CULTURAL TRAUMA AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY: CASE STUDY OF THO'UN AND BURDAH KELILING RITUAL

Abstract

This article aims to present the cultural trauma in Burdah Keliling ritual as an oral tradition among Madurese. The cultural trauma linked with the collective memory of Madurese when facing the epidemic disease within 1910”1980 during the Pes epidemic in the Nederlands-Indie. The epidemic disease was known as Thoun [To'on]. The epidemic disease was named according to the story in the hadith which tells of the plague that spread during the time of khalifah Umar bin Khattab in Syam. Thoun [To'on] became an oral history of Plague among the Madurese. They are believed that Tho'un was coming from a bad witch who had black magic and the devil curse. Therefore, they come to the Kiai to fix the plague. Kiai is the priest who had the Madurese trust. the Kiai was suggesting the people for performing Burdah Keliling ritual. Burdah Keliling ritual is known as reading the qasidah Burdah Imam al Bushiri together with a lot of songs by going around in someplace. After performing the ritual, the plague began to disappear and they believed that the Burdah Keliling could drive away the disease. The ritual was carried out and transmitted by the medium to lower classes because of the lack of access to the health facilities and the public mistrust of the colonial. Therefore, the transmission of the Burdah Keliling ritual continued in some generations. However, after the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, the health facilities began to develop, people began to become aware of medical health and leave the Burdah Keliling ritual. Therefore, the Burdah Keliling ritual only exists in some Pesantren in East Java. When COVID-19 status became a pandemic, the Madurese in several regions in East Java carried out the Burdah Keliling ritual back. It shows the cultural trauma occurs in Madurese when facing a plague. As members of the collective feel, they have been subjected to the horrendous plague. Therefore, the recalling proses of the collective memory of Tho'un and Burdah Keliling ritual is a cultural response by the Madurese to face the plague. This study was made use of qualitative research with ethnography methods and oral tradition approaches. The participants selected through the random sampling method. They were interviewed by the random question about the Burdah Keliling and Tho'un oral history.