Lampung's Animism

The increasing power of Sriwijaya at the end of the 7th century is mentioned in the blunt stone inscription of the Hill Position at the foot of the Seguntang hill southwest of the city of Palembang, which says that in 683 Sriwijaya had power at sea & land and in 686 the country had sent its expedition to conquer other areas in Sumatra & Java. This is proven by the discovery of various types of ceramic materials from the Han era, as well as ceramic materials from the post-Han period and so on, Chinese ceramic materials were also found up to ceramics from the Ming era. Thus, it is estimated that the ancestors of the Lampung people lived in Bukit Barisan in the 13th century, at least in the context of the Minangkabau Paguruyung Kingdom, founded by Adityawarman in 1339.

Then, after their relatives settled in Sekala Berak, during the time of their grandson, Umpu Serunting, they founded Keratuan Pemanggil. Umpu Serunting gave birth to 5 sons, namely Indra Gadjah who gave birth to the Abung people, Belunguh who gave birth to the Peminggir people, Palang who gave birth to the Pubiyan people, Pandan who was said to have disappeared & Sungkan who was said to be the Ham tribe. It is estimated that during the Minak Rio Begeduh period, the Majapahit fleet stopped on the east coast, namely in the Keratuan Pugung territory which is in the current Labuhan Maringgai sub-district but did not enter the interior.

According to the stories we have heard from generation to generation, Subing managed to redeem the honor of their father Minak Paduka Begeduh who died by killing the head of the pirates called Raja Dilaut. The type of writing is phonetic, in the form of syllables which are vowels like in Arabic letters, using fathah signs on the top row & kasrah signs on the bottom row but not using dammah signs on the front row but instead using signs at the back, each sign has its own name. The Tumi tribe is an ancient tribe that is believed to be the ancestors of today's Lampung people.

In the past, our society basically adhered to an animism & dynamism belief system, namely animism was a belief in the spirits of ancestors, while dynamism was a belief in sacred objects/that had supernatural powers. This habit is still practiced today, both regarding animism and dynamism. Likewise, the people of Lampung, before the influence of Hinduism & Buddhism, the people of Lampung still adhered to this belief.

The estimated history of the Lampung ethnic group starts from the animist Hindu era which prevailed between the first years of AD until the beginning of the 16th century. It seems that very little influence of Hinduism was adhered to by the Lampung people, but many of them are native beliefs which are traditions from the Malayo Polynesian era. , which is completely animist. In the book History of the Lampung Region, it is stated that in the past the Tumi tribe people still adhered to animist/dynamism beliefs before the arrival of Hinduism from mainland India in the 3rd century AD.

Ceremonial activities are carried out to maintain the traditional traditions that exist in an area, which are part of a form of culture that must be preserved & also to continue the legacy of ancestors that has been carried out long ago. The people of Lampung still have faith in the religion of their ancestors & often find many ceremonies/activities related to spirits, objects, and plants such as trees which are believed to have the power to help their lives. Apart from that, there are also symbols related to their beliefs, such as the sign of a cross with whiting above the door, window / at the entrance to the house, which is a sign of belief to avoid interference from evil spirits such as kuntilanak, especially if there is a woman in the house who is heavily pregnant.

The ngebabali ceremony is a sacred traditional ceremony for the people of Lampung because this culture is a hereditary culture inherited from ancestors which is still carried out today as a form of respect for the ancestral spirits who protect the land. In the past, rituals were carried out by bringing offerings intended for ancestral spirits to prevent disaster and keep them away from interference from these spirits. Usually, this is also done to ward off disturbances such as demons/genies/spirits.

So we need to prepare offerings that have their own symbols & meanings which will be intended for the spirit being addressed & the person who performs the ceremony can be a traditional figure or can only be someone who has that tradition. This ngababali ceremony is one of the sacred ceremonies of the Lampung people which is carried out as a form of respect for the spirits of the ancestors who have protected them and the land of Lampung. So what is the form of this ceremonial ritual in the Bunga Mayang sub-district?

When we want to carry out this ceremony, we have to prepare a complete offering to offer to the spirits who are believed to help clear new fields or build a house and also clean the house we will live in. Coming together, asking permission from the land spirit, ngusi / kusi, nuakh, nyuwah which is carried out by parents, ancestors & traditional elders. If we only intend to visit then what we need to prepare is adang / uduk rice & boiled chicken eggs, a plate containing sticky rice and black tubers, black buffalo skin, 1 cigarette, betel leaves & black sugar cane, palm coconut which is placed on the plate and on top there are boiled chicken eggs and incense & finally water mixed with pieces of sandalwood and incense and then poured onto the grave/place which is believed to be the place of spirits/ancestors.

Where originally they brought offerings to the land that was going to be opened / the land where the house was going to be built, now there are people who just send prayers to their ancestors, hold thanksgivings in the house they have just lived in & some even do it simply, namely by providing brother porridge. as well as white & black coffee and put it under their house. However, there are some people's beliefs that still consider ngebabali to be a tradition that must be carried out, if it is not done, it will bring undesirable things, fear of being hit by logs and disturbances from land guardian spirits. Especially in remote areas, the people of Lampung still consistently carry out this ceremony, following the ceremonial rules that have long been passed down by their ancestors.

From the various forms of the process, what we can conclude is that it is all a form of respect for the ancestors/spirits of the Lampung people in requesting permission to inhabit/use Lampung land through the ngababali ceremony. Before the arrival of divine religions such as Judaism, Christianity & Islam, there were animist and dynamic beliefs where these religions were born from the ancestors of the Indonesian people & were embedded in human life where these beliefs believed in the existence of supernatural powers that were beyond human strength such as trees, stones, objects and spirits of ancestors. According to Prof. Dr. Sujarwo, it was explained that there are 2 tribes living at the top of Mount Pesagi who have different attitudes to the Tumi tribe. These two tribes are groups that are open to the introduction of Islamic teachings, namely the Kenyangan & Nekhima tribes.

The public's perception has also changed, initially having the belief that if they do not carry out the ngebabali ceremony they will be struck by disaster and receive interference from ancestral spirits, whereas as knowledge of the teachings of Islam increases, people consider that ngebabali is a form of gratitude to God. In this case, the ngababali culture mixes religious behavior with animism. However, the value of this ceremony is not as sacred as before, because of the renewal of the order which is accompanied by the teachings of the Islamic religion, where the form of the process which was originally determined must absolutely be by the traditional method handed down from the ancestors & now negotiations have been held regarding its implementation by economic conditions of society.

In Lampung society, there is no harm, but they only intend to avoid all kinds of threats/dangers & disturbances from spirits that threaten them. However, as time progresses, this culture of ngebabali is very minimally practiced by the community & also because the Islamic religiosity side of the community is getting stronger and thicker, which has reduced animist beliefs in the community. However, on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, the villagers will precede each other to bathe in Pangkalan Putri, because the people assume that the first person to arrive at the bathhouse will smell the fragrance as a sign that the angel has just left after bathing in the bathhouse.

In Lampung society there are various groups who still adhere to a kind of traditional customs/traditions which are characteristic of the areas in Lampung province, even before Islam spread widely in Lampung there were beliefs held by people who still had an animistic style, which would but after Islam developed & spread widely in Lampung, the ancestral legacy system underwent major changes, many people's cultures after the arrival of Islam experienced renewal and adjustments between existing culture and Islamic culture itself.