The Faith of Believer Associations (HPK) is a community which is purposely established by the local government in Cilacap to accommodate various faith communities in that area. All this while, there are more than 30 faith communities that still conduct their activities, one of them is HPK Naluri Penydran Adipala community in Cilacap.
Currently, HPK Naluri Penyadran community has tranformed into a majority community that previously was a minority in Adipala. This community is often known as “children and grandchildren of macanan” with the number of members that are larger than the other communities. Moreover, it also has an annual ritual activity that makes it widely known by the public.
“The most awaited ritual of this community is the tradition of nyadran or usually called as macanan tradition,” said Rofi, a student of Faculty of Philosophy UGM on Wednesday (21/6) at UGM campus.
Rofi said macanan tradition is the pilgrimage taken to the ancestral graves who are believed to be the chronicler of Cilacap, one of them is Eyang Bonokeling. According to the community leader, this tradition is held three times a year using Aboge Javanese Calendar (a merger of Islamic and Hindu calendars).
There are several rituals in this tradition. It is started by sanctifying themselves, proceeding with praying and burning incenses, then cleaning the park alternately. After that, they perform salam bekti ritual which is an apology ritual by the children and grandchildren towards the community leader. After the entire rituals have finished, the children and grandchildren went back to the gathering location.
Rofi and his friends namely Mochammad Lathif Amin (Faculty of Philosophy) and Novo Widiastuti (Faculty of Agricultural Technology) conducted a research on cultural values in macanan tradition through the Students Creativity Programme funded by Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education. Their research result shows macanan tradition is a form of respect from the grandchildren towards their ancestors who had performed rituals and passed on moral as well as cultural values to them.
Moreover, the exemplary attitude in preserving the cultures become one of the proponents of the descendants of the community members to continue the tradition and teachings of their ancestors. It is reflected in their daily life in the family by upholding the dignity of their parents and keeping family problems away from public consumption. This teaching forms a distinctive character of the children and grandchildren of macanan in the society.
“Strong character of the descendants of HPK community makes this community to keep existing and developing in this globalization era,” said Rofi.
Rofi hopes his team research can give a contribution towards the nation’s character building. The values contained in macanan tradition are expected to give stimulus in the nation’s character building and implemented in the daily life.