Semendo's Animism

The Semendo people live in the Semendo District, Muara Enim Regency. In 2013 the population reached 479,256 people with an area of ​​3,9921.63 km² & a population distribution of 122 people / km². Their living from forest & river products and living nomadic in historical order is also called Meduro Kelam at this time.

The majority do not know God & many of them worship large statues to summon the spirits of their ancestors. It was at this time that four monks were sent to the Rejang area in Renah Sekelawi, precisely in 1376 AD. Abdullah Siddik more firmly emphasized that the four monks came from the Malay Kingdom. 

Ancient Malay culture was originally a combination of local & Hindu culture which arrived in 3000 - 1500 AD. Culture in South Sumatra Province consists of various kinds of culture, a culture born from ancestors which is carried out continuously to give birth to traditions, traditions carried out by society from ancient times to the present have aims & objectives that are by their implementation. According to Mulyani, the aim of traditional dance is to preserve ancestral culture as a complement to needs. 

This paragraph aims to describe the form & function of the rudat dance in Pulau Panggung Village. We are interested in researching the form and function of the Rudat dance at Semende ethnic weddings in this village because we want to know more about the form and function of the Rudat dance. This rudat art is the original art of the Semendo tribe which has been inherited from ancient times by their ancestors & is still preserved today by the people of Pulau Panggung village this rudat art is given the name rudat peser. 

The duration of the rudat dance performance is between 7 - 15 minutes. This is a matter of pride for the Indonesian people because the Indonesian ancestors passed down a diverse culture to future generations. Ruwah in Arabic comes from the word rawra which means spirit, life & soul. 

Ruwah loosely means the soul of a person who has died. This paragraph shows that the meruah tradition in the cemente custom in the Merambung community in Baturaja District is one of the traditions that has been carried out since the time of our ancestors. For example, giving offerings in the form of buffalo heads so that the ancestors do not get angry/beg the ancestors for something. 

In essence, the implementation of this ruwahan tradition aims to send prayers to the spirits of deceased ancestors & this has a positive impact on society because it invites people to get closer to God. The ruwahan tradition is basically carried out by individuals as a form of gratitude & asking for forgiveness from their ancestors. This is done by sending prayers to their ancestors who have died. 

Basically, this ceremony is a worship of the village danyang spirit which originates from animist beliefs & is centered on the Punden tomb. For those who return and are successful overseas, meruah is associated with giving alms to the poor, building places of worship, and restoring cupolas and grave fences, as a form of repayment for the services/sacrifice of ancestors who have taught them. From a socio-economic aspect, the implementation does not look at economic status & class, from a religious perspective it is a form of gratitude to God, remembering death, and praying for ancestors/family, from a socio-cultural perspective it is a form of preserving Javanese culture, namely the nyandran tradition. 

Basically, the Nyadran ceremony is the worship of the village danyang spirit which originates from animist beliefs & is centered on the punden tomb. For those who return home and are successful overseas, nyadran is associated with giving alms to the poor, building places of worship, and restoring cupolas and grave fences, as a form of repayment for the services/sacrifice of ancestors who have taught them. Likewise, when the influence of Islam entered, local traditions & Hindu-Buddhist culture were not destroyed, but interactions occurred which gave birth to several new cultures as a form of fusion. 

The meruah tradition carried out by the Malay community in Sumatra & the Semende custom in particular is to absorb Islamic cultural teachings/traditions as a form of devotion and our sense of respect as the next generation for our predecessors referred to as ancestors. Praying for our ancestors means that we have realized birrul walidain / obedience to parents as a form of charity. The meruah tradition in the Semende tradition is a form of cultural preservation that is carried out routinely once a year before the month of Ramadan, precisely in the month of Ruwah / Shaban, the community together cleans the graves & creates fragrances and beauty as a sign of respect & prays that God will forgive the sins of the ancestors. 

As for the content of Islamic values ​​in the meruah custom, Samsani said that the meruah tradition is a form of gratitude to God, remembering death & praying for ancestors/family. However, it becomes negative if respect for ancestors is excessive, ruwahan can be an act of shirk. This paragraph focuses on the fact that kenduren is a mass banquet accompanied by a series of prayers recited by kiyai which is a legacy from previous ancestors. 

The traditional celebration of Kedurai Apem is held for just one day, every October, when the people plant rice before planting. On the day of the celebration, all the conditions are taken to Pasir Lebar by the children of Dewa to be offered to the spirits of their ancestors. This is the area where the ancestors of the people from several villages came from. 

It is said that one day the Rio brothers went to Palembang, each bringing a fighting cock which they planned to compete with the Sultan of Palembang's fighting cock. Then they returned home via the Ketahun watercourse. After arriving at Tapus Village, they stopped at a hole & approached a hole that had a strange glow. 

After arriving in Trasmambang Village, the Rio brothers agreed to hold a celebration in the form of a party & kenduri for the wedding of a bikau child in Trasmambang Village, namely holding a kejai for 9 days and 9 nights. A young man named Tateak Sekilan heard the news that Trasmambang Village would be holding a big celebration, so he felt like drowning him. Seeing this, Rio Pijar & Rio Bas went to see from Pematang Pungguk Peninjeu which they usually use as a place to relax to see and observe the flood. 

Rio Pijar's daughter, Putri Kembang Melur, married Tuan Junjungan Rureak from across the sea. From their marriage, they had a descendant named Mas Dalam who made a pact with the Tiger King to protect his offspring. Based on the results of this information, it can be explained that the influence of society still routinely carries out the kedurai apem tradition because this tradition has been around since the time of our ancestors for generations. 

The stages of the kedurai apem traditional ceremony are a ritual that has a sacred meaning and follows the traditions left by the ancestors of the Lebong indigenous people. Next, a kind of ritual is carried out led by the caretaker of the apem as a messenger with the spirits there. Based on socio-cultural meaning, this tradition is a tradition that has existed from the time of our ancestors until now for generations. 

Based on direct observations as well as the results of interviews with community leaders & community members, we can draw a conclusion that the kedurai apem tradition is a tradition that has been ingrained in several villages, namely Semelako - Bungin Village, which has been around since the time of our ancestors until now. hereditary. George Herbert Mead was a teacher of philosophy & sociology at the University of Chicago from 1863 - 1931. 

He introduced the term syncretism which combined Islamic teachings with animist & dynamic beliefs that people believed in even though they did not know the supernatural in detail. This tradition is also influenced by elements of animism & dynamism beliefs as well as elements of Islamic religious values. The results of the research focus on the study of Islamic values ​​that grow and develop and struggle and are rooted in the culture of the Indonesian people giving rise to religious and cultural dialectics that trigger acculturation to religion & culture, especially Malay Semendo Darat Laut which gives birth to new cultural patterns. 

This factor was motivated by the Dutch government which prohibited honest marriages in its colonies on 23-12-1862 which was announced in Bijblad no. 1328 thus destroying the culture of this tribe.