Wet rice cultivation in Indonesia - Free EBooks Library

Wet rice cultivation in Indonesia Chapter three
Rituals in relation to wet rice cultivation
The legend of Dewi Sri as described above has many practical implications for wet rice
cultivation in Indonesia. According to Ismani (1985:120-121) six main rituals can be
distinguished, one for each stage during the cultivation and processing. These stages
consist of seedling, land preparation, planting, ripening, harvest and storage. We will
elaborate each stage shortly below 22 . Note that these stages and their related rituals are
especially applicable to wet rice cultivation on Java.
Indonesian farmers call the stage of seedling tabor benih. Before planting the seeds
in the seedbed, they conduct a ceremonial food offering called nyebar wiji. This is an act to
inform Dewi Sri that they are going to start to grow rice and to ask her to help the seeds
grow well and that a good yield will be the result.
Executing the next ritual occurs in relation to the preparation of land. Before
ploughing the land, farmers conduct a food-offering called wiwit ngluku (the beginning of
land ploughing) to ensure that the farmers can finish the work safely.
The continuing phase is planting. When the farmers start planting rice, they execute
a food-offering ceremony called bubur bumi, so that the rice will grow well and produce a
good yield. After finishing the planting of rice, another ceremony called buntoni (closing)
takes place, through which the farmers hope that there will be no loss in yield and no empty
grains.
During the ripening period, people carry out a ceremony called keleman to honour
Dewi Sri. They perform keleman in a way similar to the ceremony for a seven-month
pregnant woman, because they believe that rice during the ripening period is comparable to
the pregnancy of Dewi Sri. People place food offerings in the corners of rice fields with the
hope that pregnancy will be safe and the yield will be high.
Prior to harvesting, a ceremony called metik is held so that rice will not be destroyed
by plant disease and the harvesting will be finished successfully. Immediately after finishing
the harvesting, the farmers conduct a thanksgiving ceremony called sedekah bumi. The
offerings consist of various kinds of rice food. This is to express their thankfulness to God
that rice growing has been successful with a high yield.
The last stage consists of sun drying and storing the rice in the granary. The farmers
are not supposed to take out rice for forty days; otherwise the storage will end up quickly.
This short analysis of the most relevant rituals on Java in relation to wet rice cultivation
shows that the importance of rice becomes visible through rituals based on thoughts,
feelings and convictions. The belief that a rice plant carrying grains is almost similar to a
pregnant woman shows once again that rice is far more than food alone. For traditional rural
communities in Indonesia, rice means life, not only practically but also symbolically and
emotionally.
3.4 Authority and its legitimacy in traditional rural communities
3.4.1 Introduction
The second hypothesis states that the form of traditional authority in a rural community
might make the integration of modernisation influences within wet rice cultivation in
Indonesia less accessible. This hypothesis makes it necessary to explain the theoretical
background of traditional authority in traditional rural communities. It is also relevant to
understand the process of acceptance by the people of a community, of the power that
arises from traditional authority. In social sciences, one of the concepts that is commonly
used for ‘acceptance of authority’ is legitimacy. Thus, explaining the concepts of traditional
authority and legitimacy is the main focus of this paragraph.
22 The information in this section is based on Ismani, 1985:120-121.
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