People of Southeast Asia: The Problem of Local Genius

Lack of Talent and Backwardness of the People of Southeast Asia:

The Problem of Local Genius

Ria Meiliza Sudirman, University of Indonesia

Journal for Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

   1. Introduction

The region of Southeast Asia which stretches out from the mainland of Asia until the Indonesian and the Philippine archipelagoes is the most scattered part of the world. The region of Southeast Asia has certain similar characteristics, i.e. each is located in the equatorial area or the tropics with is warm and humid climate dominated by the dry and rainy seasons. This special climate, in fact, influences not only flora and fauna of this area, but also its people.

In this most scattered and extensive region during the centuries a variety of people and cultures arose each with its own language. We can clearly see that the people of Southeast Asia have their own physical characteristics which, in general, are different from those of the Chinese people in the East or those of the people of India in the West. Although it is obvious, that in the formation of the people of Southeast Asia the influence of India and China has been great, as was the influence of the Melanesian people who are darker and have more curly hair, one cannot reject the fact that the people of Southeast Asia can be distinguished from the people who surround them, so we can call the people of Southeast Asia the brown race or if we want to use a name, the Malay race.

Accepting that the people of Southeast Asia are not the original natives and that they have experienced many intermixtures for hundreds and thousands of years, we cannot escape to recognize that the region of Southeast Asia as well as the people expresses a unity which is striking. Here, I would like to discuss a name for Southeast Asia as well as for the people who inhabit it. The name that I would like to discuss is Bumantara, i.e. combination of the words Bumi (land) and Antara (between) which has introduced by Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana in 20^th anniversary of the creation of ASEAN. The reason of the name Bumantara is because in fact what we call Southeast Asia—which consists of Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei—is the unification of the regions as well as the people which are different from China and India.

   2.The Problem of Local Genius

The lack of a name to indicate the area and the people of Southeast Asia as a unity and as a totality, so that various names have been used like Further India, Indo-china, Netherlands Indie, L’Inde Esterieur, Greater India, Little China, have very often been considered as evidence for the unimportant meaning and position of the people as well as the cultures of Southeast Asia. They did not have special characteristics, did not procedure great personalities and great creations like India, China, and the Middle East. In the past in these areas no great philosophers, religious builders have arisen and neither great kingdoms comparable to the kingdom of Tsin Chi Huang Ti in China, the kingdom of Asoka in India, the Roman empire under August.

Von Eickstedt was even sharper in expressing his ideas about the Palae-Mongoliden which according to him inhabit the whole area Southeast Asia. For him the race of Palae-Mongoliden of Southeast Asia of Bumantara was a retarded branch of the Mongoloid race, the most backward in its physical development. Furthermore, he explained that like the Veda race which is a backward branch of the European race, the Palae-Mongoliden race represented the very weak part of mankind which was pushed out from the highlands of Asia and escaped to the dense of jungle of the tropics: They were border races from a biological as well as spatial aspect. Their capacities to develop themselves were not strong to break the ever increasing strangling hold of an unfavorable environment and space seeking arch morph races.[1]

Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana (STA) has rejected the idea that the people who inhabited Southeast Asia belonged to the weakest races which escaped from the highlands of Tibet and South China because they were defeated in their struggle for survival in the highlands of Central Asia as indicated by Von Eickstedt. If Eickstedt’s hypothesis was true, then the European, the Japanese, and many other races should all belong to the defeated races too, which left the highlands of Tibet which Von Eickstedt called the Bio-dynamic Centre where the human race and many animal species developed in the course of evolution.[2]

STA argued that the people of Southeast Asia or the Malays belong to the weaker races. On the contrary they were full of vitality and adventurous spirit because they were always on the move, courageously crossing the limitless oceans as if they were pushed forward by a restlessness which they were not able to suppress. The fertile and rich plains on the mainland of Southeast Asia were left behind: they built ships which were able to overcome continue their adventures as if far on the horizon there was a paradise waiting for them, as sometimes vaguely indicated in their myths.[3]

