Remerciez-le!

Remerciez @Admin pour avoir partagé cet document gratuitement, de la manière la plus simple, en partageant sur les réseaux sociaux.

The Osing Agricultural Spirit-Medium Le médium des esprits en milieu agricole o

The Osing Agricultural Spirit-Medium Le médium des esprits en milieu agricole osing Robert Wessing p. 111-124 Résumé | Index | Plan | Texte | Bibliographie | Notes | Citation | Auteur Résumés EnglishFrançais Dans le passé, les communautés de l’Est de Java ont coordonné leurs activités agricoles, y compris le respect des obligations rituelles du peuple à l’esprit tutélaire chargé du maintien de la fertilité des terres de la communauté. La personne en charge de cela était le fondateur de la communauté ou de l’un de ses descendants, le membre de la lignée qui entra le premier dans une relation d’obligations avec l’esprit-propriétaire des terres du village. Au cours des cinquante dernières années, l’évolution politique, agricole et religieuse ont entraîné des changements dans la façon dont ces obligations rituelles sont remplies. Aujourd’hui, l’entité adressée, si les anciennes obligations rituelles sont satisfaites du tout, est souvent caractérisée comme la déesse du riz ou Dieu. Ceci est facilité par l’idée que les entités spirituelles sont indissociables catégoriellement, et l’aspect souligné dépend des besoins du moment. Haut de page Entrées d‘index Mots-clés : rituel agricole, Java Oriental, lignage du fondateur, islamisation, jaga tirtha, modin banyu, Osing, Asie du Sud-Est, esprit tutélaire Keywords : agricultural ritual, East Java, founder‘s line, Islamization, jaga tirtha,modin banyu, Osing, Southeast Asia, tutelary spirit Haut de page Plan Introduction Southeast Asia Wali Puhun East Java Change Conclusion Haut de page Texte intégral PDF 206kSignaler ce document Introduction 1 It would be tempting to gloss the termsdhukun or pawang with shaman. However, unlike the classical (...) 2 These often seem to be descriptive titles adopted by the authors of the various books and articles. (...) 1In the course of the performance of various agricultural rituals in East Java, e.g. the seblang dance (Wessing 1999) or the keboan ritual (Siswanto & Prasetyo 2009), one person that takes center stage, but at the same time remains in the background, is the pawang or dhukun, the man who mediates between the community and the spirits of both the community‘s founder and the nature spirit(s) that are thought to control the fertility of the soil, and thus the community‘s welfare.1 His functions include not only the leadership of those annual rituals, but often also the conduct of smaller, but no less important rituals conducted at various times at the rice field. In fact, in the literature he is often known under various titles that relate to these latter functions.2 Among the Osing of the Banyuwangi area he is most often called the jaga tirta or modin banyu, the guardian of the waters. 3 Cf. Mus (1975). For an example of how a nature spirit is changed into a tutelary spirit see Domenig (...) 2In both the seblang and the keboan rituals, the pawang must be a descendant of the founder of the community. The reason for this is that the rituals originated in an agreement between the nature spirit-owner of the land and the founder of the community: in exchange for permission to use the soil, the spirit-owner was given certain privileges and guarantees, the latter including the annual rituals described here.3 In return the spirit-owner became the community‘s tutelary spirit (Jav. dhanyang) that guaranteed the fertility of the fields and the welfare of the community. Thus, although in many places this role is now in decline, the pawang ideally represents the founder, and his or her descendants, vis-à-vis the spirit world. Southeast Asia 3An important article on the role of the founder‘s line in Southeast Asia was written by F.K. Lehman: […] the original and ultimate owners having dominion over the face of the land are the spirit lords commonly associated with more or less prominent features of the landscape. What is rather more particular to this part of the world is the idea that when the first human settlers began to clear any given tract of land, they had to make a contract with these spirit lords. This contract ensured that there would continue to be communication between the two parties as long as both sides lived up to the requirements of that contract. The exclusive right to serve as mediators between the lords and human settlers is supposed to pass to the hereditary heirs and successors of the original founders of the settlement, in perpetuity. This is the very essence of the founders‘ cult. (Lehman 2003: 16.) 