Adat

Also: adat istiadat, customary law, hukum adat

Adat means custom, from an Arabic word, and in Indonesia and Malaysia it names the inherited rules of a people that sit alongside religion and the state. For a wedding, adat decides who may marry whom, what gifts pass, which clothing and headdress is worn, which songs are sung and who sits where. Each group has its own: Minangkabau, Javanese, Batak, Bugis, Balinese and Malay adat differ greatly. In Minangkabau adat, descent runs through the mother, and traditionally the bride's family proposes to the groom. Couples today often hold both a religious or civil ceremony and an adat ceremony.

Region: Southeast Asia

See also

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