SUPERSTITION AMONG CHINESE INDONESIAN FAMILIES IN SEMARANG A Thesis
SUPERSTITION AMONG CHINESE INDONESIAN
FAMILIES IN SEMARANG
A Thesis
By:
Tan Nia Putri Evanthe Student Number: 11.80.0042
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDY PROGRAMME
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
SOEGIJAPRANATA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
SEMARANG
2015
SUPERSTITION AMONG CHINESE INDONESIAN
FAMILIES IN SEMARANG
A Thesis Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to
Obtain the Sarjana Sastra Degree in the English Department Study
Programme
By:
Tan Nia Putri Evanthe Student Number: 11.80.0042
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDY PROGRAMME
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS
SOEGIJAPRANATA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
SEMARANG
2015
A THESIS ON
SUPERSTITION AMONG CHINESE INDONESIAN
FAMILIES IN SEMARANG
By:
Tan Nia Putri Evanthe
Student Number: 11.80.0042
Approved by,
th
B. Retang Wohangara, SS., M.Hum July 27 , 2015
Major Sponsor th
Angelika Riyandari, S.S., M.A., Ph.D July 27 , 2015
Co-SponsorA thesis defended in front of the Board of Examiners th On July 27 , 2015 and declared acceptable BOARD OF EXAMINERS Chairperson: B. Retang Wohangara, SS., M.Hum ………… Secretary : Angelika Riyandari, S.S., M.A.,PhD ………… Member : Dra. Ekawati M.Dukut, M.Hum ………… th Semarang, July 27 , 2015 Faculty of Language and Arts Soegijapranata Catholic University
Dean,
Angelika Riyandari, S.S., M.A.,PhD NPP. 058.1.1996.201
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and the most important, I would like to give thanks to Jesus Christ for his unaccountable blesses and strengths given to me to finish my study in this lovely faculty.
Second, I would like to present this work to my family especially my parents, and my siblings Citra, Dea, Kevin, and Sasa for their unconditional supports and love so I can finish my study well. I hope they will be proud of me.
Next, I would like to thank my major sponsor Mr. B. Retang Wohangara, who had inspired and guided me in finishing this thesis. My sincere gratitude also goes to Mrs.
Angelika Riyandari, my co-sponsor who was always ready to help me and become my favorite place to share everything. Also to all my lecturers, Mrs Emilia Ninik, Mr. Anton Suratno, Mrs. Ekawati M. Dukut, Mrs. Cecilia, Mrs. Wuryani, Mrs Heny, Mr. Adhy, Ms. Linggayani who teach and give great experience in this faculty. Then, I would like to express my gratitude to FLA ’s staff Bu Retno, Pak Udik, Mas Haryo who were willing to help me during my study. Thank you to all SCU’s staffs in Mikael’s building; the staffs of BAK, IO, SSCC, BAA, and especially my Promotion and Recruitment team: Pak Agus, Mbak Mega, Pak Roby, Mbak Alam and Bu Leny who taught and made me more confident to face many people. Without them, I will not be able to promote Soegijapranata Catholic University well. My Student Get Student’s friends, Vina, Aryo, Daniel, Jojo and many others who always cheered me up and supported me every time. I thank my friend, Darayu Wilson for helping me in correcting my English.
I would like to thank all of my friends in the Faculty of Language and Arts especially Caroline, Wendy, Marcelina, also my friends in Faculty Organizations, and my lovely basketball teams which I could not mention one by one. Thank you for your friendship and support which colored my days in the university.
I would like to express my gratitude to Karel who was not always by my side physically, but always be there for me. Thank you for all the love, support, trust, and courage given to me during good and bad times.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all the participants in this thesis, Om Tjeng Tjun, Evan, Belinda, and others for the tradition, and story you share. Thank to whoever reads this thesis for I hope this thesis will inspire and motivate the readers to know that there are so many tradition in our country. God bless you always.
