115 KIDUNG: MYTH OF WELFARE FOR KUTHUK PEOPLE IN KUDUS REGENCY Hafid Zuhdan Bahtiar Post Graduate Program of Indonesia Institute of Art, Yogyakarta, Indonesia Jl. Parangtritis Km. 6.5, Sewon, Bantul, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta 55188, Indonesia E-mail: hafidzbahtiarz@gmail.co.id Received: October 2014. Revised: November 2014. Accepted: November 2014 Abstract The study is to describe the art of kidung in Kuthuk village Blora regency. This study used quali- tative method with Structural Functional theory approach. Data in the form of the song, espe- cially the lyrics and other data were used for primary data sources in addition to interviewing and observation. Data were analyzed qualitatively with structural and functional theory and an- thropological approach developed by Malinowski. The result shows that the people of the village embracing many beliefs, have an art tradition of Puputan ritual. In Javanese culture, this ritual is done at the time of released cloth wrapping the baby’s navel. Kidung, an expression of the people when request welfare to God, reflects the acculturation between Islamic and non-religious beliefs, which characterize the people of those two cities that exist around Kuthuk village. Keywords: kidung; myth; puputan; saminism; welfare How to Cite: Bahtiar, H. (2014). Kidung: Myth of Welfare for Kuthuk People in Kudus Regency. Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education, 14(2), 115-122. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia.v14i2.3297 HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 14 (2) (2014), 115-122 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia DOI: 10.15294/harmonia.v14i2.3290 p-ISSN 1411-5115 e-ISSN 2355-3820 A comparison of the number of people who convert to Islam, Christian, Catholic, Hindu, and Buddha are quite balanced. In addition to these religions, there are also communities that embrace the doctrine of Saminisme. Samin community has special characteristics that become their identity in everyday appearance which is diffe- rent from the surrounding community. It shows the character and identity of their equipment in accordance with the teach- ings of Saminisme which they maintained from time to time neighbors rutama older generation. They feel the truth and strong beliefs against the teachings of Samin Su- rosentiko as a way of life that is very use- ful. Attitude and actions of people Samin always followed by concrete evidence and consequently corresponds to the accepted teachings (Lestari, 2013, p. 74-86). Accor- INTRODUCTION Kuthuk is a village located in the western part of Kudus. The village is bor- dered with Sukolilo, an area belonging to the Regency of Pati. As one of the cities in Central Java, Kudus is known as the cha- racteristics of the religious people. The existence of two tombs of Sunan that re- putedly had the power to conduct rituals of Islam and to overtake the Hindu power that had previously existed, becomes one of the historical evidences. By contrast, Pati as a regency bordered by Kudus, based on the history is inhabited by the community better known as abangan. The existence of the village of Kut- huk which lies between two such diffe- rent community characteristics, causes the people have diverse religions or beliefs. HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 14 (2) (2014): 115-122116 ding Lestari research, social interaction between Samin community with surroun- ding communities is affected by various factors, namely the social situation, power group norms, personal goals, status and condition of the individual as well as the interpretation of the situation. According to one of the residents, the concept of saminisme is madep and mantep. The adherent of saminist titled ‘Wong Sa- min’ or ‘Wong Sikep’ which means ‘a per- son of Samin’ or ‘a person of Sikep’. Sikep also mean honestly, it means they recogni- ze that the human task in life is to live Sikep (married/having sex) and also run tatane wong (creating descendants) (Idhom, 2009, p. 45). Seeing the background of the Ku- thuk community with their diversity of beliefs and religions has any implications to the diversity of art that develops in the village, one of which is the art of kidung. It is often referred to an artistic traditions pu- putan; that is a tradition done at the time of released cloth wrapping the baby’s navel. One kidung often sung by the Java is “Song of Rumekso Ing Wengi” which is the work of Sunan Kalijaga. The song is of- ten performed at traditional and religious sacred performances including puputan. The main temple of the kidung very known for containing tolak bala spell, while the next stanza of eight rarely sung becau- se it was considered too long. It’s reminis- cent of human behavior in order to draw closer to God Almighty, than avoid the plagues and catastrophes more powerful. Thus we are required to always dutiful, faithful and pious to God Almighty. The kidung is a means of preaching in the form a popular tembang (Javanese song) and become “kidung wingit” because it is believed to bring good luck like magic spells. The preaching was assembled into a metered Dhandanggula tembang contains nine stanzas and as if until now. Rural people are still many who memorized and practiced this kidung poem. As a means of preaching to children, the advice in the form a more lasting and durable tembang in memory. After the death of Sunan Ka- lijaga, this kidung belongs to the people, those who read and practice as prayer . Kidung is prayer, and in the prayer one must be sure what language to use it (understand spoken), certainly with high confidence, and understand the meaning of prayer is used. Thus, here Sunan Ka- lijaga create mantra prayer with Javanese language because the Javanese language prayer will easily understand and believed if the language understandable (Chodjim, 2003, p. 23). Sunan Kalijaga is known as the guardian that combines Javanese cul- ture with the value of Islam to spread the religion of Islam (Sofwan, 2000, p. 2). Based on that, this article will des- cribe the uniqueness of the art of Kidung which becomes one evidence of the exis- tence of arts in Kuthuk village, which pro- vides a large range of beliefs and religions. The study is done in the perspective of structural functionalism theory. METHOD As outlined in the previous section, the art of Kidung was examined using the structural functional theory from Brow- nislaw Malinowski. Therefore, this section will describe the biography and theory in question. Biography of Malinowski Malinowski was born in Kraków, Austria-Hungary (now Poland) in an upper-middle economic family. His fa- ther was a professor and his mother was the daughter of a landlord’s family. In his childhood, he was often sick and weak, but he was academically smart. He received his doctorate from the Jagiellonian Univer- sity in 1908, with a concentration of Mat- hematics and Physics. After that, he conti- nued his study at the University of Leipzig for two years where he began thinking of Wilhem Wundt influence through his the- ory of folk psychology. In addition to the sciences, Ma- linowski also steeped in the science of anthropology. Therefore, he decided to sail to the United Kingdom to study at the Hafid Zuhdan Bahtiar, Kidung: Myth of Welfare for Kuthuk People in Kudus Regency 117 London School of Economics in 1910. At that time, James Frazer and several other British writers known as best anthropolo- gists inspired him. In 1914 he travelled to Papua (now Papua New Guinea) conducted a re- search in Mailo area, one of the Trobriand Islands. He also ran into problems when conducted such research. The outbreak of the first World War at that time, made him detained as a Polish who was in the territo- ry of the United Kingdom and not allowed to leave the area. Only after some time, he decided to study the indigenous tribes of Trobrianders and stayed with their com- munity until finally, he could master their language, made friendship with the resi- dents, and even rumored to have a love affair with a native woman. In that period, he began to do research in Kula and pro- duced a theory of participant observati- on which becomes one key to the current anthropology methodologies. Deserved to recognize that war and Malinowski’s li- ving in isolation made a theory born; the theory which later widely influences the modern anthropology. In 1922 Malinowski earned a docto- rate in anthropology and began to teach at the London School of Economics. In that year his book ‘Argonauts of the Western Pacific’ were also published. The book was widely regarded as a masterpiece so Malinowski became one of best anthro- pologists ever. During the next three de- cades, Malinowski brought the London School of Economics (LSE) became the best anthropology learning center in the United Kingdom. He taught a lot of people, inclu- ding the students from the colonies of the United Kingdom which later became im- portant figures in their countries. He also taught at Yale University, United States until his death in 1942. Theory of Function In the context of the theory of func- tion, Malinowski developed a theory about the function of the cultural elements that are very complicated. The core of this theory states that all cultural activities are basically intended to satisfy various needs of human instincts that are related to his whole life. Therefore, in order to understand what a culture is, Malinowski emphasized the importance of research on the relationship between various social as- pects in society. Malinowski argued there are three fundamental levels of needs in a given cul- ture. This includes three levels: (1) culture should meet the biological needs; (2) cul- ture should meet the instrumental ele- ments (the need of law and education); (3) culture should meet integrative needs (re- ligion and arts). Relating to this theory, Malinowski also stated that the results of his research about the magic at the Trobriand turned out its function to reduce the anxiety of things that cannot be easily