Kédang - Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The 1980 census indicates that 52 percent of the population was Muslim and 48 percent Roman Catholic, but these numbers deliberately disguised the portion who have converted to neither religion. In 1970, according to local records, 45 percent of the population was Muslim, 28 percent Catholic, and 27 percent retained the traditional religion. These numbers do not, of course, give any idea as to the nature and degree of individual religious commitment. The increase between 1970 and 1980 of avowed Catholics is, however, in keeping with the direction of change in the regency as a whole. Even Muslims and Catholics sometimes participate in traditional rituals, and some villages have revived communal rituals that had once lapsed because of noncooperation by adherents of Islam and Christianity. As in other eastern Indonesian communities, the traditional name for God is made up of the words for moon and sun (UlaLoyo). In Kédang there is no equivalent of the neighboring Lamaholot inclusion of the earth in a unitary Godhead.

In addition to "Moon-Sun," other indigenous names for God include "Great Sun" (Loyo Rian), "White Sun" (Loyo Buyaq), "Morning Star-Sun" (Lia-Loyo), and "Great Morning Star" (Lia Rian). To a degree, the moon and sun can be seen as contrasted aspects of divinity. The sun is male, primarily controls eternally constant changes, and is creative. The sex of the moon is indeterminate. Mythically it is unproductive, but it is otherwise closely associated with the calendar, biological processes, and physiological changes. Pleiades and the morning star are also aspects of divinity. There are also guardian spirits of individuals, villages, fields, houses, and springs. Various kinds of free spirits are recognized, and there are witches.

Religious Practitioners. Increasing numbers have become Muslim religious leaders ( hajjis ) and Catholic priests or nuns. In traditional culture, priests who were expert at divination and who performed community and individual rituals ( molan-maran poan-kémir ) can be distinguished from those adept at healing and traditional medicine ( molan-maran potaq-puiq ).

Ceremonies. In addition to Muslim and Catholic services and prayer, there are ritual observances at birth and death. Some villages once again hold an annual ceremony for purifying the village at the beginning of the rainy season in December. In the dry season there were formerly village-wide ceremonies for the harvest, principally associated with beans. Today there are still such ceremonies held by descent groups. Individual guardian-spirit ceremonies are held in response to misfortune. Very occasionally a rain-making ceremony might be held. Feasts are often associated with the exchange of marriage prestations and funerals.

Arts. Although skilled in the use of bamboo and wood for producing buildings, tools, and musical instruments, the Kédang are notable for their lack of such arts as painting, decorative carving, sculpture, and weaving.

Medicine. Some modern medicine is now available from government-established clinics. Otherwise care is in the hands of traditional healers.

Death and the Afterlife. Unusual, particularly violent, or sudden forms of death are distinguished from ordinary deaths. The only "good" death occurs at a great age. The universe is constructed of levels, and the inhabitants of this world have already gone through seven levels, being reborn and then dying on each in succession before reaching this one. People who die normal deaths are eventually reborn and cycle through the remaining five levels before, on their final death, their bodies become fish in the sea and their souls return to God. The souls of those who have died a "bad" death cease to cycle, but take their abode at the horizon and return periodically on the wind to cause misfortune to the living.