BERLINDUNG DI BALIK MITOS Mitos Maselihe dan Adaptasi Kultural Penduduk Kendahe, Kepulauan Sangihe Terhadap Bahaya Letusan Gunung Awu

NUR WIDIYANTO, Prof.Dr. P.M Laksono.M.A

2012 | Tesis | S2 Antropologi

Thesis ini ingin menjawab dua pertanyaan tentang kehidupan penduduk Kendahe di Kabupaten Kepulauan Sangihe. Pertanyaan pertama adalah bagaimana hubungan reproduksi mitos lokal dengan proses adaptasi yang dikembangkan oleh penduduk terhadap bahaya letusan gunung. Pertanyaan kedua bagaimana proses tersebut berjalan saat penduduk memeluk agama Islam maupun Kristen. Kedua pertanyaan tersebut dilengkapi dengan pertanyaan penutup tentang bagaimana inkulturasi antara agama dan mitos tersebut saat bertemu dengan modernitas. Proses pengambilan data dalam penelitian ini dilakukan tiga kali, 2009, 2010 dan awal tahun 2012. Pengambilan data primer dilakukan dengan partisipasi observasi terhadap aktifitas penduduk saat berkebun, di pemukiman maupun saat melaut. Teknik lain adalah in depth interview dengan informan dari Kampung Kendahe I maupun Kendahe II serta dipadukan dengan pengumpulan data sekunder dari berbagai sumber. Seluruh data kemudian dianalisis untuk disusun menjadi etnografi tentang kehidupan penduduk terkait dengan adaptasi hidup di dekat gunung api. Sejak 1711, Gunung Awu telah meletus 18 kali dengan korban lebih dari 7300 orang. Pada saat yang sama, penduduk memutuskan tidak berpindah. Proses adaptasi dikembangkan dengan membangun sistem sosial yang kohesif merujuk kepada Mitos Maselihe. Adaptasi juga dilakukan dalam bentuk penamaan tempat, pengaturan pemukiman, pengetahuan tentang tanda letusan, jalur evakuasi tradisional sampai sistem pertanian untuk cadangan pangan saat krisis. Kondisi di atas didukung oleh kontekstualisasi ajaran Kristen dan Islam sehingga tidak bertentangan dengan tradisi lama. Meski berbagai perubahan yang hadir bersama dengan modernitas, namun sejauh ini belum mampu secara tuntas menggusur sistem nilai lama, terutama yang terkait dengan keberadaan Mitos Maselihe.

The thesis intended to answer two questions related to the adaptation of Kendahe’s community in Sangihe Islands, North Sulawesi toward their environment. The first question is how is the relation between the process of reproducing of local myth with the community adaptation toward the risk of living nearby the volcano. Secondly, how the process can be works when the community was became Moslem or Christian. These two questions then completed by last question; how does the en-culturation process between religion with local myth when met with the modernity. Data collection is conducted in early 2012. The primary data obtained by participant observation that conducted toward the people’s activity while in the farming land, settlements and also when at sea. Informants are selected through purposively sampling method; refer to the proximity to the topics being studied. In analysis, this primary data then combined with the secondary data that has been collected from various sources. The final result is the picture of the ethnography on the local community that living nearby the volcano for years and develops their own adaptation system. Since 1711 the Awu Volcano had been erupted 18 times and took about 7,300 human lives. Adaptations process developed in form of strong and cohesive social system that referring to the existence of the Myth of Maselihe. This myth is referring to the occurance of incest practice by the king of Kendahe and his daughter which then was punished by the Divine in the form of catasthropy. This social system are essential social capital to survive and to adapt in the natural disaster-prone area. The adaptation has also been applied in forms of; naming the places, the site-planning arrangement, early warning system, evacuation route and growing the edible root crops for food stock during crisis. This social capital also supported by the success of contextualization of Islamic and Christianity thought with the custom. Despite various forms of changes that come along with the modernity started to appear, but does not able to displace the old value system completely, especially that related to the existence of Myth of Maselihe.

Kata Kunci : Adaptasi kultural, Gunung Awu Mitos Maselihe, Sistem Sosial, Inkulturasi, Modernitas