Socio-religious Practices of Kalang Shaman: Symbol of Minority People's Resistance in Indonesia

Three possibilities can occur when religion enters a society already having its own culture and traditions: acceptance, rejection


Introduction
Kalang is a sub-ethnic Javanese minority group whose existence enriches the Indonesian's diversity (Liani, Fadilla, and Danugroho 2021;Sholeh 2004).Having had a long path socially, Kalang's historical record is subtle due to its abolishment in the demographic category conducted by Daendels in the 19 th century.It was then classified as the Javanese ethnic groups.Meanwhile, Kalang is generally less well known as an autonomous cultural community due to the dominance of the Javanese supra ethnicity.It has distinguished cultural characteristics such as practicing endogamy marriage and carrying out a ceremony of burning the statue of the dead (Kholiq 2016;Lombard 1996) called obong, which is different from Javanese culture.
One of Kalang culture elements interesting to study is Dukun Kalang (Kalang shaman), which has been always trusted to Kalang women.According to preliminary research Dukun Kalang have important roles in Kalang culture (Kholiq 2016;Muslichin 2008;Pontjosutirto 1966).Apart from leading each ritual, they act as a source of knowledge about Kalang's teachings and other magical information about the spirits of their ancestors.They are believed to be a person who receives a mandate from Dahnyang (an ancestral spirit who controls a particular area), with a dual function, protecting the community from various disturbances and maintaining Kalang teachings and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation (Kholiq 2016).
Such discourse on shamanism has indeed attracted much attention worldwide (DuBois 2011;Winkelman 2012).Sultana et al. (2020), conducting an ethnographic study about parareligious values in Bangladesh's rural societies, found that there were common shamanic practices for supporting the population's well-being.Another research on the given focus was also carried out by Rivadossi (2021) who focused on shamanism in contemporary Japan.He asserted that the roles and characteristics of Japanese shamans were insufficiently simplified and marginalized.Hence, more studies across geographical and cultural contexts were critically needed.In Indonesia, the studies of shamanism has been connected to beliefs (Ilyas 2018;Sartini and Ahimsa-Putra 2017), healthcare (Hamid, Ramli, and Ishak 2022;Janti 2020;Lemelson 2004;Nurhayati and Sugiharto 2019;Rianissani 2018;Wildan and Irwandi 2018), nature conservation (Osman et al. 2021), politics (Trihartono 2012), linguistics (Sukarno, Wisasongko, and Basuki 2020), economic well-being (Paraton and Sadewo 2021) and law (Putra, Yuliartini, and Mangku 2020).
Regarding Kalang community, the existing research mainly focused on the historical and socio-cultural aspects of Kalang ethnic community in general (Muslichin 2011;Setiohastorahmanto, Soetomo, and Sardjono 2018;Suryanto 2003;Wieringa 1998).A study by Hastorahmanto, Soetomo, and Sardjono (2019) went more specific into the portrait of Kalang women in regards of gender equality by highlighting the roles of the women as the keepers of household, tradition, and social activities and their ability to maintain their mental well-being.However, their roles as the symbol of resistance were not adequately explored.This study offered a novelty in the discussion of socioreligious aspects of Kalang people by critically investigating the practices of Kalang shaman religiousity within the resistance framework.

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This paper, hence, aimed to complement the study of Kalang people, by focusing on three main questions: What are the beliefs of Kalang people about themselves?What are the roles of the shaman in Kalang community?What are the symbolic meanings of Kalang shaman's religiosity expressed in the figure of Mak Kobro?These questions were built on the assumption that the existence of Kalang shaman can be separated from the belief about Kalang origin.Based on the consideration, Kalang shaman has a very important role in the life of Kalang community.Because of the importance of Kalang shaman in Kalang community amids a mainstream religious practice, Kalang shaman showed some specific religious practices in order to accommodate the condition.This research applied qualitative method in order to unveil the signs of resistance shown by the religiosity model of Kalang shaman.Primary data was collected through observation and indepth interviews with Kalang shaman, Kalang figures, and community leaders in Poncorejo.Meanwhile, secondary data was obtained through documentation in the form of village documents on the existence of Kalang society and previous studies on the related area.The collected data was then classified and coded based on the items focused on this research.After that, it was presented in cohesive manner and analyzed using analytic descriptive techniques.
The locus of this research was Poncorejo Village, Gemuh District, Kendal Regency, Central Java Province, with the focus in dusun (part of the village) -Wanglu Krajan-where the majority of the population were Kalang people.Kalang people found in this village was comparatively the older ones.The community owned a Dukun Kalang, whose role and position were inherited from generation to generation.

