Ketengban's Animism

In the 10th century, Barus was attacked by Srivijaya. The first German missionaries arrived in the valley around Lake Toba in 1861, and a Christian mission was launched in 1881 by Dr. Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen. The translated text was printed in Latin script in Medan in 1893.

The Batak people speak Austronesian languages, but it is unknown when their ancestors first settled in Tapanuli and East Sumatra. Because no Neolithic artifacts have been found in the Batak region, it is suspected that their ancestors migrated to North Sumatra during the Metal Age. Batak people are required to know their genealogy, at least their ancestors who inherited their clan and their clanmates.

The Ketengban people are a Mek tribe inhabiting the mountainous region of the Bintang Mountains Regency, Papua. According to the Ketengban myth, a creation figure atop the Mandala peak named Doyap assigns totems to Ketengban tribal clans based on their territories. Because initiation ceremonies are traditionally held only every three to five years, it's possible that some men may have reached the age of majority but have not yet undergone the ceremony.

In 1834, Henry Lyman and Samuel Munson, members of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, participated in this activity. According to them, until the 19th century, social interaction in the region was limited to relationships between individuals and kinship groups or villages. In the late 1920s, a nursing school provided nursing training to midwives there.

The animals created by the duman were mostly normal, but some were believed to possess spirits, manifesting the power of the duma, and became clan totems. The totem spirits then inhabited their designated territories and later had offspring, a boy and a girl, who became the ancestors of the Ketengban clan. Clan members could ask for favors from their totem spirits, such as healing from illness, fertile soil for their gardens, and victory in war.

They are given special eyes so they can contact the spirits, acting as intermediaries for ordinary humans.