STA emphasized that the races which Von Eickstedt called Palae-Mongoliden, i.e. the Malay race with its brown-yellowish skin who we want to call the people of Bumantara, are not a race lacking in talent and skills. It’s because in the course of history they have had various great achievements such as testified by their social structure, they religious beliefs, expressed in their mythologies as well as in their rituals. Concerning this matter, Milton Osborne wrote: Southeast Asian and foreign scholars alike come to recognize that Indian and Chinese influence had been overemphasized in the past and that insufficient attention had been paid to fundamental similarities existing in the societies making up the region.[4] At the same place he said, “Indian artistic and architectural concepts played an important part in development of Southeast Asian art. Yet the glorious of Pagan, Angkor and the temple complexes of Java stem from their own individual character, just as the exquisite Buddha images that were created in Thailand are quite different from the images to be found in India. Even in Vietnam, where dependence upon an external Chinese cultural tradition has clearly been more significant than elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the strength of non-Chinese life, particularly below the level of the court., belies any picture of that county as a mere receiver of ideas, unable to offer traditions of its own.”

The people of Bumantara have many extraordinary creative capacities. So, that none of the writers on Southeast Asia has failed to emphasize the greatness, the grandeur, and the beauty of the arts which have been created in Burma, Laos, Thailand, Kampuchea, Vietnam, as well as Indonesia and the Philippines. The influences of India and China have not resulted in an imitation of architecture, of sculpture, of paintings, of dances from these great cultural traditions, but have created work of arts quite different which often in their greatness, grandeur, and beauty surpass the architecture and art of India and China. It is not surprising when Bernard Groslier[5] wrote that around the third century BC the deltas of Burma, Siam, and Indochina, the Malaysian peninsula, and the further the Indian archipelago became centers of original cultures, centers of cultures created by local artists themselves. On the same page, he quoted the remarkable statement of Rene Grousset: ‘their spiritual colonies represented by Borobudur and Angkor, continue India’s greatest title to fame, her contribution to mankind.’

What is the local genius of the Malay people, the people of Southeast Asia, and the people of Bumantara? This question is very important in relation to the exceptional blossoming of the society and culture of Southeast Asia after its encounter with India. How was possible that after the reception of the influence of the spiritual culture of India in Southeast Asia emerged great kingdoms with a magnificent architecture and beautiful sculpture besides a great literature, dance and music, in many respect even greater than those created by India?

In the 19^th century and at the beginning of this century, this question has been widely discussed and many people assumed that the great kingdoms with their splendid buildings and beautiful works of art were the creation of Indian Satrias who were chased out of India or left their country in search of adventure. There were also other groups who gave the honor to the merchants who brought India’s culture to this part of the world, where they traded and where part of them settled down. From these standpoints, the active and creative groups were considered to be the people from India, while the people of Southeast Asia were only passive receivers.

It was the great merit of Van Leur[6] who indicated the important role of the Malay people in seafaring and trade in South Asia. He indicated that it were the Malay merchants and seafarers themselves who played the important role in the spreading of Hindu and Buddhist religions. He also indicated that the Indian merchants usually stayed in the harbors, along the coast, whereas the center of the great kingdoms which was the center of the Malay-Indian culture usually was in the interior. Van Leur’s argument was later elaborated by Bosch[7] with new arguments, that it was the people of Southeast Asia who held the important role in the reception of the influence of India’s high culture and in this way changed their own primitive cultures into a high culture.

In the Conference of the Malaysian Society of Orientalist, Kuala Lumpur, STA was stressed in his speech that the blossoming of the culture of Southeast Asia after its encounter with Indian culture did not take place under political domination: the people of Southeast Asia were fascinated by the religious culture of India and considered the acceptance of its elements as a blessing and advantage for their life and their culture.[8] This is not surprising, since the Indian people who came to Southeast Asia or those whom they encountered in India travels had already thought and contemplated far and thoroughly about the spirits and mysterious forces within the cosmic process. While in the Southeast Asian native culture the concepts of the spirits and other mysterious forces were still rather vague in their forms as well as in their functions, in Indian high culture these spirits and mysterious forces had developed into gods with clear personalities and characteristics as a symbols of the natural forces—whose functions were arranged in a certain hierarchical order in the cosmic process as well as in the life of man. The entire system of beliefs has been very rationally formulated within the framework of the doctrine of Atma-Brahma and Maya-Nirvana.