The Beliefs of Kalang People about Themselves
Kalang people inherited the beliefs passed down from their ancestors.They believe that they were descended from an unusual relationship between a princess and a "dog" (Gericke 1847;Muslichin 2011).This myth about the origin of Kalang people is comemorized in the ritual of Gegalungan.Gegalungan is a ritual held in every seventh month, on Tuesday wage1 or Friday wage.The ritual is carried out as a form of respect for the spirits of Kalang ancestors, symbolized by a dog statue (Sholeh 2004;Sulaiman 2018).The symbolic meaning of this ritual affirms Kalang belief system that 'dog' was the incarnation of a god or a prince who received a curse from his parents.It also represented the figure of a princess who was married to a dog (Sulaiman 2018).
Besides Gegalungan, Kalang people also have ewuhan ritual as a form of respect for the spirit of Kalang ancestors, namely Demang Kalang.This ritual takes the form of an 'offering' which is meant for Demang Kalang and the brothers (sanak kadang) who died.Being held every Tuesday Wage and Wednesday Kliwon or Friday Wage and Saturday Kliwon, it implies a form of loyalty to Kalang "blood" that flows within the people.It also turns out as a way for Kalang people to get out of the fear caused by ancestral spirits who have not received adequate attention from their offspring (Sholeh 2004;Sulaiman 2018).

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Kalang people also have obong ritual which are purposed to honor their deceased family members.It is the most important ritual in Kalang community as affirmed by the community leader, "Nek Kalang ki initine upacara obong, acarane bakdo Isa…" (The core of Kalang is obong ritual, which is held after Isya' prayer…).
Obong ritual is carried out on the seventh day (sependhak 2 ) or on the first year after the death of family member by burning the puspa (statue of the deceased) along with all the objects that they used to like during their lives, such as clothes or other favorite items (Kurniawan and Saputra 2022;Nailufar 2021;Sholeh 2004).This ritual is led by a dukun by placing the puspa and items on a "pancake" (small house) and then burning it down.Before being burned, the 'puspa' is carried around encircling the buffalo skeleton three times along with the offerings prepared.The cremains are then collected in a vessel or pot, to be floated in the flowing river.The main purpose of this ceremony is to obtain God's and other metaphysical powers' blessing in easing the spirit's journey to the supernatural world and the family left behind is saved and protected from harm (Sholeh 2004).
Derived from the discussion above, it can be concluded that Kalang people's beliefs are attached to the ancient Javanese's era when the people adhered animism-dynamism beliefs (Fajfrlíková 2018).The rituals being found today in Kalang community are the form of respect for ancestral spirits or Dahnyang as local __________ 2 Sependhak is Javanese term denote to seven days term.
heroes or 'embryos' of Kalang people.Their ritual behavior can be interpreted as partiality toward spirits who are believed to have the ability to intervene in human life and solve their problems.

