LOCAL CULTURAL CONTEXT AND SUBSTANCE

LOCAL CULTURAL CONTEXT AND SUBSTANCE

Basically, culture has values that are always inherited, interpreted and implemented in

line with the process of social change in society. The implementation of cultural values is proof

of the community's legitimacy towards culture. The existence of culture and the diversity of noble

cultural values owned by the Indonesian nation are a means of building the character of citizens,

both related to private and public characters. According to Geertz (1992:5) culture is 'a pattern

of meanings or meanings that are thoroughly interwoven in symbols transmitted historically, a

system of conceptions inherited in symbolic forms by which humans communicate, preserve

and develop their knowledge and attitudes towards life'. This opinion emphasizes that culture is

Kluckhohn in Pelly (1994) suggests that cultural value is a broad-scope concept that lives in the

minds of most citizens of a society, about what is most valuable in life. The series of concepts

are interrelated with each othe

r and constitute a system of cultural values. Buru is one of the tribes in Maluku and Buru

is the second largest island after Seram island. Buru Island itself is also known by the name

Bupolo which is the original name of Buru island which means Dampolot which means full of

swamps and swamps. The term Bumi Lalen is also used to name Buru Island, especially in the

plains of Lake Rana and Mount Date which is a sacred place for the local community because it

is believed that this place is where their ancestors came from. 230 B. Description of Learning

Materials for the Development of Local Culture (Buru Island) Maluku has many ethnic groups with

strategic route for trade contact activities and population mobilization from surrounding islands

such as Sula Sanana, Banda, and Ambon. This coastal area is crowded with people from the

surrounding islands and islands outside

the Maluku region, namely Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Buton, and some even come from

Arabia and China, who then identify themselves as Buru people. Buru Island itself is also known

as Bupolo which is the original name of Buru Island (Dampolot 231 means full of pecek and

swamp). According to one of the indigenous elders we interviewed1, that in the past, after this

island was formed, the ground surface was full of pecek and swamps that when stepped on, our

feet would be held back and difficult to lift. The term Bumi Lalen is also used to name Buru Island,

especially in the plains of Lake Rana and Mount Date which is a sacred place for the local

two places have a very high sacredness value so that they are not visited by people carelessly,

let alone outsiders/immigrants. The people who live in the plains of Lake Rana and Mount 232

Date call themselves the indigenous people of the island of Buru or called Alifuru (Seram) or also

the people of Bumi Lalen. And this makes them feel proud that they live or settle in the core center

of the Earth of Buru, which also gives them a strong confidence and pride in their identity as the

people of Earth Lalen. The term Bumi Lalen cannot be used daily but is only used at certain times

such as formal events and traditional rituals. Mount Date is the place where the 24 tribes that are

members of the Lisela clan are separated. The central and strategic position of Date and Rana is

in accordance with the perspective and belief of the people of Bumi Lalen towards their world

(Buru island). This island is seen as a female human being in a supine position with the head in

importance to the elements of mountains and water represented by rivers. Lake Rana is not only

important in the eyes of the people of Bumi Lale, but the river that flows or sources from it is also

a sacred and sacred place, because of the role it plays in history as the place where the first

humans appeared. The position as the abdomen or center representing the body, which is an

important part of the process of conception, pregnancy, and human birth, is the original concept

of the insight of thinking that views Buru as a human being, the image of which can be seen on

the map of Buru island. According to Koentjaraningrat (1984: 2, 9), culture is the whole of human

ideas and works that he is accustomed to learning, as well as the whole of his mind and work.

Universal elements that are the content of all cultures in the world, namely: (i) religious systems

and religious ceremonies; (ii) the system of community organizations; (iii) knowledge systems;

knowing the religion, the Buru people adhered to a belief in ancestral spirits or ancestors called

Animism. Animism is a form of religion based on the belief that the nature around where humans

live is inhabited by various kinds of spirits, and consists of various religious activities to worship

these spirits. These spirits have a very important place in human life, so that they become objects

of respect and worship, which are carried out with various ceremonies, prayers, offerings,

sacrifices, and so on. 235 Starting from the above explanation, the Buru people in exercising their

belief in their ancestors divide the space in their territory into three parts, namely: The first is the

area that is protected because of its sacred value, namely Mount Date (Kaku Date), Lake Rana

(Rana Waekolo) and a sacred place in the primary forest (coin); The second is the area that is

cultivated including settlements (humalolin and fenalalen), gardens (hawa), hunting or

ancestors came from water and mountains. Lake Rana as water and Mount Date as a mountain.

Therefore, these two places are very sacred and sacred, they cannot be entered by just anyone,

let alone outsiders. This is also supported by the strategic position of Rana and Date 236 in the

middle of the island of Buru, so that these two places become the center of all community

customs. And it was named Bumilalen. Bumilalen means the center or core of the earth's belly.

The people who live in Bumilalen and its surroundings are native Buru people and they are tasked

and responsible for guarding Rana and Date from outside influences and disturbances. The

kinship system of the Buru people is oriented towards a patrilineal marriage pattern

accompanied by a patrilineal sedentary pattern, namely the place of residence is centered on

the area of the father's or father's descendants. The greater kinship unit of the batih family is the

a unit of kinship around individual 237 consisting of residents who are still alive from the original

family, namely all descendants of the four ancestors. Marriage according to custom is a matter

of these two kinship groups, namely the family and the family that participate in determining the

implementation of the marriage. The marriage in question is exogamous, that is, a person must

marry someone outside his clan. Exogami c

prohibition on marrying fellow members of the nuclear family; The clan exogamy is the

prohibition of marrying a member of a fellow clan; The village exogamy is a prohibition on

marrying villagers, and so on. The Buru people in the traditional marriage process adhere to the

exogamous marriage of the nuclear family, while the exogamous marriage of the clan is not. This

means that a man can still marry a woman of the same clan as long as they are of different

matarumah(bialahin), for example in the Batuwael clan in Waeputih village, there is a couple

from one clan with different matarumah (The entire writing is a compilation and compilation of;

Pattinama, Max Marcus J. 238 2012. "The Power of Language in Rasa, Karya and Karsa: An