Long-long
time ago, in the 14th century, there lived a man who worked as a
teacher in Gayo called Syekh Saman. At the same time, Islam started to
influence in Indonesian religion. And Syekh Saman was one of Islamic teacher in
Indonesia.
But
at the first time, what Syekh Saman was teaching about, the society refused it.
“What are you talking about?” “You’re nut!” “What an uninteresting thing!”. But
Syekh Saman would never give up facing his society. At the result, he got some
followers although only a very small group, consist of 10 persons.
One
day, when he taught a lesson from Al-Qur’an, he realized something. Almost all
his students didn’t notice him carefully.
“Listen,
Boa. What does Surah Al-Ikhlas mean?”
“Mmmm..
Sorry, Syekh. I don't know”
“What?
You don’t know? What a stupid! Anyone of you can answer it?”
But
no one can answer his question.
“Oh,
my God! For what I teach you until now?”
“Sorry,
Syekh. I need to complain”
“What?”
“You
should have to change your teaching way. Because you teach us in a boring way,
so we are so sleepy to hear your explanation”
So,
at night, when Syekh Saman prepared the lessons for tomorrow, he thought about
his students’ says.
“My
students were true. My teaching method is so boring. So that’s why the society
don’t want to accept my teaching”, he said.
Then,
Syekh Saman thought along the night for changing his teaching methods. One of
his habits is he often clapped his hand when he was confused.
“What
is an idea?”, he clapped his hands, again.
After
he clapped his hand, he found something.
“Ah!
I know! Why don’t I make this claps-clap of hands?”
After
he got the idea, he developed the game of claps-claps hands. He gave the name
of this game, it was Pok Ane. It meant the game was played by clapping hands
and singing. Then Syekh Saman taught his game to his students.
“Listen,
students! I have a new innovation to make you feel happy for joining my
lessons”, Syekh Saman said happily.
“What,
Syekh?”
“It
is Pok Ane. You should clap your hands and sing in the same time. Is that fun?”
“Hmm..
it sounds interesting, Syekh. Please show us what Pok Ane looks like”
“Okay,
I would like to show you. Well, you should pay attention to me carefully, then
you try it. Understand?”
“Okay,
Syekh. We understand”
(Syekh
Saman played Pok Ane)
Day
after day, year after year, century after century, Pok Ane always developed.
Pok Ane became something that attracts the Indonesian people. It was played by
the boys in the end of Ramadhan or in the Maulud of Prophet Muhammad SAW.
Besides that, it was played to greet the guests or as opening of the occasion.
In
about 1900, Snouck Hurgronje came to Gayo. He was a colonist from Netherland.
When he went sightseeing around Gayo, he saw a group of boys played Pok Ane in
front of Rumoh Aceh.
“What
are you doing?”, he asked to those boys.
“We
are playing Pok Ane, Sir”
“It
looks great. Who made it?”
“Syekh
Saman made it, Sir. He lived in about 14th century”
“Wow,
I’m interested with this P..po.. pokk what?”
“Pok
Ane, Sir”
“Yeah,
that is what I mean”
After
that time, Snouck Hurgronje became a developer of Pok Ane. Pok ane started to
know by every people in Indonesia as Tari Saman. This name was taken from its
founder, Syekh Saman, in order to memorize him.
Several years later, Tari
Saman became one of favorite culture and was mentioned as “a thousand hands
dance” by Mrs. Tien Suharto. In 1974, exactly when Mrs. Tien held an opening of
Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Tari Saman was invited in that occasion. After that
time, Saman was known by people in the whole world. It means, Saman became one
of International Cultures
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