Quarantine a tradition for the forest people of Sumatra – Covid-19 pandemic meant they just updated the rules
- The Orang Rimba have a healthy fear of disease, and customary practices include a 24-hour quarantine for people coming into their area of the Sumatran forest
- The coronavirus pandemic is seen as a chance for children to focus on learning customs, such as not saying aloud the name of an illness lest you suffer from it
Jangat Pico, a member of the Orang Rimba indigenous people who live on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, was reluctant to say the name of the new coronavirus when he heard it for the first time.
“In Orang Rimba custom, the name of a disease cannot be said aloud,” Pico, 24, said in a video call. “If we say (it), then that disease will come to us.”
Superstitions around illness are embedded in a belief system practised by Pico and about 5,000 other tribe members. “Fever” and “cough” are considered curse words. To avoid saying “corona”, the Orang Rimba have begun using “cororoit” – an alternative now used conversationally by a few hundred people, according to Pico.
Born in Bukit Duabelas national park, Pico teaches advocacy and other skills to young people in his community, and moves between the forest and nearby urban areas.
His parents and four siblings practise a seminomadic way of life inside the park, regulated by customary laws handed down the generations. Under these traditions, a relationship with the forest endures from cradle to grave.