Kayiak Beterang Ritual: The First Social Life Learning of the Serawai Girls

Abstract

This article is intended to discuss a text in the ulu manuscripts, numbered MNB 07.18, preserved in the State Museum of Bengkulu. The manuscript is a bamboo log, 58 cm in length and 7.8 cm in diameter, consisting of 16 lines. The manuscript belongs to the Ser awai ethnic, originating from the village of Jambat Akar, Seluma Regency and received by the State Museum of Bengkulu on January 12, 1998. The text entitled arawan bujang ataw gadis (hereinafter caled ABG text), contains spells or incantations of kayiak beterang social rites among the Serawai ethnic of Bengkulu. This ritual serves to establish the position of a girl to be able to enter to the social life on the laman libagh, i.e the social world of Serawai ethnic. In that world and in the social interaction, a girl is obliged to master rejung, able to andun dance and merejung as well. The social function of andun dance and merejung , among others, is to find a lover (santing) who will later become her life partner as a family and to actualize her social rights and obligations. The kayiak beterang rite applies to girls aged 5-7 years, the age before adolescence, or the period before getting the first menstruation. The rite is led by a midwife covering a series of actions, that are (a) purifying, (b) traditional dressing, (c) andun dancing and merejung, (d) enjoying meals with family and invitations. The ABG text is based on the knowledge and cultural experience of the scriber and was written to recontextualize and transform the social rite of the kayiak beterang.