'Buang jong' ritual becomes annual tourism event
'Buang jong' ritual becomes annual tourism event
TANJUNG PANDAN, Belitung (JP): Many islands in the Indonesian
archipelago have their own legends and ceremonies. Some have
similar rituals or tales, many of which are related to the sea.
But the buang jong ritual on Belitung Island in South Sumatra
is unique. Buang means to throw away, while a jong is a small
ship crafted from cork wood.
The annual ceremony of buang jong dates back to 1914 when
Cidok, a Sawangnese -- the maritime tribe of Belitung that lived
on Tanjung Tinggi beach -- started a plantation on Teluk Limau,
which upset local spirits. Subsequently, the village was damaged
and dozens of people were killed.
Village leaders held meetings to discuss the calamity. They
then sent a villager to Kik Pilok, a shaman living in Air Batu
village, who then held a seven-day selamatan (thanksgiving
ceremony) to chase the bad spirits away. Kik Pilok succeeded in
driving the evil spirits from the village into the sea.
Two tribal chiefs Itek and Dudo then told the villagers to
conduct a selamatan to ward off any other evil spirits. The
selamatan was conducted by putting sesajen (various food
offerings) in a jong (small boat). The night before setting the
jong out to sea, the villagers held a berasik performance of
Sawangnese dance and other kinds of entertainment.
The ceremony became known as buang jong. It is now held
annually at the beginning of each monsoon season. Villagers
believe that it must be carried out yearly as it is based on an
agreement made years ago between the shaman and tribal chiefs.
The buang jong ritual was neglected during the Japanese
occupation in the early 1940s, when the villagers were forced to
farm in distant lands. When the Japanese left the village, people
returned to their original way of life of fishing, but disasters
began to occur and many people died. Since then, the ceremony has
been held regularly every year.
Kik Datang, Asan, Djarap, Mat Asim and Saie are the five
shamen that today lead the ritual ceremony, which has been
packaged as a tourist attraction on this island measuring 77 by
79 kilometers and with a population of 198,034. There is now a
Buang Jong festival, which was introduced late last month and has
expanded on the tradition to include rowing, cycling and beach
volley competitions.
It is also hoped that more attention to the ritual will help
preserve this and other aspects of Belitung's culture and
heritage. (icn)