Marapu

In the past, European sailors called this island by two names, namely Chendan & Sandalwood Island. The fairly fertile lowlands are located to the west & south, namely around the valleys flowed by rivers. Apart from being a unique island as a producer of Sandel horses, Sumba people have long adhered to the local Marapu belief based on ancestor worship.

Apart from that, Yewangoe estimates that Marapu comes from mera & apu, which has a shape like an ancestor. Meanwhile, in everyday terms, the people of Sumba usually refer to their ancestors as Marapu. This religion believes in the creator of heaven and earth which is carried out through the worship of ancestors.

Communication with God can only occur through the spirits of ancestors, namely the Marapu who are believed to live with God. In this sense, the Marapu belief then cults the spirits of ancestors as intermediaries to worship the Supreme Creator / Supreme God. The Marapu religion is a religion that worships ancestors.

In this local belief, the spirits of the deceased are believed to rejoin their ancestors in Parai Marapu. It is said that Umbu Endalu's second wife was named Rambu Kahi Liaba, who is usually called Rambu Henda Mandari & had a daughter and 2 sons, namely Rambu Konga Wandalu, Umbu Mula & Umbu Lu. Then, using the Panongu Bahi Panongu Atu, they descended to Malacca Tana Bara.

The Marapu are considered the ancestors of the Sumba people. The second group of Marapu are those who are the ancestors of each kabihu & reside in Uma Bokulu of each kabihu who worship him. Some of their descendants inhabit the earth and are considered the ancestors who were the forerunners of the kabihu.

All of them have meanings and symbols that originate from mythology, nature of thought, and deep beliefs in Marapu. As in the mythology about the descent of the ancestors of the Sumbanese from heaven to earth and then sailing to the island of Sumba, it is believed that the spirits of the dead will take the same route to return to Parai Marapu. Life in the Marapu realm is an ideal life that comes from mythology regarding the origin of the Sumba people's ancestors who are believed to have come from the sky, so with this conception, the Sumba people try to build an ideal relationship between humans and the spirit world.

Marapu is the one who is deified and is considered to be the forerunner of a kabihu, while Marapu Ratu is the Marapu who is considered to have descended from the sky and is the ancestor of the other Marapu, so he is the Marapu who has the highest position. Even though there are many Marapu who are worshiped and often asked for help, the main purpose of the worship ceremony is not only the spirits of the ancestors themselves, but also Mawulu Tau Majii Tau / God Almighty. The typical belief of the Marapu area, half ancestor, half god, is still very alive among the people of Sumba.

This religion is a belief system based on the worship of the Creator through the intercession of ancestral spirits. Humans who are still alive must maintain contact with the spirits of their ancestors. However, for the Sumba people, this is done to express gratitude to God Almighty, a sign of respect & devotion to their ancestors, and to establish a sense of kinship and solidarity between them.

Marapu is the one who is deified and is considered to be the forerunner of a kabihu, while Marapu Ratu is the Marapu who is considered to have descended from the sky and is the ancestor of the other Marapu, so he is the Marapu who has the highest position. Even though there are many Marapu who are worshiped and often asked for help, the main purpose of the worship ceremony is not only the spirits of the ancestors themselves, but also Mawulu Tau Majii Tau / Almighty God. The typical belief of the Marapu area, half ancestor, half god, is still very alive among the people of Sumba.

This religion is a belief system based on the worship of the Creator through the intercession of ancestral spirits. Humans who are still alive must maintain contact with the spirits of their ancestors. However, for the Sumba people, this is done to express gratitude to God Almighty, a sign of respect & devotion to their ancestors, and to establish a sense of kinship and solidarity between them.

Marapu is a belief in the spirits of their deceased ancestors. This is a manifestation of respect for their ancestors. This worship is a form of respect for the ancestors who have contributed to bringing them into the world, as well as being protectors and intermediaries for their requests to God.

Human hopes/wishes can still be conveyed but through an intermediary, namely through the spirits of ancestors who are believed to have continued a new life in a place close to Mawolu Marawi. Because of this, there is a special place of worship called Uma Karambua, which is a place to worship ancestors to ask for wealth. Like buffalo, horses also have a special place of worship called Uma Njara, which is a place to worship ancestors to ask for glory & wealth.

To establish contact with ancestral spirits and other spirits, the Sumba people perform various religious ceremonies led by the Ratu. The traditional calendar cannot be changed or abolished because it has been determined based on the nutritional values ​​of the ancestors. If it is changed, it is thought that it will anger the ancestors and will have a bad impact on human life.

