Hutan's Animism

Animism has different meanings but has similar aims & objectives. Animism is a primitive belief of prehistoric people who believe that each particular area, such as caves, trees, seas, etc., has a soul that must be respected so that the spirit does not disturb humans, as quoted from the book Rural Sociology by Sriyana. Then, citing the book Atlantis Indonesia by Santo Saba Piliang, animist beliefs believe that the spirits of dead people can also enter the bodies of animals.

The book Primitive Culture was written 12 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species. Darwin's work helped shape the spirit of the scholarly era of the second half of the 19th century which tended to want to explain the origin of everything within the evolutionist paradigm. Quoting the explanation on the Ministry of Education and Culture's website, animism & dynamism are beliefs held by humans in prehistoric times, such as the megalithic era.

In full, Zakiah Daradjat in Comparative Religions I explains, that animism is the belief in spirits before humans were influenced by teachings that were revelations from God. Not only human spirits, as written by AG Pringgididgo in the General Encyclopedia, but animism also leads a person to believe that nature, which includes mountains, forests, caves & cemeteries, has a soul and must be respected. In the History book for SMA/MA Class

The originator of the idea of ​​animism was Edward B Tylor, who is often called the father of cultural anthropology and was continued by James G Frazer. According to Taylor regarding animism, after a human dies, the soul/spirit will leave the body. Then quoted from the book Tribal Religions in History & Facts by Rev Dr Kresbinol Labobar, Taylor's animist theory explains that essentially animist beliefs are the first stage in the formation of religion.

Mariasusai Dhavamony defines the term animism as the origin of religion. He also quoted the views of EB Tylor who coined the term animism to refer to all forms of belief in sentient beings. The basic principles above are in line with the theory of James George Frazer, a devout Protestant Christian from Glasgow Scotland.

Frazer also reviews the concept of magic in primitive-animist societies. Animism for him is a primitive form & is the foundation of all religions. Frazer discusses many examples of myths & magical practices in this primitive-animist society, such as offerings to mountains so they don't erupt, offerings to rivers so they don't flood, prohibitions on cutting down certain forest areas so that the Earth God doesn't get angry and cause earthquakes, etc.

Tylor-Frazer's animist narrative, which has long influenced anthropological studies, is now being criticized. This animist theory has recently received quite extensive criticism from the latest scholarship on religious studies & anthropology because of its essentialist nature and the bias of the modern paradigm. Apart from the lack of adequate observation of various variants of local indigenous people's beliefs, the latest criticism of this animist theory is its essentialist nature which seeks to generalize all beliefs & practices of indigenous peoples in a grand narrative about the origins of religion.

Animism is human belief in the existence of supernatural spirits who regulate, protect, protect, and control human life, which includes good and evil spirits that must be respected. More clearly, the definition of animism is a belief in a personal power that lives behind all things & is a very old idea of ​​all religions. Civilization began with animistic thinking and then developed into religion.

Animism is characterized by the belief in the existence of the spirits of people who have died. Animism believes that relatives & people who have died are still around their relatives. Those who previously adhered to animism also asked for protection from spirits to protect living humans.

Apart from that, animists also ask for things from those they believe in, for example, healing, successful harvests, safe travel & avoidance of various natural disasters. Animism is also an insight into the universe & world which is believed to not only be a place for living creatures to live, but many spirits live side by side with humans. Thus, according to the principles of belief & tradition, this has encouraged the development of animist behavior. 

Animist belief is a system of worship of ancestral spirits. Apart from animism, dynamism also appears. According to Husainy Ismail, the term dynamism comes from the Greek word dynamis, meaning strength, power & usefulness.

Animism & dynamism are belief systems that lived in prehistoric times. This shows the form of prehistoric society's belief system, namely animism & dynamism. For the majority of people, these beliefs/rituals of animism & dynamism are at the very core of worship itself.

Apart from that, prehistoric people believed in the spirits of ancestors, groups/tribal chiefs who had died. If they were properly cared for, their spirits would still live. So that the spirits of the ancestors can bring goodness, like when they were still alive, ceremonies/worship are needed. The soul/spirit can then move & occupy living creatures or material objects.

Therefore, so that spirits do not interfere, it is necessary to worship ancestral spirits/objects that are considered to have magical powers. This is what made prehistoric people believe that natural phenomena, such as disasters and miracles, were caused by the spirits of their ancestors because they thought that the spirits of their ancestors inhabited all objects such as trees, rocks, rivers, mountains, and others. Related to this opinion, there is a painting of a boat in a nekara which is said to be a vehicle for spirits to go to the afterlife.

Other records also explain the complexity of several spirit-honoring ceremonies, burial systems & giving offerings to trees. If not, then the spirit in the object will disturb humans. Requests & supplications to spirits are made by making offerings and certain ceremonies which are usually led by a traditional leader.

If you don't do this, the spirits will give you trials that will harm the owner of the house. If you don't do this, it is believed that the spirits will give you trials that will harm the owner of the house. What is meant by life in an unlimited world here is that they believe that ancestral spirits can see when someone makes offerings.

Apart from belief in ancestral spirits, they also believe in other spirits that occupy sacred spaces such as caves, mountains, dense forests, large trees, etc. They also believe that such spirits can control their lives & bring more harm to humans if they are not cared for properly. At that time, our ancestors were more familiar with the belief in life after death.

