Hi, friends. It has been a long time since I have posted anything in connect, I am so sorry. So, today I wanna share my great experience when I visited “Kasepuhan Ciptagelar”.
But, this story will be a long story, so I wanna divide into 2 parts. In the first part, I wanna tell about the Ciptagelar and the a few things in Ciptagelar. And the second part I will tell my trip story.
Ciptagelar is one of village which the residents still applies customary law as a rule that apply in their daily lives. Kasepuhan is a traditional Sundanese community who live in the southern part of Gunung Halimun National Park, West Java, Indonesia.
I also took 360° view photo, you can check in this text.
The word “Kasepuhan” is formed in sepuh word which means “old” in Sundanese. The current head of community is Abah Ugi, who inherited the position of leader, his father, Abah Anom.
Abah Ugi Sugriana Rakasiwi, the full name of the head of the village right now. He is still young, around 35-40 years old and he is really friendly. Abah wore the Black cloth, while the man that wear red cloth is my lecturer. The picture was taken when Abah explained Ciptagelar in Sundanese and my lecturer reexplained in Indonesian. Abah was helped by Rorokan. Rorokan is similar to ministries in government . Their live duty is to help Abah as the head of the village. There are 13 Rorokan, but I will mention only 5 Rorokan
-
Rorokan Jero - his duty is to take care of the affairs in the village and also as Abah’s spokesman. (He is similar to the ministry of home affairs in government),
-
Rorokan Pamakayaan - his duty is to know when residents will start farming when residents will harvest and other affairs about agriculture. (He is similar to the Ministry of Agriculture in government)
-
Paraji - a person who helps the expectant when they want to gave a baby, she is a midwife in the village.
-
Rorokan Paninggaran - his duty is to defend the rice from pests that would eat it. (He is similar to the ministry of defence but in Agriculture major)
-
Rorokan Kesenian - his duty is to take care of art, especially customary music and customary show.
Everyone can come to Ciptagelar. Usually they greet the guest in Imah Gede.
Imah Gede (in Sundanese, imah : house, gede: big) is the main house at Ciptagelar, usually this house is used for greeting the guests and when carrying out customary ceremonies. Check this, for 360° view of . And there were rules that must be obeyed when we came to Imah Gede. Women are required to wear kebat cloth as a skirt, and men to wear headbands. like photos below.
If the guests do not know and do not bring the kebat cloth or headbands, they will be borrowed or asked to buy. Because it is one of the requirements.
And when they greet the guests, they will not let the guests starving, so in Imah Gede, they served food and drink 24 hours. many housewives help Emak (Emak is Abah’s Wife) in the kitchen of Imah Gede. How they cook is still traditional, like using a fireplace for stove, not using a rice cooker when cooking rice, and anything else.
The special thing in Ciptagelar is Rice. Ciptagelar’s residents consider that rice is a precious thing. So, Kasepuhan Ciptagelar’s has their own tradition when planting rice and it has begun since ciptagelar was established. And the rice seedlings that they plant are hereditary from the first Head of village in 1838 and now it has 1380 varieties. And for harvest time, it is only done once a year. Even though only once a year, the harvested rice is sufficient to stock the resident’s rice supply in the next 2-3 years.
The Ciptagelar’s residents keep their rice in the granary that is called Leuit. Rice that is kept in the Leuit could last a very long time and the taste does not change.
. When they will do the agricultural process, there are several traditions that must be carried out every year.
-
Ngaseuk – the beginning of planting rice in the field and started by Abah (the head village). Then, followed with planting rice in the ricefield by most residents in the village
-
Mipit – Harvest a ricefield in the field, and then harvested in ricefield
-
Nganyaran – cooked rice that is harvested this year, and tasted the first rice this year
-
Ponggokan – Registered all the souls, it was residents, even animals for Seren Taun preparation
-
Seren taun – a rice harvest customary ceremony, this is one of feast day in ciptagelar. and usually, many people from many places will come to celebrate Seren Taun with more than a thousand people.
Kasepuhan Ciptagelar is indeed a village that still firm on customary law but it is not a primitive village, they have used lamps for lighting, WiFi, even they use turbines to supply their own electricity to around 900 household. and it was an amazing village that I see.
so, it is the end of my first part story. I hope you enjoy my story. And for the next story, I will tell my trip story. Ah ya, you can also read the other story of ciptagelar in @Nyainurjanah’s post here.
last, i will mention a few photos below.
Thank you,
Warm regards.
Hal-hal berbau budaya memang selalu menarik