Page "Batak" Paragraph 67

Madame Sitorus, a well-known Toba guru sibaso who practiced in Laguboti in 1984.

She is consulting a paperback edition of the New Testament in lieu of a pustaha.

On the shelf are components of herbal remedies.

In front of her is a kaffir lime in a bowl of water, a form of divination used to locate lost items or people. In traditional Batak society datuk ( animist priests ) as well as gurus practiced traditional medicine, although the former were exclusively male.

Both professions were attributed with supernatural powers and the ability to predict the future.

Treatments and healing rituals bear some resemblance to those practiced by dukuns in other parts of Indonesia.

Following the Christianization of the Toba and Karo Batak in the late 19th century, missionaries discouraged traditional healing and divination and they became largely clandestine activities.