Marawa Minangkabau

Black-gold-red coloured flags at the Pascasarjana building, Universitas Andalas Padang.

The black-red-gold colour arrangement at the Basa Pagaruyung Palace.

Since the establishment of the Minangkabau Confederation, the Minangkabau people had two basic configurations of basa (big) colours, black-red-gold and black-gold-white-red[7] and black-gold-white-red. Black-red-gold are the colours of Basa Alam Minangkabau, the Minangkabau Confederation, the Kingdom of Pagaruyung, and the predecessor kingdoms derived from the Tambo Alam Minangkabau.[7][3][1]

Certain chiefdoms, or luhaks/luaks, in West Sumatra have their own different Marawa designs. The colour arrangement varies according to the region or region of origin that uses the flag. The different arrangement of black, red, and gold on the three luhaks are called the Luhak Nan Tigo flags. Each corresponding luhaks has its own. Luhak Tanah Data, mostly located on Tanah Datar Regency, uses the oldest combination of black-red-gold. The Luhak Agam region, whose territory includes Nagari Padang, Pariaman, Bukittinggi, uses the black-gold-red. The second oldest out of the three. Then lastly, the yellow-red-black colour arrangement is used in the Luhak Limo Puluh region or those who use it come from Limo Puluh and Payakumbuh city.[3]

These flag colours are also the traditional colours in Minangkabau, the basic colours of traditional house decorations or motifs, the dominant colours on the aisle and the traditional banner, which is used in every official state ceremony in Minangkabau.[8]

• 
  Marawa Tanah Data
• 
  Marawa Agam
• 
  Marawa Limo Puluah Koto

The Minangkabau folk flag (Marawa Basa Adat Minangkabau) is a four-colour vertical chart composed of black-gold-white-red, which symbolizes the four leaders of the Minangkabau clan (Urang Nan Ampek Jinih). Black represents the chieftain (pangulu), gold represents the law enforcement elders (manti) who arbitrate tribal customary law, white represents the priests in charge of religious affairs (malin) and red represents the warrior chief (dubalang) who guards the village.[3] This flag is only used at official ceremonies of the Ninik Mamak Pemangku Adat bases, such as at the ceremony of taking their oath of office.

Apart from Urang Nan Ampek Jinih, in Minangkabau custom, there is another important position, bundo kanduang, which is the mother who is the teacher in the rumah gadang and has the title Limpapeh Rumah Nan Gadang.[9]

Rows of black, red and gold marquees at the compounds of Istana Besar, the official residence of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan in Seri Menanti.

The flag of Negeri Sembilan's connection with the Marawa is far from coincidence. The flag's colours took inspiration from the original Minangkabau settlers in the Negeri Sembilan area after migrating from the Alam Minangkabau (Minangkabau homeland) in Sumatra to the Malay peninsula.[10] However, the flag colours' symbolism differ from the Marawa.

The flag of Negeri Sembilan is composed of gold as the flag's base colour, and a diagonal canton of red across the top, and black at the bottom. The flag was inaugurated in 1895 during the reign of Tuanku Muhammad, following the union of several luaks into a single political entity, with help from the British. This is the second and current iteration of Negeri Sembilan, since its early formation in 1773 and subsequent breakup several years later. The flag is in use to this day, since the state's inception into the Federated Malay States the same year, until the formation of Malaysia in 1963.[8][11][12]

• Franzia, Elda; Piliang, Yasraf A.; Saidi, Acep I. (20 May 2015). "Manifestation of Minangkabau Cultural Identity through Public Engagement in Virtual". Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier. 184: 56–62. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.05.053.
• Hidayat, Herry N.; Sudardi, Bani; Widodo, Sahid T.; Habsari, Sri K. (2021). "Menggali Minangkabau dalam film dengan mise-en-scene". ProTVF (in Indonesian). Universitas Padjadjaran. 5 (1): 117–144. doi:10.24198/ptvf.v5i1.29433. S2CID 233609775.
• Japar, M.; Syarifa, Syifa; Fadhilah, Dini N.; Damayanti, Adenita (2021). Kajian Masyarakat Indonesia & Multikulturalisme Berbasis Kearifan Lokal (in Indonesian). Surabaya: Jakad Media Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 978-6236442425.
• Kasmijan, Iza K. (2 January 2020). Teck, Lim A.; Omar, Wan A. W. (eds.). Malaysia Baru (in Malay). Johor: Jabatan Penerangan. p. 54.
• "Marawa Jadi Perlambang Tiga Luhak di Minangkabau". Harian Haluan (in Indonesian). 12 February 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
• Prismasiwi, Landy; Jannah, Annissa N. (30 November 2018). "Inilah Marawa Wilayah Adat Luhak Nan Tigo Minangkabau". GenPi.co (in Indonesian). Retrieved 18 December 2021.
• Saifullah; Yulika, Febri (2017). Pertautan Budaya - Sejarah Minangkabau & Negeri Sembilan (in Indonesian). Padang Panjang: ISI Padang Panjang. p. 84. ISBN 9786025084669.
• Sartika, Nifha; Sukanadi, I Made; Aruman (1 December 2021). "Perancangan Motif Batik Rumah Gadang Dalam Busana Kasual". Style: Journal of Fashion Design (in Indonesian). ISI Padang Panjang. 1 (1): 36–51. doi:10.26887/style.v1i1.2110. S2CID 245925660.
• Yandri (2014). "Tenun Songket Pandai Sikek Dalam Budaya Masyarakat Minangkabau". Humanus (in Indonesian). 8 (1): 28–34. doi:10.24036/jh.v13i1.4094.