MUNCAR – Muncar fishermen had a big game yesterday (16/10). They hold the tradition of sea alms or known as picking the sea. The ritual activity which is held every mid-month of Suro is centered at Muncar Harbor. The sea alms ritual ceremony is marked with a gitik offerings and ends with floating into the middle of the sea.
In that procession, Dozens of slerek boats and hundreds of fishing boats that are seen with various attributes and accessories are seen accompanying them. "This tradition is held every 15 Cork,"explained the chairman of the Muncar sea picking organizing committee, H. Mohammad Hasan Basri.
According to Hasan, The sea picking ritual carried out by Muncar fishermen has been held since 1901 then. This ceremony, held as an expression of gratitude for the fishermen for the abundant fish caught. "This ritual is also to refuse trade and ask for safety to avoid danger when working in the middle of the sea",He said.
For that sea quote network, light him, starting with making offerings, ider bumi gitik sesaji, and continued with istighosah to tirakatan by holding recitations or chanting the Koran in every village, shipowner's house, and in prayer rooms and mosques.
"We pray to God to give us safety, and blessings while sailing looking for fish in the sea,He said. For the tradition of larung offerings, it's clear, begins with parading the offerings placed on the gitik from one of the elder fishermen's houses to the fish auction place (TPI).
The offerings on the gitik are in the form of a replica of the ship, including the head of a goat, assorted cakes, fruits, golden fishing rod, opium, and two live roosters. Arriving at TPI, Gitik offerings were immediately greeted by six passionate dancers, and then brought to the ship. That's when, hundreds of residents scramble to board the ship that will deliver the offerings to the middle of the ocean.
"If possible, one ship with a gitik carrier", it can be a blessing,said Mudzakir, one of Muncar fisherman. The ship that carries the offerings, then move to the middle of the sea. Behind, looks like- ship accompaniment decorated with various motifs and colors. The sound of the diesel engine roaring through the ocean waves. The roar of the sound system also echoes in every ship.
The waving of the pennant in the wind, add to the lively atmosphere in the middle of the ocean. Arriving in the middle of the sea, despising- the convoy of ships stopped at a location with calm seas. In those waters the core ritual is performed. Gitik offerings are thrown into the sea under the leadership of an elder fisherman.
At that moment, The shout of gratitude suddenly echoed when the offering fell and sank into the waves. The fishermen rushed to throw themselves into the sea to scramble to get offerings. Occasionally, they are also seen pouring water that is passed by offerings all over the body of the boat.
"We believe this water to be a purge of disaster and blessed when we go to sea later,Asnawi said, one of the fishermen who followed the ritual sequence. Deputy Regent of Banyuwangi, Yusuf Widyatmoko, While attending the people's party, the Banyuwangi Regency Government said that the Banyuwangi Regency Government was consistent in promoting local cultural wisdom that already existed in the community. One of them, by packaging these traditions into part of the annual Banyuwangi Festival tourism agenda.
"This is a form of intervention by the Regency Government to introduce the indigenous culture of Banyuwangi to the global community.", by branding tradition into festival packaging, We hope that this tradition will continue to live and become an attraction that is able to increase tourist visits,"said Deputy Regent Yusuf.
On that occasion, The Deputy Regent Yusuf also invited the Muncar community to maintain the cleanliness and safety of the environment. "We hope that the people here always keep the beach and sea clean so that the fish will be more abundant. So that the welfare of citizens will also increase,"Order the number two person in the Banyuwangi Regency Government".
Not only fishermen, thousands of citizens were dissolved in the euphoria and the sacredness of the ritual. Not just watching the procession of offerings, they also come to enjoy the various entertainment available, like performing arts, night market selling various products, fashion, culinary, to processed seafood.
One of the Muncar residents who now lives in Manokwari, Papua, Sutipah, 41, very happy to be back home to follow the sea picking tradition in his ancestral area. "I've already 30 years living in Irian and only this time returned to Banyuwangi, it feels good to be able to see the sea,said the mother who came with her daughter.
Sutipah admitted that she wanted to be able to watch the fishermen's party- say, he and his family were willing to delay his return to Manokwari. “The plan was to go home last week, but we delay until after picking the sea, and we didn't waste our time in Muncar," he concluded. (radar)