The Role of Shamans in Kalang Community
In Kalang cultural system, Kalang shamans occupy an important position.Being the leaders in every Kalang ritual -especially the Obong, they are also believed, firstly, to be a source of knowledge about Kalang's teachings and other supernatural information on the spirits of their ancestors.Secondly, Kalang shamans are recognized for their ability to provide solution on the problems experienced by Kalang people.
In Kalang socio-cultural system, Kalang shamans play an equal role as the kyai, ulama, or ustadz (Islamic preachers) in the socio-cultural system of the Islamic community.Shamans are │ 149 also considered as the informal leader of Kalang community and have an important position in maintaining the existence of Kalang culture (Kholiq 2016;Muslichin 2008;Pontjosutirto 1966).
In the mystical belief, it is believed that Kalang shamans have mythical powers obtained from Dahnyang Kalang (ancestral spirit) possessing the shamans' bodies (wadag).Dahnyang Kalang itself is considered as the guardian of living Kalang people.Mystical abilities and skills of Kalang shamans in leading rituals cannot be separated from the role of Dahnyang Kalang.Kalang shamans received magical revelations from ancestral spirits and received a mandate from Dahnyang to carry out a dual function, that is, protecting Kalang community from various disturbances; and maintaining Kalang teachings and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation (Kholiq 2016).
In this perspective, Kalang shamans act as a medium for conveying messages of the spirits of the ancestors to Kalang people.Because of that, they are often referred as Prophets.This concept clearly shows the influence of Islam in the life of Kalang people.While a prophet in Islam refers to the messanger of Allah, a prophet in Kalang context stands for the messanger of Demang Kalang from the spirit realm that has a duty to lead the living people in the life realm.Kalang shamans are believed to be the "wadag" in that their bodies are possessed by Demang Kalang in order to build interactions with the living Kalang descendants.
Kalang shamans have a vital role in the preservation of Kalang beliefs and traditions.
Apart from being a central figure in every ritual implementation, Kalang shamans also serve as a conveyor of information about the condition of particular spirit in the spirit realm.As Kalang people believe, the life of the spirits of the dead are no different from those of the living world.Kalang spirits gather in their living family expecting an offering as a form of concern from the living to the dead.Frequently, Kalang shamans convey messages from the spirits of deceased to the living family.In the perspective of Kalang community, they are considered as the only people who have the knowledge of the spiritual world.Kalang people's belief in shamans as prophets or mediators are actually built on a bipolar thinking system about the world: supernatural-world, sacred-profane, far-near, holy-sinful, and so on.The symbolic classification system -which is used to explain the different levels or forms of world relationsleads them to create moderation in the relation among Kalang people (life realm), Kalang shaman, and the spirits of Kalang people (the spirit world), as shown in Figure 1.
Hence, the social position of Kalang shaman is a binding agent for Kalang's social identity.As long as Kalang people believe in the existence and the role of Kalang shamans, Kalang's identity will not be destroyed by the time, even though the people in general have accepted Islam as their formal religion.
Considering the significant position of a shaman, Kalang people always put the role to a woman.To them, Kalang women have more authority than the men, particularly in terms of communal rituals they have.Women are believed to be representatives of Demang Kalang, supernatural figures who are the source of Kalang's belief.
It does not seem to fit with the modern stereotypical depiction of feminists struggling to break traditional rules.However, in fact, Kalang customary rules do not specifically distinguish

Expressions of Kalang Shaman Religiosity in the Figure of Mak Kobro: Resistance to Islamic Hegemony
The religiosity of Kalang shaman is significant to study for at least two reasons.First, she is an important figure in the social system of Kalang people that lead the implementation of Kalang ritual, especially Obong ritual.Due to her central role, she has become a symbol for maintaining Kalang's beliefs and traditions.Second, the religiosity of Kalang shaman is related to the history of Kalang people's acceptance of Islam, which showed a difficult process as they initially rejected Islam (Kartodirdjo, Notosusanto, and Poesponegoro 1975;Nakamura 1983;Warto 2011).Historical record asserts that as a strong ethnic group in conserving traditions, they refused to convert to Islam by fleeing to the remote area (Warto 2011).Although they eventually accepted its presence, they did not leave their original culture.Based on these two views, it implies that the religiosity of Kalang shamans and their acceptance of Islam are a form of resistance to preserve Kalang's beliefs and culture.
Mak Kobro was the 65-year-old Kalang shaman, a symbol for Kalang community.She was born and raised from a family of shamans.Previously, the position of Kalang shaman was held by her mother (Mak Ummi).In the belief of Kalang people, the position of a shaman is not decided out of particular educational backgrounds or efforts conducted by an individual.It is the revelation from Demang Kalang for the chosen person which will make her a shaman as Mak Kobro said, "… mangke kulo nak mpun angsal gaibe nggeh purun, sebabe nek ora ntuk ghaibe yo gak iso muni ... nggeh coro dalange niku nggeh sing mlampah mlaku nggeh kulo thok niku pas niku" (I will be able to recite mantra with spiritual help, otherwise it will be useless.It was only me who could do it at that time).