Thus the people of Southeast Asia did not feel that their religion and culture were suppressed and oppressed, on the contrary, they felt that their religion and culture developed and gave them new enthusiasm and creativity.  In the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the greatness and beauty of the concepts and imagination of Indian high culture are clearly expressed. The Javanese people have added new figures from their culture to the heroes of the Mahabharata, Semar, Gareng, Petruk, Bagong. Interesting is that these Indonesian figures on various occasions appear to be wiser and more powerful than the heroes of the Mahabharata. Rassers[9] in his book The Panji Roman, explained to us that the pattern of Ramayana is essentially in accordance with the pattern of the stories and myths of the Southeast Asian people.  
 

In the Indian teaching of Karma and incarnation was witness that the beliefs of the Southeast Asian people in the wandering spirits which we have called animism have been elaborated more rationally, so that it required an ethical function in life. Meanwhile, it should be recognized that this rational and strong ethical function has contributed to the division of the India society in a rigid hierarchy based on the belief incarnation. During its life the human being, whatever its efforts maybe is not able to change it destiny which is already determined at his birth. Viewed from this standpoint, the concept of incarnation has become the most important ground for the development o the rigid caste system and feudalism in Indian life. It is fortunate that the people of Southeast Asia did not accept the caste system as in India.

In social life feudalism created centers of power and political life, from there developed a strong dynamism, enabled by the progress in central organization, supported by laws and technological progress, as a result of the progress of rational thought. Great personalities emerged who were not able to develop in the small communities of Bumantara.[10] This whole process of the emergence of new larger entities in the form of kingdoms, had its impact on every aspect of life: the small economy of the village was broaden to become a part of economy of the kingdom with a great exchange of commodities and labor; the small village community become a part of the larger organization, taken care of by a hierarchical  system of civil servants, with a clear cut division of labor, supported and protected  by the armed forces and the police of the kingdom.in the context of the larger unity of the kingdoms, we can understand the possibilities for the erection of great buildings of temples as centers of religion or of palaces of the kings, besides other great achievements such as the creation of a large irrigation system.

These organizations extended their influence to the whole life of human endeavor and provided the possibility for a blossoming, not only of the economic life and religious institutions, but also art, commerce, and industry. In this connection, it's very important that the people of Southeast Asia accepted  from India the art of writing because through it, they were not only able to read the various work of philosophy, science, and literature from India, but more important was that a native philosophy, literature and science developed which opened new social and cultural perspectives.

Thus, by the influence of the Indian culture, the cultures of Southeast Asia which were the culture of small communities with very limited possibilities started to move, expand, and blossom. The emergence of great kingdoms in Southeast Asia after the first century like Funan, Sriwijaya, Majapahit were only possible because of the spiritual as well as the material revolutions which had taken place in the life of the society and culture of the small communities.It is here not the place to elaborate on the existence and achievements of the great kingdoms. I would like only to indicate that what took place in the fields of politics, technology, economics, and social life is expressed with greater vigor and exuberance in spiritual life. The development of religion was concentrated around the king in his palace; he was considered as an incarnation of the Gods. Religious thought and belief with its abundance of Gods, holy powers and ceremonies reached its apex in the philosophy and doctrine of Atma-Brahma and Maya-Nirvana. From the palace cultural life radiated until the small villages.

It was in this time that palaces of the great kingdoms became centers of spiritual life, and especially or artistic life. Dance and music blossomed. We know that the art of wayang and the gamelan music have their origin in the native cultures of Southeast Asia. The same can be said of the art of batik, the art of wood and stone carving, and architecture. The stories of Mahabharata and Ramayana gave a dynamic content and a new broadness to the aesthetic life if the small communities, especially the art of architecture and sculpture experienced a tremendous growth. It is indeed only in the context of the exuberant development of the life of society and culture as a whole as is expressed in the emergence of the great kingdoms, in the hierarchical organizations of the civil servants and the army, in the development of economic life in a large area, in the formation of law, and in the spiritual blossoming in religious and aesthetic life. We can understand the creation of the great, powerful, and beautiful architectural monuments like Angkor Vat, Borobudur, Prambanan, and many others.