4As Bellwood (1996: 25) observes, especially the leaders of the founder‘s line, sometimes characterized as the ―Source of the Domain‖, tended to occupy central political positions in the community. Thus, Hayami (2003: 134) writes of the Karen of Thailand that the hi kho or village head is the exclusive mediator with the spirits, though as we will see this does not everywhere mean that he is the administrative leader. Rather, she emphasizes (2003: 136, 139-40), his is a ritual claim as he was the first man (or the patrilineal descendant of the first man) to open the forest in that location, and establish a relationship with the ―Lord of the Water and Land,‖ the guardian spirit of the place. It was this man‘s ritual capacities that brought fertility and prosperity. Similarly among the Akha of Northern Thailand, the village ruler (dzöma) is a man close to the source of the community‘s potency, who is ―responsible for the channeling of proper fertility […] to the village‖ (Tooker 1996: 332-3). Further a field, e.g. in India and as far away as Madagascar, similar relations exist (Stutley & Stutley 1984: 345; Bloch 1985: 640). 4 See for instance Scholz (1962) for Eastern Indonesia. 5In Indonesia the relationship is widespread as well. Among Sakuddei of Mentawai humans make offerings to the spirits and request their permission to exploit the jungle ―in accordance with the primordial agreement‖ (Schefold 2002: 427), while according to the Kerinci of Sumatra the founder even married the forest spirit (Bakels 2000: 114, 172). In South Sulawesi spirits own the land and assure its fertility in exchange for offerings (Buijs 2006: 45, 112). Similarly among the Toraja the indo padang is a ―rice-priest‖ or ―mother of rice,‖ who is the ritual specialist in charge of the fertility of the rice, and whose ancestors are said to have originated the rituals for rice (Coville 2003: 87, 89, 95). Finally, nearer to Java, in Bali, an official called the pasek is in charge of the ―cult of the earth‖ on which the success of the harvest depends (Bertling 1955: 27). An especially important part of his tasks is making sure the people obey the prohibitions on felling trees and unlawful harvesting, as well as controlling the use of water. This last makes this man the equivalent of the Osing jaga tirta mentioned earlier. Examples from other areas of Indonesia could be added,4 but it should be clear that throughout the area the relationship between a representative of the founding line and the tutelary earth spirit was seen as vital to a community‘s welfare. However, before considering the data from East Java and the Osing, I want to first look at the discussions concerning the wali puhun of West Java. The position of the wali puhun is among the better documented in the literature, and can be seen as paradigmatic for the problem I am discussing here. Wali Puhun 5 Another word forpuhun is punduh, which Prawirasuganda (1964: 126) defines as a person who is consi(...) 6 Wali, of course, also means ―friend of Allah‖. 7 Among the Osing this also happened, the term dhukun banyuhaving been changed to modin banyu, in wh(...) 6Among the Sundanese of West Java, the expert in agricultural rituals is called wali puhun, a person who is in contact with the spirits and the origin of rice5 (Prawirasuganda 1964: 126). Kern (1924: 585) calls him the ―original agricultural priest,‖ the man who knows the proper formulas and offerings, and when these must be made (Hardjadibrata 2003: 880). The first part of his title, wali, is both interesting and convenient. According to Prawirasuganda (1964: 126) and Rosidi et al. (2000: 692) in Old Javanese (Kawi) this word indicates a shaman or ritual specialist (dhukun). Furthermore, as Kern (1924: 584) writes, in several Indonesian languageswali also means spirit, while walian indicates a shaman or priest. Thus, Kern continues, wali can also indicate the person who is temporarily possessed by a spirit, or who is him or herself temporarily a spirit. At the same time, however, in today‘s Islamic context the term wali means guardian (Dutch:voogd),6 especially of a bride at her wedding, which returns us to one of the various names the pawang is given in the literature: grondvoogd (cf. Bertling 1955: 27, 40).7 However, as Ter Haar (1946: 67) observes, because this person ―is, as it were, the embodiment of the magic-religious relationship between the group and the land, he often functions as the magician during land [agricultural] ceremonies,‖ i.e. the pawang. 8 See wiwitanbeginning, first, main.Agama Sunda Wiwitanthe religion of West Java that has been lea(...) 9 Among the tasks of the wali uploads/Geographie/ the-osing-agricultural-spirit-robert-wessing.pdf