understood. This explanation is of course the reason of existence and preservation of the magic in the Trobriand culture. Based on the description above, the theory was used to study the function of the Kidung in the village Kuthuk. Data in the form of the song, especially the lyrics were used for primary data sources in addition to interviewing and observation. Further- more, the data were analyzed qualitatively by the Structural Functional Theory and anthropological approach developed by Malinowski. RESULT AND DISCUSSION This section will describe on: (1) the Ritual ‘Kidung’ in the village of Kuthuk Ku- dus Regency; and (2) the arts of Kidung in the perspective of Structural Functional Theory. Ritual of Kidung in Kuthuk Village Ku- dus Regency Kidung is a form of expression that exists among the Javanese community. In general this is expressed using the tra- ditional Javanese songs (macapat). Kidung is chanted for the purpose to calm down one’s feeling. Therefore, it is chanted when doing regular work and daily activities as HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 14 (2) (2014): 115-122118 well. Among women Kidung is often chanted while putting the baby to bed or rocking the baby. This is done in the hope that his son could be more calm and no fuss. Among Kuthuk community, it is be- lieved to have the power of mantra since it is able to provide a peaceful mind to the listeners. In addition, chanting qigong also has a number of functions, such as pleading for safety, health, less risk, and romance. In the context of pleading safety, ac- cording to the elders of the village Kidung is considered as a chanted ritual that later becomes a myth for its residents. There- fore, in the implementation of puputan, this song is chanted for his son’s blessing with safety, health, being protected from dangers, and being able to grow and thri- ve well. Kidung ritual in the tradition of pu- putan is actually a kind of selapanan ritual, such as those in other villages. However, this ritual in Kuthuk village was done whi- le chanting a song like a mantra or a prayer. The ritual was chanted by the elders of the village commonly considered as a shaman or dukun (the term given by the local peo- ple), or religious leaders totaling about 5 to 7 persons. If some religious leaders or sha- mans could not take part in the ritual, they sometimes had to ask other religious lea- ders or shamans of several villages around to replace their parts. The ritual procession is often imple- mented and followed by the invited local people of the village. Male will gather with the religious leaders or shamans, while the women are also grouped after the men. Before the event started, the host family would prepare dishes, including snack or jajan pasar (traditional food), such as boiled peanuts, boiled yams, banana stew, bread, coffee, fried food, and cigaret- te. Even so, there were families preparing food, such as rice, gudangan (vegetables with spicy grated coconut), or chicken opor. While enjoying the dish served, women in the room would carry the chanted child. After the break, the ritual would be continued by praying together led by an appointed person. The prayers asked to God are known as tahlillan or berjanjen, when the host family asked for safety, blessings, and things that their desire for the child would be fulfilled. The ritual of tahlillan was chanted in brief, just taking an essential prayer to the baby. After tahlilan was completed, the ri- tual continued with singing kidung. This ri- tual began when the religious leader puts himself in a provided place. He usually puts himself in front of the guests in order to be easily seen and replied ‘Amen’ after all the kidung lyrics were delivered. After the religious leader and the guests put themselves, the chanted child was brought to one of the religious leaders while his pa- rents joined with other guests. The ritual of Kidung began when one of the leaders chanted a song while rocking the child. The usual chanted songs are kidung Mantrawedha, Salira Ayu, and Ki- dung Rumeksa Ing Wengi. When one of the leaders was singing, other people replied amen anytime after all the kidung lyrics were delivered. Need to remember that Kidung is one of the prayers or wishes of a chanting person, so the other people in- vited reply amen in order that the prayers will be fulfilled in the future. After one religious leader completed a song, the child was given to the next leader, and the ritual continued. The next leader did the same thing while singing Kidung. However, Kidung is expressed by the religious leaders with a different the- me between one leader and another, and replied amen by the guests. The ritual was repeated continuously until the dawn. Af- ter crowing cocks began to sound, the ri- tual concluded with a prayer led by one of the leaders. Prayers delivered were the closing prayers. However, in the closing prayer there were also prayers devoted to the chanted child and his family. After all the rituals were performed and replied to- gether, a