Gayo people

The Gayo people are an ethnic group living in the highlands of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The Gayo tribe has a population of 336,856 and they live predominantly in the mountains. Most Gayo live in three regencies in Aceh namely Bener Meriah, Central Aceh, and Gayo Lues. Some of them live in several districts in other regencies, such as Serbejadi District, Simpang Jernih District, and Peunaron District in East Aceh Regency and Beutong District in Nagan Raya Regency. Other than that, the Gayo population also covers Southeast Aceh Regency and Aceh Tamiang Regency. Their homeland lies in the Barisan Mountains which has elevations of over 12,000 feet and extends more than one thousand miles. The Gayonese language has four dialects: Lut, Serbejadi-Lukup, Lut and Luwes. Their language does not have a writing system, but folk tales, stories and poetry are passed down in oral tradition. The traditional house of the Gayo is called Umah.