In my opinion, in the large area of Southeast Asia which did not produce great systems of philosophy and religion because of a lack of a strong, rational creative thinking, arose a strong intuition, an enthusiasm, and a creative imagination of art which dominate the whole life of society as well as the individual. I do not need to elaborate on the arts of Southeast Asia or Bumantara because so many books have been written on the arts in Burma, Thailand, Kampuchea, Vietnam, and Laos, besides the arts of Indonesia and the Philippines. About the arts in Indonesia, STA has already written a long essay in Indonesia: Social and Cultural Revolution[11] under the heading of The Profusion of the Arts.

In his book The History of Southeast Asia, D. G. E. Hall wrote: “The art and architecture which blossomed so gorgeously in Angkor, Pagan, Central Java, and the old kingdom of Champa are strangely different from those of Hindu and Buddhist India. For the real key to its understanding one has to study the indigenous cultures of the peoples who produced it. All of them, it must be realized, have developed on markedly individualistic lines.”[12]

Meanwhile, Philip Rowson wrote in his book The Art of Southeast Asia: “Most interesting of all, there apparently existed a fairly advance native artistic tradition in Cambodia and Cochin China, probably in perishable material. For hen the earliest versions in stone of Indian prototypes were made there, they were far from being more copies, or even transcriptions. The sculptures of Indian ion produced in Cambodia during the 6^th to the 8^th century are masterpieces, monumental, subtle, highly sophisticated, mature in style, and unrivalled for sheer beauty anywhere in India”[13]

About Angkor Vat, Malcolm Mac Donald wrote in his book Angkor and the Khmers,[14] “Angkor Vat is the supreme masterpiece of Khmer art. Built I the first half of the 12^th century, it is an ASEAN contemporary of Notre Dame de Paris and Chartres Cathedrals in France. But in spaciousness and splendor it is more ambitious than any of them, indeed, with the possible exception of Banteai Chmar in Cambodia, it is said to be largest religious building ever constructed by man.”

Furthermore he said about Angkor Vat: “It combines a glorious mixture of qualities. It sprawls spaciously, and yet its overall proportions are perfect; there is a suggestion of austerity about its simple, massive design, but the details of its decoration are in places riotously lovely, and contrast between its wide, smooth, grassy enclosures and its acres of sculptured masonry is almost theatrical. The galleries, stairways, libraries and shrines in its courtyards are palatial, and they stand solidly. No building on earth seems surer of itself.”

This is natural in the grand climax of several centuries of building by a race of architectural geniuses. [15] Whoever has seen the performance of the dance and the drama of the Ramayana in Thailand, Java, and Bali, and also have seen the dance and drama of Ramayana in India will realize that the first three cultures have created out of the Indian story of Ramayana a dance and drama which by far surpass in greatness and beauty the dance and drama of Ramayana created by India. By accepting the tendency and the power of the creativity in the art of the cultures of Southeast Asia or Bumantara, we can maybe interpret the expression of Rabindranath Tagore when he visited Bali: that of the dancing Shiva the ashes remain in India and the dance is in Indonesia.

   3. Conclusion

The cultural relation between Southeast Asia and India in the past indeed has developed on the basis of the characteristics and native capacities of the Southeast Asian or Bumantara people. From the rich culture of India, they only took elements and traits which fitted their own native potentialities in order to be able to strengthen their own ambition in exuberant enthusiasm to create forms of beauty and grandeur in the arts.

Arriving at this point, we can define the local genius of the people of Southeast Asia or Bumantara as the strength of its creativity aesthetic power, parallel to an openness to accept, assimilate and synthesize the concepts and ideas of other cultures in an integrative structure, realizing a new form of equilibrium and greatness.