child was then given back to his mother and the ritual ended up. Hafid Zuhdan Bahtiar, Kidung: Myth of Welfare for Kuthuk People in Kudus Regency 119 pan dadi sarira tunggal ati adem uteku Bagendha Esis pangucapku hya Musa Napasku Nabi Isa linuwih Nabi Yakub pamiyarsaing wang Yusup ing rupaku mangke, Nabi Dhawut swaraku Njeng Sulaiman Kasekten mami, Nabi Ibrahim nyawa Edris ing rambutku, Bagindo Ngali kulit ing wang Abubakar getih daging Umar singgih Balung Baginda Usman Sungsum ingsun Fatimah linuwih Siti Aminah bayuning angga Ayub ing ususku mangke, Nabi Nuh ing jejantung Nabi Yunus ing otot manmi, Netraku ya Muhkamad panduluku Rosul, pinayung Adam syara sampun pepak sakathahing para Nabi dadya sarira tunggal Wiji sawiji mulane dadi apan pencar saisining jagad kasamadan dening dyate, kang maca kang angrungu kang anyerat kang anyimpeni, dadi ayuning badan kinarya sesembur yen winacakna ing toya kinarya dus rara tuwa gelis krami wong edan nuli waras Lamun ana wong kadhenda kaki wong kabanda wong kabotan utang yogya wacanen den age, nalika tengah dalu ping sewelas wacanen singgih, luwar kang kebanda kang kadhenda wurung, aglis nuli sinauran mring hyang Sukma kang utang punika singgih kang agring nuli waras Lamun arsotulus nandur pari puwarsa sewengi sedina iderana gegalenge, The Art of Kidung in the Perspective of Structural Functional Theory Kidung is the procession of accultura- tion the cultures, customs, and beliefs that have existed approximately since the early 1970s. In the early in its development, the art was spearheaded by Mr. Soeparno, a re- tired elementary school teacher in Kuthuk. At that time Kuthuk people believed that many mystical elements were believed to bring prosperity and peace to their family members. Therefore, through this art they convey the prayer to God and this art is implemented in the ritual of puputan. The procession is not a long series of activities; it is different from such rituals at the pala- ce. The ritual is performed after the family asks for kids procession for their child. The following is one example of kidung Mantra- wedha, Salira Ayu, and Kidung Rumeksa Ing Wengi ‘s lyrics. Ono kidung Rumekso ing Wengi teguh ayu luputa ingira luputo bilahing kabeh, Jin Setan datan purun paneluhan tan ana wani, miwah panggawe ala gunane wong luput, geniatemahan tirta maling adoh tan wani ngarah mring mami guna dhudhuk pan sirna Sakehing lara pan samya bali sakeh ngama pan samya mirudha welas asih pandulune, sakehing braja luput kadi kapuk tibane wesi, sakehing wisa tawa sato galak lutut, kayu aeng lemah sangar songing landak guwa- ne mung lemah miring myang pakiponing merak Pagupaning warak sekalir nadyan arco myang sagar asat temahan rahayu kabeh, apan sarira ayu ing ideran sang Widodari, rineka Malaekat sakathahing Rosul, HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 14 (2) (2014): 115-122120 wacanen kidung iku sakeh ngama samia bali, yen sira lunga perang wateken ing sekul, antuka tigang pulukan mungsoh ira rep sirep tan ana wani rahayu ing payudan Sing sapa Wonge bisa nglakoni amutiha lawan anawa patang puluh dina whae, lan tangi wektu subuh lan den sabar sukuring ati, insya Allah tinekan sakarsane reku, tumrap sanak rayat ira saking sawabing ilmu pangiket mami dhuk aning Kalijaga The laras (Javanese notation) of the first verse is as follows 3 6 ! ! ! ! ! 2 3 3 O no ki -dung ru- mek –so ing we -ngi 3 3 2 2 ! ! ! ! ! ! Te- guh a yu lu- put- o ing- i - ro ! ! ! ! ! ! 2 !6 6 ! 2 2 2 2 2 lu-pu-to bi-lahing kabeh, Jin Se-tan da-tan pu-run 5 5 3 3 2 6 6 ! 3 1 1 2!22 222q pa-ne-lu-han tan ono wa-ni, mi-wah pang-ga-we o-lo 2 2 ! 3 2 2 ! 6 ! 2 3 3 3 333 gu-na-ne wong lu-put, ge-ni-a-te ma- han tir - to 3 3 5 3 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 2233 ma-ling a-doh tan wa-ni nga-rah mring ma-mi 6 ! 2 2 3 2 ! 6 Gu-no dhu-dhuk pan sir-no The following is all parts of the verse in English. There is a song which guards the night. Be goodness and keep away from doom and disaster Resolve all evil and misfortune from within Devil and no one dare to disturb us There are no spells that are able to go with us and those who do evil to us are going to die if the person is doused with water No gunsmith dares to come to us The crime would be lost All pain may not return As many pests may go Compassion will be seen All errors are such cotton falling into iron All can be clear Wild animals become tame and obedient Wood and ground turn into things that have a positive aura Hedgehog’s caves are just a sloping ground and place for joking Peacock Place for although the mountain and the sea dry up But all would survive; the body is guarded by angels Guarded as many angels and prophets so one Peaceful mind my brain Majesty Esis My words Moses My breath Prophet Isa, Prophet Yaqub my sight The prophet Joseph my face, Prophet David my voice, Solomon my spirit Prophet Ibrahim my life Idris holds to follow, wood and ground become a positive thing Hedgehog’s caves is just a sloping ground And a place for joking Peacock My marrow Fatimah