TABLES OF CONTENTS
PAGE OF TITLE PAGES OF APPROVAL i
4.1.2 Superstition of Ceng Beng ............................................................ 30
4.1.3 Superstition related to Funeral ...................................................... 31
4.1.5 Superstitions related to Building House ....................................... 39
APPENDIX
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1 Kue Keranjang (Taken by Putri, 2015) .............................................................. 21Figure 4.2 Evan's Sembahyang Table for his ancestor (Taken by Putri, 2015) ................... 22Figure 4.3 Throwing coins to communicate with Ancestor's spirit (taken by Putri, 2015) . 23Figure 4.4 Pai-pai Gesture ................................................................................................... 26Figure 4.5 Red Angpao and White Angpao (taken by Putri, 2015) ..................................... 28Figure 4.6 Unmarried (left) and Married (right) angpao (Taken by Putri, 2015) ................ 29Figure 4.7 Human dolls and houses made of paper (taken by Putri, 2014) ......................... 32 Figure 4.Figure 4.9 Granted the Request and Give to Older Brother
Figure 4.17 Stairs Arrangements (Putri, 2015) .................................................................... 45
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1 Participants Name and Code Name ........................................................................ 19Table 4.2 'Cycle of Life' Categories of Wayland D. Hand ..................................................... 50Table 4.3 Chinese Indonesian family Superstition Categories ............................................... 51Table 4.4 Diagram of Superstition from Chinese Indonesian Family in Semarang ............... 54
ABSTRACT
This research focuses on Folklore study about superstition. The purpose of this study is to find out the existence of superstition in Chinese Indonesian family in Semarang. The writer uses Wayland D Hand’s Cycle of Life categories to classify superstition, find out superstition tradition, and the reason for believe in it. Superstition is a traditional expression that have condition and result, signs and causes (Sims & Stephens, 2005, p. 59). The writer obtained the data by interviewing ten members of Chinese Indonesian family living in Semarang and celebrating Chinese events. The result shows that some Chinese Indonesian family in Semarang still believe in existence of the superstition in events such as Chinese New Year, Ceng Beng, Funeral, Marriage, house, and they daily life activity. Most Chinese Indonesian people learn superstitions from older generation. They believe in superstition for several reasons: it is a tradition from the elders that they follow, it is a tradition they want to keep, and it is good knowledge and values they have to keep in their daily life. Some people no longer believe in superstitions because their religious teaching forbid them to believe in it. Some also consider superstitions not real but surreal.
ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini fokus pada Folklore terutama superstition. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui superstition yang ada pada keluarga Tionghoa di Semarang. Penulis mengelompokan superstition berdasarkan kategori ‘Cycle of Life’ milik Wayland D. Hand, penulis kemudian mencari tahu tradisi superstition, dan alasan responden mempercayai
superstition tersebut. Superstition adalah ekspresi budaya yang memiliki sebab dan akibat,
penanda dan sebabnya (Sims & Stephens, 2005). Penulis mengumpulkan data dengan mewawancarai sepuluh anggota keluarga Tionghoa yang tinggal di Semarang dan yang terlibat dalam perayaan budaya Cina. Hasil menunjukan bahwa beberapa keluarga Tionghoa di Semarang masih mempercayai adanya superstition di beberapa perayaan seperti, Tahun Baru Cina, Ceng Beng, Pemakaman, Pernikahan, bentuk Rumah, dan dalam kehidupan mereka sehari-hari. Kebanyakan orang Tionghoa mengetahui superstition dari generasi tua. Alasan mereka mempercayai superstition yaitu: superstition merupakan sebuah tradisi yang diikuti dari para tetua, sebuah tradisi yang ingin dilindungi, dan sebuah ilmu dan nilai-nilai yang harus mereka jalani di kehidupan sehari-hari. Beberapa orang sudah tidak lagi mempercayai superstition karena agama mereka melarang untuk mempercayai hal itu. Beberapa responden berpendapat bahwa superstition tidak nyata dan tidak masuk akal.