The Description of Upah – Upah in Mandailing Culture

Abstract

Culture is a comprehensive way of life. Culture is complex, abstract, and broad. Many aspects of culture also determine communicative behavior. These socio-cultural elements are scattered and include many human social activities. Culture is closely related to society. This paper has a research objective to describe the meaning and describe the process of upah - upah in the Mandailing culture. In this paper the author uses a qualitative descriptive research method. The source of this research data was obtained from information from several interviews with people who knew well about Mandailing culture and then described it, and also read books or from the internet for supporting data. The results of the research from this paper, upah - upah are a traditional ceremony in the life of the Mandailing which was born from the appreciation of the ancestors of the Mandailing for the presence of supernatural substances, magical substances that regulate the universe including the journey of human life so that success and success can be achieved in human safety and welfare. The conclusion of this paper is that upah - upah are a standard form of activity, do not change from time to time, therefore they are classified as traditional activities.