Siti Aminah my strength, Ayub my intestine Noah my heart, prophet Jonah my muscle My eyes Mohammed, my sight in the arm of Prophets Majesty Ali my complexion, Abu Bakar my blood My flesh Umar Singgih My bones King Usman Hafid Zuhdan Bahtiar, Kidung: Myth of Welfare for Kuthuk People in Kudus Regency 121 Genesis comes from the same seed Then scramble to the rest of the world suffered by His substance The reading and listening The copying and saving Be a safety agency as a means of repellent When applied in water Used for the virgin woman in the bath together mate Any crazy people can remember again If any male persons entangle debts and have a lot of debt Better read den age at midnight Read eleven times with an oath will get rid of the debt, and do not have any debt and quickly pray to God about that debt the ill will afford health If taking sincere to plant rice fitting only in a night a day walking around in dykes Please read Kidung all pests will definitely go If you go to war, center to Adam already complete from the prophets all so one Anyone capable of running fasting (mutih) to fight lust for forty days, waking up at dawn always be patient and many words of gratitude Insha Allah what you want can be achieved as well as for the child and society exalt science to fight lust like the knowledge of Sunan Kalijaga The number of verses in kidung Ru- meksa Ing Wengi is actually nine. However, the first verse is very well-known and be- comes a kind of Kidung Wingit, which is believed to bring the repellent spell to keep doom and disaster away. If you take the meaning of the nine verses of kidung described, they contain a medium of propagation in the form of an incredible song. It once indicated that the proselytizers of Islam as a religion in Java in the early days of its development were able to understand, animate and simulta- neously answer the needs of the spirituali- ty of the society. The spirit contained in kidung is a message to remind people to continuously get closer to God Almighty. As His crea- ture, we convince ourselves and trust the power of God Almighty, then any obstac- les and temptations would easily be over- come, including those beyond the capacity of human reason. It is very functional for the theory to give priority to regularity and leave the conflict and social changes from the pu- blic. The reflection of the theory is proven that the villagers believe in any customs that cannot be abandoned. They rather appreciate the existence of this art ritual than modern thoughts as it is developing today. This ritual is considered to be able to convey directly what is desired by the community to God. The developing myth shows that thechildchanted on his ritual of proportion will later become a man with good charac- ters, when compared to the children who aren’t. The position of kidung as mantra in the principles of structural functional the- ory mentioned that art as one of the ele- ments of culture, occurs since people basi- cally want to satisfy their needs of instincts through beauty (Koentjaraningrat, 1980, p. 171). Therefore, this context explained that the villagers want to satisfy their desires rather through prayers to Godin the form of the art ritual of kidung than through their own prayers. The implementation of the ritual ki- dung, led by the religious leaders considers to represent of all good prayers, since the book of kidung has completely recorded a full spell and petition on health, intelligen- ce, wit, soulmate, fortune and the demon repellent. That people’s belief of chanting kit- ten will provide safety for the chanter and his family is relevant to the theory. The theory discloses that someone will always attempt to reduce the anxiety of things that cannot be easily understood by doing HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 14 (2) (2014): 115-122122 some certain ways. Furthermore, when he feels no longer to be able to finish his earth- ly problems due to the limitedness of his ratio, then he finds out another way in his religious system called magic ( Syam, 2007, p. 30). Based on that interest, people create ceremonies in order to control nature. That is due to the limited capabilities of the ra- tio, then they create a ritual that is able to represent his desire. In this context, kidung is considered to be one of the power of the people against the Amen hopes of welfare, while they are still doing anyway through the worship in the religion context. CONCLUSION In modern times, the village of Kut- huk in Kudus Regencystill has arts ritual that is perhaps rarely found. In the mo- dernization and increasingly sophisticated technologies, most villagers still maintain and preserve the art of kidung as one of the important rituals in the implementation of puputan. Through this ritual Kuthuk villa- ge community believe that God will ans- wer what they hope. Based on the fact that proves what is expressed in the structural functional the- ory of Malinowski is still relevant. 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