References:

Alisjahbana, Sutan Takdir. 1965. The Cultural Problems of Malaysia in the Context of South Asia.  Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Society of Orientalist.

-------------, 1961. Indonesia: Social and Cultural Revolution. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur.

Bosch, F.D.K. 1961. The Problem of Hindu Civilizaton in Indonesia in Selected Studies in Archaeology. The Hague.

Rowson, Philip. 1967. The Art of Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Java, and Bali. New York.

Donald, Malcolm Mac. 1987. Angkor and the Khmers. London: Oxford University Press.

---

[1]Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt, Stutgart, 1934, p. 205

[2]Ibid

[3]Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, The Cultural Problems of Malaysia in the Context of Southeast Asia. Malaysian Society of Oriientalists, Kuala Lumpur, 1965, p. 27

[4]Milton Osborne, Southeast Asia, London, 1985, p. 6

[5]Bernard Groslier & Jacques Arthaud, Angkor, London, 1957, p. 30

[6]J. C. Van Leur, Indonesian Trade and Society, The Hague, 1955

[7]F.D.K. Bosch, The Problem of Hindu Civilization in Indonesia in Selected Studies in Archaeology. The Hague, 1961.

[8] S. Takdir Alisjahbana, Ibid., p. 27

[9] W. H. Rassers, The Panji Roman, 1922

[10]About the kingdoms of Southeast Asia, Heine Gelderen, Kingship in Southeast Asia

[11]S. Takdir Alisjahbana, Indonesia: Social and Cultural Revolution, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1961

[12]D.G.E. Hall, Ibid., p. 4

[13]Philip Rowson, The Art of Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Java, and Bali. New York, 1967

[14]Malcolm Mac Donald, Angkor and the Khmers. Oxford University Press, 1987, p.101

[15]Ibid, 102, 103

Upacara Adat Kenduri Sko: Jati Diri Masyarakat Melayu Kuno yang Tak Terlupakan

Upacara Kenduri Sko merupakan upacara adat yang dilakukan sebagai rasa syukur kepada Allah SWT atas hasil panen yang telah didapat masyarakat. Di dalamnya juga terdapat acara penurunan dan pembersihan pusaka nenek moyang serta pengangkatan para pemimpin adat. Pelaksanaan Kenduri Sko ini digelar dengan waktu yang berbeda oleh setiap masyarakat yang berada dalam kelurahan tertentu di Kabupaten Kerinci. Pada 23 Juni 2013, penulis berkesempatan melihat langsung prosesi upacara di Kelurahan Koto Renah. Acara ini melibatkan seluruh anggota masyarakat—termasuk penulis sebagai anggota masyarakat Koto Renah. Persiapan acara sudah dilakukan sejak berbulan-bulan sebelumnya, yakni mempersiapkan bahan lemang (makanan khas terbuat dari ketan yang dibakar di dalam bambu), persiapan sesajian untuk ritual menghormati leluhur, persiapan tari-tarian, persiapan nyanyi-nyanyian sakral, dekorasi Umah Gedang (rumah adat), persiapan ninik mamak dan lembaga adat, persiapan pencak silat dan pantun sebagai ciri khas budaya Melayu, serta persiapan pentas atau panggung di sepanjang jalan kelurahan Koto Renah. Upacara ini memakan biaya yang cukup besar, biasanya dikumpulkan dari hasil sumbangan seluruh anggota masyarakat.

