SESAJEN FOR BUILDING A NEW HOUSE IN SEMARANG
Daftar Isi:
- This research focuses on offerings used in slametan ritual in building a new house in Sendang Guwo Selatan Semarang city. The purposes of this research is to find out the kinds of offering in building a house, and then to understand the meaning of each offering. In order to explain the symbolic meaning of offerings, the writer interviewed three informants who have a better knowledge of Javanese culture. There are fifteen offerings provided in slametan for building a new house in Sendang Guwo Selatan Semarang city, Central Java. The offerings are banana, sugar cane, paddy, reeds, desmodium pulchellum, breadnut leaf, rice, three variants of flower, jug, young coconut leaves, egg, a pair of coconut, scarf, national flag, and roasted rooster. Every offering bears its own meaning, and the offerings and meanings may vary from one region to another. For example, the symbolic meaning of banana is enlightment; rice symbolizes source of power in life; roasted rooster symbolizes heroic spirit, and the color yellow of young coconut leaves symbolize happiness.