What was the belief system of pre-literate humans, who were their ancestors? Because of the belief in the power of stones/trees, around them, worship arose of places/objects that were thought to be inhabited by spirits. This worship ritual is believed to increase goodness and blessings, some people think that the worship is carried out so that the spirit inhabiting the object does not disturb it.

Therefore, people believe that this spirit has very powerful power & will, where when the spirit is angry it can threaten humans and if it is happy it gives blessings & benefits to humans. The efforts they make are so that the spirits do not become hostile towards them which results in disaster, in the hope that their lives will always receive help from these creatures. Because of the belief in the power of the stones/trees around them, worship arose of places/objects that were thought to be inhabited by spirits.

For them, pure religion is a belief in their ancestors. However, when faced with a traditional/cultural event, even if they are asked to bring the cow & its cage, they can do it, especially in the name of their ancestors. This cannot be separated from social strata, where if someone wants to be respected by society, they must be able to sacrifice to the spirits of their ancestors.

There is a strong understanding that if you do not believe in ancestral spirits, it is assumed that your prayers will not be answered. Apart from that, if you believe in the spirit of a deceased person, people who worship can get healing from illness or avoid disaster. However, if you don't believe in the spirits of your ancestors you will be tempted.

According to local beliefs, people are given the disease so that they remember their ancestors. When you don't worship the ancestral spirits, these deceased spirits will disturb those who are still alive. Through the classical sequence comes pre-animism which includes magic & fetishism, animism, then religion.

Many people are Muslim but until now they still believe in animism & dynamism. Until now, some ethnic groups still practice animist beliefs, although in different forms. There are many examples of animist beliefs developing in Indonesian society.

In Frazer's narrative, this kind of myth exists in Riau society. His ideas were based on his anthropological studies of the indigenous Hutan community in Bengkalis & he proposed a thesis regarding personhood as a worldview of indigenous peoples. One district that still adheres to its ancestral beliefs is Kampar.

Apart from that, in other areas, several community religious ritual activities were also found, one of which is in the Sokop area, where the people still adhere to and carry out various traditional rituals, even today these rituals are always carried out, such as the ritual of plain flour, shaving the baby's hair, birth baby & betel proposal. Other forms of rituals & beliefs can be found in the Sonde area. The animist belief of Hutan tribe believes in the existence of good and evil spirits, such as Tempu Tulon, a good spirit to guides the spirits of dead people so they don't get lost when they go to the spirit world.

One example is the belief of the Hutan people who believe that the rats that often come in and out of the house are the incarnation of the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth. This worship ritual is believed to increase goodness, some think that worshiping objects is so that the spirits that inhabit them do not disturb them. The shaman's job is to persuade spirits by burying animals whose heads are previously cut off and then thrown into the mountain when a volcano erupts.

This event can be carried out when drought strikes during the summer which is estimated to last more than 6 months. Belief in the above spirits which are considered to have a positive impact is in line with Hindu tradition. Where Gods are believed to be able to give blessings & generosity, they can protect themselves from evil spirits and disasters until the ancestral spirits finally become worship.

When the Catholic and Christian religions arrived, local people did not forbid them from worshiping the spirits of their ancestors. This is understandable because it is a transitional creed from the Protestant/ancestral religion. Even though the majority of the community is Christian, the belief in ancestors before the arrival of Christianity until the arrival of Islam still continues today.

This paragraph is the result of research on animist beliefs & dynamism in Muslim Hutan communities. These various beliefs & rituals are the legacy of ancestors who still rely on and prioritize spirits and do things that are prohibited by Islam to obtain peace and safety. In fact, people believe in God, but their habit is to put themselves down by worshiping an ancestral spirit.

Zulkifli Natonis & his family, for example, still practice an animist system, namely praying for the spirits of their ancestors once a month. In particular, the family's practice is to pray according to Islamic law but interspersed with animist itiqad. When confirmed, Tohir Natonis said that around 1996, previously there had been a transition period where 3 groups were fighting for each other's rights, namely struggling to establish power.

In late 2012, Zulkifli performed the Umrah pilgrimage to the holy land. When delivering his lecture, the ustadz in his discussion related to the strength of the ancestors, even in his prayer he took elements of strength from the ancestors, which did not mention the Umrah at all. The power referred to here is transferring the power of ancestral spirits/magical influences possessed by one of the families who is considered powerful, where this power is to be transferred to one of the oldest sisters.

In 2013, Zulkifli's sister wanted to get married, another condition that had to be fulfilled was that her sister had to first present her entire extended family at the behest of her uncle. According to Abdurahman, he received a dream message that in the evening before the recital, he was visited by the spirit of his deceased grandmother carrying offerings. When he arrived at the village he felt sick from 10 am - the call to prayer for Asar prayer.

Based on his itiqad, stance & belief as a strong Muslim, he ignored other people's advice so that he followed customs, namely worshiping his ancestors, so that the illness he experienced would be healed. When ordering prayer, how is it possible if the foundation of the faith is still fragile because there is still a transition period from animism & dynamism? Therefore, it is also hoped that the cadres will not easily follow the rhythm, namely falling back into/being suppressed by the original culture of their ancestors, because in this way the interests of society are much stronger than religion itself.

Well, I hope you understand more about animism!