          Setelah persiapan upacara cukup, acara puncak dilakukan semalam suntuk pada tanggal 22 Juni 2013 hingga sore hari tanggal 23 Juni 2013. Pada malam hari (22 Juni 2013), digelar tari-tarian dan nyanyian sakral. Di Umah Gedang telah tersaji berbagai macam bentuk sesajian untuk menghormati roh leluhur. Sesajian itu terdiri atas lemang, nasi ibek (nasi yang dibungkus dengan daun pisang), telur rebus yang diletakkan di atas nasi ibek, kemenyan, wewangian bunga mawar-melati, limau puhauk (jeruk purut), pisang, dan beraneka lauk-pauk yang biasa dikonsumsi oleh masyarakat. Pada malam ini pula diturunkan benda-benda pusaka untuk dimandikan dengan air suci. Oleh para sesepuh adat, benda-benda pusaka itu dibuka satu persatu, dibersihkan dan dipertontonkan kepada masyarakat sambil menceritakan asal usul sejarahnya. Acara dilanjutkan dengan tarian dan nyanyian sakral yang sarat dengan unsur magis. Di dalam proses ini, ada seorang pemimpin yang disebut dengan Ninek Ngah.  Ninek Ngah merupakan gelar yang diberikan oleh adat bagi seseorang yang tahu dengan jelas seluk-beluk Kenduri Sko, biasanya ia adalah wanita yang dituakan di kampung. Ninek Ngah mempunyai kemampuan menari dan menyanyi yang tinggi, serta memiliki kemampuan untuk berhubungan dengan roh nenek moyang. Menurut kepercayaan setempat, upacara tarian dan nyanyian ini diakhiri dengan kesurupan Ninek Ngah berikut juga dialami oleh kebanyakan penonton yang memiliki hubungan batin yang kuat dengan leluhurnya.

      sesajian untuk roh nenek moyang

pemandian pusaka

penonton seluruh warga desa

    Ninek Ngah mengenakan baju hijau

     salah satu warga yang kesurupan

      Pada malam puncak, tidak henti-hentinya Ninek Ngah menyanyikan lagu sambil menari mengelilingi sesajian inti. Lagu-lagu yang dinyanyikan bervariasi, mulai dari lagu-lagu daerah, lagu-lagu pemujaan, hingga mantra-mantra yang maknanya kebanyakan tidak diketahui oleh masyarakat setempat. Mantra itu tidak dinyanyikan dengan bahasa daerah, tetapi dengan bahasa Melayu Kuna yang sulit ditangkap bunyinya bagi orang yang tidak biasa mendengar. Oleh karena itu, penulis tidak dapat menulis ulang mantra yang dinyanyikan tersebut. Namun, ada beberapa lagu daerah yang berhasil penulis rekam. Berikut bunyinya:

Lagu 1:      Aeh guru kanti sijalan

aeh tuan kanti sidirin

belum jatuh ku sambutlah

maih aman maih ku sambut

kusambut munjari aluh

kujawat dengan lidah mimpi

dapat ari simalam ini

kito nak aseak mamintak

mintak lamat pengaruh abu

mintak lamat pengaruh umah

Lagu 2:      Dangealah kamai ae

                  Ranok janton dibutino haiala

                  Tuhang kasawoh

                  Ala yamulae, ranok janton dibutino

                  Ala yamulae

                  Mahai dibusamo ae

                  Dimumbangun Kincai haiala

                  Duseunglah kito

                  Ala yamulae, ranok janton dibutino

                  Ala yamulae

      Pada saat menyanyikan lagu-lagu daerah ini, ada iringan musik yang terdiri atas gendang dan rebana. Pemain musik menggunakan baju adat lengkap, yakni pakaian lita berwarna hitam berbenang emas. Beberapa orang Ninik Mamak melakukan penghormatan terhadap leluhur sambil membaca doa.

Ninik Mamak mengucapkan syukur

pemain musik mengenakan baju

adat lengkap

   Untuk mengangkat Permanti dan Mangku harus memotong kambing satu ekor dan menghanguskan beras dua puluh gantang. Hewan yang dipotong seperti kerbau, kambing dimasak menjadi gulai. Beras dimasak menjadi nasi dan dibungkus dengan daun pisang dan dibentuk segi empat (dalam bahasa kerinci disebut nasi ibat). Semuanya dihidangkan untuk dimakan bersama-sama (kenduri).

