Lebaran in Kampung Kuta and Aboge Customary Hamlets

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Ratusan warga Dusun adat Kuta, Desa Karangpaningal, Kecamatan Tambak Sari, Kabupaten Ciamis, Jawa Barat saling bersalaman seusai melakukan sholat Idul Fitri di Balai Desa, Minggu (25/6). Warga Dusun adat Kuta tetap menjaga kelestarian alam dengan membuat aturan adat yang melarang warganya merusak lingkungan sekitar dusun.

The people of the Kampung Kuta customary hamlet in Karangpaningal village, Tambak Sari district, Ciamis regency, West Java, have unique ways to celebrate Idul Fitri. On the eve of Lebaran (as Idul Fitri is popularly called), they will play the terbang. On the day of Idul Fitri, there is the musapahah tradition and a mass dining event, where people bring home-cooked food to share with others.

The banging of drums accompanied the chants of takbir (praising God). The sun had yet to rise as the people of Kampung Kuta gathered at the Al Hidayah mosque on Sunday (25/6/2017). The cold air did not bother the people.

Men were laying out prayer mats on the terraces of the mosque, which doubles as the village hall. The women were on the pendopo right behind them. The congregation spilled over onto the streets.

Local cleric Bahrudin gave the sermon in Sundanese. His message was centered around being grateful for the God-given blessings by protecting the environment and being modest.

“Do not be arrogant, as it will erode the rewards we have gained through fasting,” Bahrudin said.

Kampung Kuta residents are known for their love of the environment. A number of customary laws were made to protect the environment, including bans for locals to install cement walls on their homes, to drill wells and to dig graves, explained Kampung Kuta customary leader Warja Samarno.

After the Idul Fitri prayer, without any command, the people joined a long line. Cleric Bahrudin and the customary leader and elders shook the people’s hands one by one, while everyone was chanting the shalawat (praise and prayers for Prophet Muhammad).

The procession, called musapahah, is held to strengthen silaturahim, or the bonds of friendship. “If one of us cannot come to the mosque because of illness, we will come to their house,” Bahrudin said.

Kampung Kuta comprises 264 people from 111 families. After the musapahah, people left for their homes, just to return to the mosque with their home-cooked food a little later. After certain processions, they ate the food together as a form of gratitude toward God.

The Lebaran celebration had begun the night before, with the local men gathering at the Al Hidayah mosque. They chanted the takbir all night long and listened to a sermon at midnight.

The peak was when they sang the gembyung, popularly known as terbang. The youths played traditional musical instruments, such as gendang, gendrung, krecek and kempring in beautiful harmony. People sang Sundanese songs of praise toward God, and songs on advice and the ironies of life. They conduct the tradition without walking around the village, as they deem this would disrupt the solemnity of the Lebaran celebration.

Lebaran – the Aboge way

It is a different story for the followers of Alif Rebo Wage (Aboge) in Onje village, Mrebet district, Purbalingga regency, Central Java, who celebrate Idul Fitri this Tuesday (27/6/2017). This is because they use the Javanese Islamic calendar.

“We determine the start of the new month using a formula. Using this, we know the times for the fasting month up to 20 or 30 years into the future. Aboge-following Muslims always fast for 30 days,” said Kiai Maksudi, the imam of the Raden Sayyid Kuning mosque.

Maksudi said the Idul Fitri celebration of Aboge followers was essentially the same as common Idul Fitri celebrations.

In Onje village, some 500 Aboge followers have begun to arrive at the Sayyid Kuning mosque at 6 a.m. They held the Idul Fitri prayer together and then shook one another’s hands to ask for forgiveness.

After the Idul Fitri prayer, the Aboge followers usually visit the tomb of Raden Sayyid Kuning, some 300 meters away from the mosque.

Afterward, they will visit their families’ homes, both Aboge followers and non-Aboge followers. The non-Aboge followers also visit the homes of Aboge followers after the Aboge’s Idul Fitri.

Currently, there are Aboge followers in a number of regions, especially in Central Java and East Java, with a majority of them residing in the Central Java regencies of Purbalingga and Banyumas. In Purbalingga, Aboge followers can be found in the village of Onje.

In Banyumas, Aboge followers are spread in several places, including in the villages of Cikakak, Wangon district; Cibangkong (Pekuncen), Kracak (Ajibarang) and Tambak Negara (Rawalo).

“There are [Aboge followers] in other regencies and provinces, but the number is not as large as in Purbalingga or Banyumas,” Maksudi said.

Aboge followers, Maksudi said, inherited the teachings of Raden Sayyid Kuning, who lived in the 14^th century. Sayyid Kuning was the first imam at the Sayyid Kuning mosque, while Maksudi is the ninth imam. Maksudi said Aboge was neither an organization nor a separate belief system but a belief based on the Javanese Islamic calendar. They had a continuously good relationship with other Muslims.

(RHAMA PURNA JATI, NIKSON SINAGA)