire required, minimizing risk and smoke pollution.
🍯 Baduy *gula kaung* is highly sought after because its sweetness is described as just right (tepapi giung), not overly sweet.

Health, Knowledge, and Community
👵 The village leader, Amak Sarbani, who is close to 100 years old, remains strong and utilizes natural remedies derived from forest leaves for healing.
🧿 Health preservation is seen as an ancestral gift; residents wear a protective amulet called kapuru to ward off ailments believed to come from evil spirits.
📱 While formal schooling is forbidden by Baduy custom, residents like Kasim learned to use cellphones from visiting city dwellers, enabling him to type, although he cannot write.
🌙 Evenings are crucial community time; without electricity, residents gather for "ngawangkong" (evening talks) for family and neighborly bonding.

Cultural Preservation and Integration
🔥 Cooking traditionally involves using a stove made over earthenware, never directly on the ground, based on the belief that direct contact with the earth would anger nature spirits (*ruhunan murka*).
🐟 Salted fish (ikan asin) is a staple food because it is the most durable provision, essential due to the village's remote location.
🌾 The community practices extensive food storage, with families typically having a leuit or lung padi (rice barn) holding decades' worth of harvested padi (rice).

Interaction with Modern City Life
🏙️ Kasim travels to the city, Rangkas Bitung, often to the Pasar Subuh (Dawn Market), which operates intensely from 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM.
💰 While traditionally goods were bartered, money is now the standard medium of exchange even for Outer Baduy residents.
🚂 The Rangkas Bitung station, historically built for the Dutch elite, is now used by all, including Kasim, who has taken the train to Jakarta five times.
🐟 In the city, Kasim enjoys Tahu Muhara (Muhara tofu), a specialty made by the Muhara people who live downstream on the Ciujung River, recognizing the value of different regional specializations.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ The Baduy lifestyle is a deliberate choice to live closely with nature and act as guardians of the river and forest.
➡️ Despite being called "outdated," their preservation of traditional knowledge and connection to the environment is what the speaker views as their true wealth.
➡️ Key Baduy traditions involve strict adherence to sacred directionality (south-facing homes) and sustainable resource management (river use and food storage).
➡️ Modern tools like cellphones are selectively adopted (e.g., for typing/reading) without abandoning core cultural prohibitions (like formal schooling).

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Nov 20, 2025, 04:30 UTC