  Prosesi Kenduri Sko dilingkup wilayah Depati nan Bertujuh Sungai Penuh dilaksanakan sesuai adat istiadat yang berlaku. Adat yang bersendi syarak – syarak bersendi kitabullah. Adat lamo pusako usang yang tidak lapuk kena hujan – tidak lekang kena panas sejak dahulu sampai sekarang. Setiap tahapan prosesi yang dilaksanakan mempunyai nilai-nilai yang sakral.

penonton acara

Pada pukul 08.00 di tanggal 23 Juni 2013, semua masyarakat berkumpul di Umah Gedang untuk mempersiapkan perhelatan akhir. Perhelatan ini dihadiri oleh Walikota Sungai Penuh beserta wakil, para pejabat daerah, tamu undangan, kaum cerdik pandai, serta masyarakat dari berbagai kelurahan. Pada hari itu, acara-acara berunsur mistis tidak perlu ditampilkan lagi, tetapi lebih menekankan unsur seni hiburan. Adapun rangkaian acaranya adalah pencak silat, tari persembahan, tari massal, dsb. Pencak Silat adalah seni bela diri dengan menggunakan dua mata pedang. Pencak silat ini dimainkan oleh sepasang anak jantan yang masing-masing memegang satu pedang. Mereka mempertontonkan keahlian bermain senjata tajam. 

pertunjukan pencak silat

            Tari Persembahan, Tari Persembahan adalah tari untuk menyerahkan sekapur sirih kepada para petinggi-petinggi daerah yang hadir, Depati nan Bertujuh, Permanti nan Sepuluh, Mangku nan Baduo serta Ngabi Teh Santio. Selain itu, sirih juga diserahkan kepada calon Depati, Ngabi, Permanti dan Mangku yang akan dinobatkan menjadi pemangku adat yang baru.

Tari Persembahan

 Tari Massal merupakan tarian yang ditata sedemikian rupa dan khusus dipergelarkan untuk acara-acara helatan besar. Tarian ini ditata dengan konfigurasi menggambarkan keadaan geografis Kerinci yang berbentuk kawah (landai). Gerakan yang ditarikan merupakan gerak-gerak tari tradisional Kerinci, seperti Tari Rangguk dan Tari Iyao-yao. Tari Rangguk merupakan tarian daerah Kerinci yang populer. Tarian ini ditarikan oleh beberapa gadis remaja sambil memukul rebana kecil. Tarian ini diiringi dengan nyanyian sambil mengangguk-anggukkan kepala seakan memberikan hormat. Tari Rangguk dilakukan pada acara-acara tertentu seperti menerima kedatangan Depati (tokoh adat Kerinci), tamu dan para pembesar dari luar daerah. 

  Tari Rangguk

Tari Massal

          Adapun perlengkapan acara meliputi taruk berukuran besar, umbul-umbul atau bendera berwarna-warni disekitar tempat upacara, bendera merah putih berbentuk segitiga siku-siku berukuran besar (dalam bahasa daerah bendera ini disebut dengan karamtang). Karamtang ini dipasang di tempat terbuka pada ketinggian mencapai 30 meter. Pada bagian puncaknya digantungkan tanduk kerbau. Bendera ini merupakan sebuah isyarat tentang adanya Kenduri Sko sekaligus menjadi undangan bagi masyarakat banyak untuk datang menghadiri upara yang sakral itu. Pakaian adat, keris, dan tongkat dipakai oleh para pemangku adat. Pakaian lita dan kulok, pedang untuk keperluan pencak silat, sesajian berupa beras kuning, kemenyan, dan adonan sirih nan sekapur – rokok nan sebatang, gong, gendang, dan rebana untuk keperluan kesenian daerah yang akan ditampilkan dalam rangkaian prosesi upacara. Adapun personal yang terlibat dalam prosesi upacara adat Kenduri Sko ini adalah, sebagai berikut:

1. Seluruh pemangku adat (Depati-Ninik Mamak) yang ada dalam wilayah Depati Nan Bertujuh Kelurahan Koto Renah.
2. Para calon (anak jantan) yang akan dinobatkan menjadi Depati dan Permanti yang baru.

