Batin's Animism

The native population of Jambi province includes the Batin tribe. The Batin tribe has Malay elements in its culture & some have combined with Minangkabau culture, many live in Bungo, Merangin, Tebo, and Sarolangun districts. Around 72,000 Batin people are living in the interior of southern central Sumatra.

The Batin people come from people who inhabit the mountainous areas to the west, such as the Kerinci people who inhabit the lowlands to the east. In terms of belief, even after embracing religion, the practice of animism & dynamism is still strongly attached. Etymologically, dynamic comes from the Greek dynamis / dynaomos, but the dynamic is in English.

Animism from Latin is anima which means soul/spirit. Animism, on the other hand, comes from the Latin word anima, meaning soul/spirit. According to EB Taylor, animism is the belief in the existence of living spirits & souls throughout the universe.

In 1873 he wrote a book entitled Primitive Culture. In this book, he introduced the theory of animism. The concept of animism mentioned by Hamka explains that ghosts have an appearance, such as long legs and arms, long life, and need food, ghosts are also sometimes visible and made of fine/magical matter.

According to M Ali Imran, there are essential similarities between animist beliefs and dynamism beliefs. Therefore, the question arises whether there are still people who believe in animism & dynamism today? Beliefs like this have grown since ancient times according to their level of understanding & survived until the arrival of more systematic religions, such as Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroaster, Buddhism, Christianity & finally Islam.

Thus, it can be understood that when Islam came to Southeast Asia, it did not come in a vacuum, because in Southeast Asia there was already animism - dynamism and even Hinduism and Buddhism. The teachings of animism & dynamism have also been widely embraced by the Indonesian people. We can see from the results of this journal that nowadays there are still many tribes who adhere to animist & dynamism beliefs.

According to Geertz, mysticism in Jambi is applied metaphysics, a series of practical rules to enrich human inner life which are based on intellectual/experiential analysis. The source of research data comes from 25 stories in the Alaming Leteman column of Panjebar Selamat magazine, January - June 2013 edition. Apart from that, as far as the search goes, no research has been found regarding the analysis of animism & dynamism beliefs in the Alaming Leteman column of Panjebar Spirit magazine.

In detail the topics raised & the animist beliefs and dynamism that appear in each edition as well as the contents will be explained in the following paragraphs. This is also what makes horror-related columns such as Alaming Leteman still exist in print media, including Panjebar Selamat magazine which has been established since 1933. The genre of stories with a mystical, horror feel & related to animism and dynamism is still very sustainable in the mass media & is still much in demand.

Belief in astral, supernatural things & the belief that inanimate objects have spirits / have power. People's beliefs in supernatural things, magical powers, and spirits that inhabit certain objects are still inherent in social life to this day. Beliefs in animism & dynamism are still closely held and familiar in everyday life.

The most important concept of God is animism & dynamism. The aim of writing this article is to increase knowledge related to the divine concept of animism & dynamism. Animism & dynamism is basically a human effort to search for supernatural powers that can protect humans in living their lives.

A nation/society will not have an animist-dynamism view if it does not inherit it from previous generations. Therefore, this article will discuss in more depth the divine concept of animism & dynamism. Along with the development of human civilization, the concept of divinity also developed, starting with animism & dynamism, humans tried to continue to search for and believe in the existence of God.

Scholars argue that dynamism precedes animism. In dynamics, there is no belief that the spirits of the dead have any connection with the living. Even though primitive society is characterized by dynamism & animism, in the era of globalization the development of these beliefs shapes the life of modern society, because this reality shows that modern society is still not completely free from the phenomena of life.

The understanding of spirit by animist communities is not the same as our understanding. Animism was formulated based on extraordinary assumptions made by primitive people about nature & the world. Primitive people believed that they inhabited a world with so many spirits together & thought that these spirits were the causes of natural processes.

Animist beliefs, the concept of divinity has begun to take form in a spirit consisting of a subtle composition of matter. The purpose of believing in these spirits is to establish good relationships with spirits that are feared & respected, always trying to please them and avoiding actions that might offend them. Angry spirits cause damage & destruction that spirits are believed to be able to control, so actions that make them angry must be avoided.

Every good twist has an original spirit & even when the twist is past its prime, that spirit can be recognized as the active substance. The internal factor in the emergence of animist beliefs is the religious instinct that each person has, especially someone religious. Belief in animism continues & has gone through a long evolutionary process.

God is understood as an almighty spirit & principle of faith. Animism can be interpreted as the belief in the existence of spirits that exist in all animate and inanimate objects. They not only believe in but even worship this spirit.

This spirit can bring many benefits to the faith & help can be sought. Animism & dynamism is basically a human effort to search for supernatural powers that can protect humans in living their lives. The understanding of spirit by animist communities is not the same as our understanding.

In animist beliefs, the concept of divinity has begun to take shape in a spirit consisting of a subtle composition of matter. Another example is that some Batin people attribute their ancestral heirlooms to them, such as keris, spears, swords, and blueberry stones. This ceremony is usually carried out by someone who can connect the real world with spirits & who adheres to animist beliefs.

Entering the 21st century does not necessarily mean abandoning habits that are closely embedded in society, including beliefs. As for the Islamic view of animism & dynamism, it is still quite strong among Muslims. This way of believing is similar to that practiced by animists & dynamists who must be known, approached & loved.

Some of the things above are forms of animism & dynamism beliefs that appear in the 25 Alaming Lecepat columns in Panjebar Spirit magazine.