i
THE THREE ELEMENTS OF MANTEN TEBU RITUAL IN JATIBARANG SUGAR FACTORY, BREBES
A Thesis Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement to Obtain the
Sarjana Sastra Degree in the English Department
By:
Lintang Dwiana
Student Number: 13.80.0010
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
SOEGIJAPRANATA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
SEMARANG
ii
THE THREE ELEMENTS OF MANTEN TEBU RITUAL IN JATIBARANG SUGAR FACTORY, BREBES
A Thesis Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement to Obtain the
Sarjana Sastra Degree in the English Department
By:
Lintang Dwiana
Student Number: 13.80.0010
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
SOEGIJAPRANATA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
SEMARANG
VI
(Courtesy of https://www.seniberpikir.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/quotes-
VII
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Jesus Christ for
blessing, guiding, and helping me in the process of finishing my thesis. I believe that
he always follows and stays with me during my journey to write my thesis. Indeed, I
face a lot of problems, troubles, and pressures in the writing process. The topic of my
thesis is on Manten Tebu. It is a ritual which is rarely known by people. I am the first
student in the Faculty of Language and Arts who carries out research and writes about
this ritual. So, I do believe that Jesus Christ has given me courage from the beginning
to the final phases of this thesis.
I would like to thank Mr. Retang, my major sponsor, who always has guided
me patiently. Sorry to frequently bother you in your busy time, Sir. Thank you for
your suggestions during my research and the writing process. Thank you for
supplying me with articles and books relevant to my research topic. I also want to
thank to Ms. Ekawati, my co-sponsor, for her encouragement to improve my English
grammar and the content of my thesis.
My sincere thanks also go to my beloved parents and sister who always
support and take a good care of me. I also thank my beloved dog, Millo, who always
becomes my mood booster whenever I feel down and weary. For my beloved ones:
Vania, Wiwik, Melina, Maya, Echa, Riri, Vio, Kezia: thank you for sharing good or
bad times and stories with me. You always support and encourage me. I wish the best
for you all. Thank you to Jatibarang Sugar Factory for letting me in and welcoming
VIII
informants and getting permission to conduct a research in the factory. I would like to
thank my informants: Mr. Wieche, Mr. Pulung, Mr. Unggul, Mr. Topik, and Mr. Iing.
Mr. Wieche gave me abundant information about the history of Manten Tebu and
Jatibarang Sugar Factory. He also shared his documentation, which in turn, helps me
to explain the Manten Tebu ritual.
I finally complete my thesis. With this completion, I hope that you all are
proud of me. Even though I know that my thesis is still lacking in many things, I hope
that it could inspire other students to do further studies on MantenTebu ritual or any
IX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE OF TITLE
COVER PAGE ... i
A THESIS APPROVAL ... ii
BOARD OF EXAMINERS ... iii
MOTTO ... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii
LIST OF FIGURES... ix
LIST OF TABLE ... x
ABSTRACT ... xi
ABSTRAK ... xii
CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION ... 1
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ... 1
FIELD OF THE STUDY ... 5
SCOPE OF THE STUDY ... 6
RESEARCH QUESTION ... 6
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ... 6
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ... 6
DEFINITION OF TERMS ... 6
CHAPTER IIREVIEW OF LITERATURE... 8
Ritual Study ... 8
The Three Ritual Elements ... 10
Accessibility ... 10
Formalization ... 11
Efficacy ... 12
CHAPTER IIIRESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 13
3.1.Type of Research ... 13
X
3.3. Instruments ... 14
3.3. Participants ... 14
3.3. Procedure ... 15
3.3.Data Analysis... 17
CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ... 18
Manten Tebu Ritual ... 18
Metikan Night Market ... 20
Ceremony in the Field ... 22
4.1.2.Set Up the “Sesaji” and the Buffallo’s Head ... 24
4.1.2.The Reception of Manten Tebu Ritual... 22
The Three Ritual Elements ... 31
Accessibility ... 32
a.The Accessibility of People ... 32
b.The Accessibility of Setting ... 33