          Supaya adat tetap dapat dilestarikan, maka calon pemangku adat yang akan dinobatkan harus memenuhi kriteria. Menurut salah seorang narasumber yang penulis wawancara, yaitu Bapak Arifin Rio, 56 tahun (mantan Kepala Desa Koto Renah sekaligus pemangku adat bergelar Rio Pemangku Luhah nan Telintoa), bahwa pemangku adat dipilih dari seseorang yang ada warisnya, yakni berkubur berpendam, bertampang berturai, adat bersendi alur – alur bersendi patut, patut bersendi dengan benar atau menurut  pepatah adat dikatakan:

1.    Simba ikou (orang yang ekonominya bagus)

2.     Tajeng taji (berani karena benar, berwibawa dan berwatak pemimpin)

3.    Nyarain kukouk (bijaksana, pandai menyesuaikan diri dengan kondisi masyarakat)

4.    Anak jantan dan anak batino dalam wilayah Koto Renah

5. Para undangan (pejabat pemerintah setempat)

keramtang

Pada saat penobatan gelar, seluruh calon Depati dan Ngabi memakai pakaian adat berwarna hitam dan berbenang emas. Di pinggang sebelah kanan diselipkan sebilah keris. Untuk calon Permanti dan Mangku juga memakai pakaian adat dan sebuah tongkat yang terbuat dari kayu pacat. Calon Depati baru dipanggil naik ke pentas secara bergantian lima orang, kemudian disebutkan namanya satu per satu sambil dibacakan Gelar Sko yang akan dijabatnya. Selesai penobatan, seluruh Depati, Ngabi, Permanti dan Mangku berdiri untuk diadakan pengambilan sumpah dengan membacakan Parbayo (sumpah). Sumpah itu benar-benar menjadi sikap, perilaku, dan pola pikir seorang pemimpin adat. Hal ini dapat dilihat dari nilai-nilai yang terkandung dalam setiap butir sumpah, di mana seorang Depati diharapkan tidak menggunting dalam lipatan atau mencari kesempatan dalam kesempitan. Kemudian tidak membuat fitnah dan hasutan, tidak bisa berbuat lain di mulut lain di hati. Tidak boleh menghadapi orang dari belakang dan diharapkan dapat menuntun para pemimpin adat agar tidak menghindar dari masalah sebab seorang pemimpin harus mampu menyelesaikan semua masalah yang dihadapi rakyatnya. Apabila Pemangku Adat melanggar sumpah itu atau tidak menjalankan tugas dan kewajibannya, maka akan dikutuk Sumpah Karang Satio nan Semangkok.

Ka dateh, ideak bapucok,

Ke atas tidak akan berpucuk,

ka bawoah ideak baurek,

ke bawah tidak akan berurat,

di tangoh-tangoh dijarum kumban,

tengah-tengah dijarum kumbang.

Padoi ditanang, ilalan nan tumboh,

Padi ditanam, ilalang yang tumbuh,

kunyaik ditanang puteh isoinyo.

kunyit ditanam putih isinya.

Ikang dipanggan, tinggalah tulan,

Ikan dipanggang tinggal tulang,

anak dipangkeu, munjadi bateu.

anak dipangku menjadi batu.

Pemberian gelar adat pada salah seorang Depati

         Para pemangku adat di atas panggung

Dari semua proses yang dilakukan dalam upacara Kenduri Sko—mulai persiapan hingga puncak acara—tampaklah nilai-nilai yang terkandung di dalam upacara ini. Upacara panen yang sarat dengan unsur kepercayaan, magis, adat, budaya, seni, serta hiburan ini telah menjadi tradisi turun-temurun oleh masyarakat di Kabupaten Kerinci dan Kota Sungai Penuh. Persiapan yang matang dan biaya yang besar menunjukkan loyalitas masyarakat dalam mempertahankan tradisi tersebut. Kesenian dan hiburan menampilkan ciri khas masyarakat yang kental dengan budaya lisan dan gerak tubuh. Hal ini terbukti dengan adanya berbalas pantun, pembacaan mantra, menyanyikan lagu daerah, serta tari-tarian kegembiraan sebagai wujud rasa syukur terhadap hasil panen. 

Penulis: Ria M. S.