In their belief to honor the spirits of their ancestors, the Sumba people make symbols in the form of objects. This can be seen from several characteristics of this religion, such as the cult of ancestral spirits, belief in spirits and supernatural powers, as well as fetishism, namely the worship of sacred objects. This object is sacred & not just anyone can touch it because this object is manifested as an ancestor.

Houses of worship, monuments of worship, and special objects are made to serve as a medium for worshiping ancestral spirits. The physical existence of this worship facility is important to convince followers of the Marapu religion that the spirits of their ancestors are truly near them, monitoring all their behavior & accepting the offerings and prayers for salvation offered to them. Followers of the Marapu religion believe that life in this world is only temporary & that after the end of time, they will live eternally in the spirit world, namely in Marapu heaven which is known as Prai Marapu.

In Marapu religious beliefs, the spirit is placed as the most important component because it is this spirit that must return to Mawulu Tau Majii Tau. The spirits of dead people will become residents of Parai Marapu & become Marapu worshipers if, during their lifetime in the world, they fulfill all the nutrients that have been determined by their ancestors. According to belief, there are 2 kinds of spirits, namely Hamangu & Ndiawa / Ndewa.

Hamangu is the human spirit throughout his life which is the core & source of his strength. Patau tana is a spirit that can come from nature & not from humans. Patau tana which comes from humans is the spirit of a person who died unnaturally, for example, due to an accident, suicide, murder, etc.

This kind of spirit becomes evil because it is curious/annoyed and cannot be separated from its old life. Mamarungu is a spirit that is not from humans and has an evil nature. The position of these spirits is lower than the Marapu because they are the Marapu's servants.

Maranongu is a spirit that is equal to Mamarungu, but has a kind nature & likes to help humans. The concept in the Marapu religion is a reflection of the dream of forming an ideal relationship between humans and the spirit world. The female genitals are considered Palili because they are the outlet for something full of supernatural powers, such as the spirit of a child being born and the blood.

The stone grave ceremony is the most obvious manifestation of the Marapu religion, where the deceased person is ceremonized with the intention that the spirit can walk to Parai Marapu, which is the ideal place after death where the spirits of ancestors live. This ceremony is held in a colossal manner involving a wide network of relatives, the slaughter of large numbers of animals, the use of traditional cloth that is full of meaning, as well as various ritual stages intended to usher the soul of the deceased to the ancestral realm. The stone grave ceremony is interesting to study not only because this ritual is believed to be a relic of the megalithic era, but also because in this ceremony the Sumbanese show their devotion to their ancestors by gathering the capital, social & cultural capital they have.

The research carried out aims to explain how the Marapu religion gave birth to the stone grave ceremony which is a form of ancestor worship & what the meaning of this ceremony is for the people and culture of Sumba. About 1 month before the ceremony, the four bodies that were originally buried in their respective places were collected & laid to rest in Uma Kappangu Nggau Mbuli, which is an empty house that is only used to bury the bodies when the stone grave ceremony is to be carried out. The Papamggang are obliged to care for the spirits of the deceased who are thought to still be around the body by offering food, betel nuts, and also chicken/pig sacrifices.

Sumba people believe that the spirits of their ancestors attend burial ceremonies and therefore animals are offered to them. Animal spirits for ancestral spirits & animal flesh/corpses are eaten by living people. If this is not the case, then all that time his spirit will live in misery because it is not accepted at Parai Marapu & will join other spirits who always try to disturb human life.

That's why relatives hold a stone grave ceremony to usher the soul of the deceased into the realm of the ancestors. One of the group of guests who attended this ceremony was the governor of NTT. The cultural meaning in the form of respect for ancestral spirits & the social meaning of confirming status as nobility remains at the core of this ceremony.

Another ceremony is when the baby is 4 days old, the Kikiru ceremony is performed. When it is 8 days old, the Hanguru ceremony is performed, which is a ceremony to welcome the baby among its relatives. When a child turns into a Bidi Tau, namely between the ages of 16 - 24 years, various ceremonies are carried out to face the crisis moment in reaching adulthood.

The worship of Marapu has formed an animistic belief system in the Sumbanese people. Before the arrival of world religions on the island of Sumba, all residents of this island adhered to the Marapu religion, which is a local religion based on ancestor worship. The spread of Christianity has been carried out since 1881, but its influence is only on the upper classes and is not very numerous.

Until 100 years later, namely, 1982, as reported in Soeriadiredja's research, the process of spreading Christianity was not very satisfactory. Since the 1990s, most of them, for various reasons, have converted to Christianity. An informant said that syncretism is still practiced because they respect the traditions handed down by their ancestors.