c.The Accessibility of the Doll Name ... 35
d.The Accessibility of the Buffallo’s Head ... 36
Formalization ... 37
a.The Formalization of Language ... 37
b.The Formalization of Uniform ... 39
c.The Formalization of Time ... 41
Efficacy ... 41
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 44
Conclusion ... 44
Suggestion ... 46
XI
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1 The bride and groom doll ... 18
Figure 4.2 The worker harvest the best sugarcane ... 23
Figure 4.3 The worker cut “tumpengan” as the form of gratitude praise ... 24
Figure 4.4The Buffalo head and Sesajen ... 25
Figure 4.5 The person that placed the Buffalo head and Sesajen ... 25
Figure 4.6 The worker pray together in a night before the reception of Manten Tebu ... 25
Figure 4.7 The worker from field division line up and ready to bring Manten Tebu ... 26
Figure 4.8 The field division paraded Manten Tebu ... 27
Figure 4.9 The Field division has arrived in Jatibarang Sugar Factory ... 28
Figure 4.10 The Chief of each division line up to relay the Manten Tebu ... 29
Figure 4.11 The Chief has begun relay and gave Manten Tebu to the mill division ... 29
Figure 4.12 The Manager cutting “tumpengan”... 30
Figure 4.13 The Manager press the button machine ... 30
Figure 4.14 The Rebana perform at the beginning of the festival ... 31
Figure 4.15 The name of Manten Tebu doll symbol ... 35
Figure 4.16 The uniform for invited people ... 39
XII
LIST OF TABLE
XIII ABSTRACT
Indonesia has many rituals that still exist until now. All of the rituals have become an important part of human life. The ritual that is selected as the object of this research is
MantenTebu. MantenTebu ritual is a unique ritual that comes from a Sugar Factory
that found in Jatibarang, Brebes, Central Java. This research has found that: 1. the
MantenTebu ritual is done once in a year when the Sugar Factory is about to operate
their machines, 2. the MantenTebu ritual has been done since the Dutch colonization until now, 3. MantenTebu ritual is a High-Context ritual because there is a determination on dress code, formal setting (place, time, and language), certain purposes, and the particular structure of the celebration (like the MantenTebu doll, the sugar canes, buffalo head, tumpengan, etc). Based on John McDowell’s theory, there
are three ritual elements: accessibility, formalization, and efficacy used as the framework of the analysis. First, the accessibility in the ritual covers the people involved, setting, the doll symbol used, and the buffalo head as one of central ritual object in MantenTebu ritual. Second, the formalization of the ritual takes forms in the form language, uniform, and time. Third, the efficacy in the ritual refers to the goals to have security and productive outcome of the production.
XIV ABSTRAK
Indonesia memiliki berbagai macam ritual yang masih dilaksanakan hingga sekarang. Semua ritual menjadi bagian penting dalam kehidupan manusia. Ritual yang dipilih sebagai objek dari studi ini adalah ritual MantenTebu. Ritual MantenTebu adalah ritual unik yang dilaksanakan di pabrik gula Jatibarang, Brebes,Jawa Tengah. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa: 1. Ritual MantenTebu merupakan acara tahunan, yang dilaksanakan ketika mesin giling tebu untuk pertama kali dioperasikan. 2. Ritual Manten Tebu telah dilaksanakan sejak masa penjajahan Belanda. 3. Ritual Manten Tebu termasuk dalam ritual high-Context karena dalam ritual Manten Tebu terdapat penentuan seragam/pakaian, pengaturan yang formal (tempat, waktu, dan bahasa), tujuan yang terperinci, dan struktur tertentu untuk perayaan. Menurut John McDowell terdapat tiga elemen ritual yaitu, aksesibilitas, formalisasi, dan efikasi (kemampuan untuk keberhasilan dalam melakukan sesuatu). Pertama, aksesibilitas pada ritual tergambar dalam pemilihan orang sebagai panitia kegiatan, tempat pelaksanaan acara, penamaan simbol boneka, dan pemilihan kepala kerbau sebagai bahan dalam ritual MantenTebu. Kedua, Formalisasi pada ritual tergambar dalam penggunaan bahasa, seragam/pakaian, dan waktu. Ketiga, efikasi (kemampuan untuk keberhasilan dalam melakukan sesuatu) pada ritual ini tergambar pada tujuan acara ini yaitu harapan akan keberhasilan pada penjualan gula, tidak terjadinya kecelakaan kerja, dan pada masa produksi gula tidak terjadi masalah mekanik.
Kata Kunci: MantenTebu, PabrikGulaJatibarang, Aksesibilitas, Formalisasi,
