Akit's Animism

According to the Indonesian Department of Social Affairs, what is called an isolated community is a group of people who have similar physical characteristics, social, and cultural characteristics & live in an area that is difficult to reach, remote, scattered, and experience a social and cultural gap which results in their level of welfare being very low and underdeveloped. The Akit / Akik tribe is one of the indigenous tribes that inhabit the Riau Province region & is one of the sub-tribes of the Proto-Malay race. History says that the word Akit comes from the word berakit, which is the job of carrying a raft on the Jantan / Siak river, belonging to the people of the Siak Sri Indrapura Kingdom.

Until they were invited to work together to fight the Dutch, who at that time often captured Akit people to make slaves. After Aceh attacked Gasib they fled to the Mandau River using rafts. To strengthen solidarity within the Akit Tribe, since 2000 LASA has been formed at the district, sub-district & village/rural levels.

Religion according to Max Weber can be in the form of a conception of the supernatural, soul, spirit, God/other supernatural powers. The spiritual aspect in English is called mysticism. Spiritual experience is gained from religious teachings through various kinds of exercises & worship.

This article aims to look at the description of the religious system in the Akit tribe community in Selatbaru Village, Bantan District, Bengkalis Regency 1995 - 2012. This village is led by Akit tribe residents, starting from the village head, hamlet head, RW up to the RT level. Based on statistical data from the village government in 2013, demographically the population of this village is 1013 people with 331 families.

The Akit tribe community has one unique thing, namely in terms of beliefs, one of the characteristics of the Akit tribe community is that their religion is animistic. The original religion of the Akit tribe is based on belief in spirits and various supernatural forces in the universe, especially in the human environment which has an influence on the welfare of their lives. They have a closed attitude & still maintain the traditions of their ancestors.

Even in terms of beliefs, they still adhere to animism & dynamism. This belief is a legacy from their ancestors which is still animistic & dynamistic. Even though some Akit people have adopted the official state religion, they still practice the beliefs of their ancestors.

They still really believe in various supernatural powers that exist around the environment & also in the power of the spirits of their ancestors. The beliefs of the Akit tribe, which are still very strong in the understanding of animism & dynamism, also have an impact on the health aspect. This condition does not mean that the traditions of their ancestors are completely abandoned.

The Akit tribe community has one unique thing, namely in terms of beliefs, one of the characteristics of the Akit tribe community is that their religion is animistic. The original religion of the Akit tribe is based on belief in spirits and various supernatural forces in the universe, especially in the human environment which has an influence on the welfare of their lives. They have a closed attitude & still maintain the traditions of their ancestors.

Even in terms of beliefs, they still adhere to animism & dynamism. This belief is a legacy from their ancestors which is still animistic & dynamistic. Even though some Akit people have adopted the official state religion, they still practice the beliefs of their ancestors.

They still really believe in various supernatural powers that exist around the environment & also in the power of the spirits of their ancestors. The beliefs of the Akit tribe, which are still very strong in the understanding of animism & dynamism, also have an impact on the health aspect. This condition does not mean that the traditions of their ancestors are completely abandoned.

The community believes that this tradition still needs to be maintained because it is the legacy of their ancestors. The Akit people are bound by the traditions and beliefs of their ancestors which are still inherent in their lives. Before the advent of Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity, the Akit tribe adhered to animist beliefs.

The Akit tribe adheres to various religious beliefs, Buddhism, Islam & Christianity. From the research results, it is known that the religious system of the Akit tribe community currently adheres to Islam, Christianity & Buddhism, but they still carry out the traditions of their ancestors in the form of animist beliefs. The Akit tribe community celebrates religious holidays together because they come from ancestors who have the same belief, namely animism.

The reason why the Akit people, who have embraced Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and animism, still follow the traditions of their ancestral beliefs is that according to their ancestors' beliefs in themselves, even though they are already religious, their beliefs from their ancestors still exist. Each religion has its own beliefs & each tribe has ritual beliefs that are still adhered to from the past until now, even though they have their own religions, the cohesiveness of the Akit tribe remains intact today all religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and animism still exist. Following traditions & belief in ancestral spirits. 

When the family/neighbors hold a feast/party like that, the entire Akit tribe community, including Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, and animists, still take part in each event, take part in the rewang, and still blend into one at the event. Even though they have embraced Islam, their animist & dynamistic beliefs are still practiced. Even though they have embraced Islam or other official religions, the traditions of their ancestors are still practiced. 

And every Akit tribe community that has adhered to religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity, still follows the traditions of their ancestors, namely. In the Akit tribe, the circumcision ceremony is a tradition that must be carried out on boys aged 7, 12 17 years. The process of pregnancy rituals in the Akit tribe starts from the first month to the 9th month. They do not carry out rituals to keep the baby in the womb, but they only use taboos in the form of food, such as pineapple. 

To start pineapple cultivation, they looked for 10,000 pineapple seedlings in the Rimbo Panjang area, Kampar district. Next, in the death ritual process, the corpse is placed in a coffin and faces to the west. The bedekeh ritual contains cosmological & religious ideology regarding human relationships with Akit ancestors, God, and human harmony with other forces beyond the reach of the human mind. 

This ritual is dedicated to the ancestral God who will be called upon as an aid in the treatment of someone who is led by the inner self. The results of the research show that in the bedekeh ritual & in a trance state, various spirits appear such as Islamic, Malay, etc. Spirits help and communicate according to the mantra that is chanted when entering the inner body. 

Usually, this ritual is carried out once a year, but if there is something extraordinary, such as an illness/disaster that is not usual, then this ritual can be carried out twice a year. The native Malay community who embraced Islam rejected the local tradition of the bedekeh ritual because it was considered to contain animistic teachings that were shirk, idolatrous, and heretical. The way the Akit tribe carries out worship/rituals is the Akit tribe's way of praying, worshiping weight & shoulders, and is similar to the Toapekong prayer like the Chinese by using incense. 

The pattern of da'wah that is carried out is by bringing in Ustaz from Java who are willing to live there in conditions of complete deprivation. This type of preaching pattern is also applied to isolated tribal communities in South Kalimantan. The steps taken were a guidance & training program carried out for 3 months starting from February - April 2014. 

The activity center was carried out at 2 activity points, namely the Nurul Hidayah mosque in Tanjung Pal hamlet & the Attanwir prayer room in Mungkal hamlet.