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Hence, it is meaningless to master all the 'mantras' or 'recitation' of Kalang ritual without any revelation from the holy spirit, since she will not be able to complete the chanting.According to the beliefs of Kalang people, when leading a ritual by chanting a 'mantra' the saman is guided by the spirit of Demang Kalang.Mak Kobro also added that Kalang spell was chosen depending on the condition of the 'spirit' being the object of the ritual (obong).Therefore, without being directly guided by the Demang Kalang spirit, it was impossible for someone to chant Kalang ritual mantras.
Mak Kobro inherited a belief system and culture carried out by her ancestors for centuries.She embraced them without any rationalization process for she considered them as an irresistible lineage.Both her parents were the indigenous Kalang people.Likewise, because her parents were muslims, Mak Kobro was also a Muslim.However, she did not receive adequate Islamic education from either her parents or the environment.Instead, her religiosity was shaped through Kalang people's cultural memory who accepted Islam in the form of Abangan practices.
In relation to such practices, Slamet (50 years old), a relative of Mak Kobro, said that she did not strictly perform the five daily prayers.When leading the Obong ceremony, for example, she did not take the time to do a prayer.In addition to that, during the month of Ramadan, she also did not fast as most devout Muslims usually do.However, at certain times, she attended congregational tarawih at the mosque and actively participated in socio-religious activities organized by the Wanglu Krajan community, such as tahlilan.
Mak Kobro's religion can be categorized as Islam Abangan (Burhani 2017;Miftakhur Ridlo 2021), which is a socio-religious category marked by the inability to carry out Islamic teachings as a whole, such as performing the prayers five times a day, fasting during Ramadan, or paying zakat as Muslim obligations in general.In spite of that, she admitted that she was a Muslim, proven in several aspects of her life symbolically.
First, Mak Kobro was formally registered as a Muslim.This fact has led to at least two meanings, political and historical.Political meaning can be received from the symbol or recognition of her religiosity, which was administratively recorded as a Muslim.The historical aspect is attached through the evidence that her religion was sourced from her family's.It adequately made sense because according to Pardi (70 years old), the people in Kendal Regency were generally Muslim.They accepted Islam as the official religion as it was passed down in families.The acceptance of Kalang people towards Islam was related to the history of the conquest of Kalang people under the power of Mataram sultanate led by Sultan Agung.They were then employed in the forest and became the carpenters.It was during that time when they were in touch with Islam intensively until they decided to be Islam adherents.However, the religiosity of Kalang people had something to do with political nuance as the impact of a conquest from the hegemonic power.Therefore, the type of Islam Kalang people chose was more into extreme-Abangan which was followed by a range of rebellion and rejection (Fukuyama 1961;Mukodi and Burhanuddin 2016;Nurish 2021).
Second, the symbol of Islam in Mak Kobro was seen in her daily dress code.She wore kebaya (traditional Javanese wearing) with a head scarf especially in the public arena.Based on symbolic interaction perspective, it holds two meanings, namely as a symbol of religious and social recognition.First, the head scarf she wore was the symbol of "recognition" of her religion which entailed her identity as a Muslim woman.Galadari (2012) and Bhowon and Bundhoo (2016) asserted that veils become a symbol of Islam as the result of thoughts circulating in both Islamic and non-Islamic societies.This view can be justified because many Muslim women, especially in the Wanglu Kendal hamlet, wore hijab.The view of hijab as a Muslim identity was constructed by the community based on habits in their society.Second, the hijab worn by Kobro has a social meaning as it was driven by social motives or interests i.e. "needs" or the urge to act, and "incentives" or situations that encourage people to act (Fiske, Gilbert, and Lindzey 2010; Gollwitzer, Kappes, and Oettingen 2012).This concept suited the context of Mak Kobro's who wore a hijab because her environment 'forced' her to do so to enable her to be accepted both in religious and non-religious public spheres.
Third, Mak Kobro's active involvement in the religious activities of Wanglu community such as tahlilan, yasinan or barzanji was a symbol of her religiosity as a Muslim.However, she did these symbolically in public only for gaining social recognition from her community, instead of doing it out of her spiritual belief.Hence, it can be said that she was Muslim in the surface but at the same time, she held her Kalang belief and culture deep down in her inner self.
Derived from such a depiction, Mak Kobro's religiosity showed the phenomenon of symbolic religion, namely a model of religion that only puts forward external symbols, and does not touch the substantive area.The religious model shown by her and Kalang people in general indicated that Islamic religiosity of Kalang people had unique characteristics.This, further, strengthens the thesis that Islam is present in multiple faces.
Mak Kobro's model of religion was more oriented to fighting for identity claim as part of Muslim society in Poncorejo.According to Klinken (2007), identity can be interpreted as collective solidarity of a group of people (Effendi and Setiadi 2010).Mak Kobro tried to build a "claim" model of her own religion in the midst of common society who perceived that Kalang people tended to be an extreme-Abangan (Nakamura 1983;Sulaiman 2018).By wearing a 'veil' every day, participating in various religious activities in the public area, and building social interaction through congregational prayers at the local mosque, she intended to build a claim that Islam and Kalang tradition could go hand in hand so well that further argument was unnecessary.
Based on the symbolic interaction perspective (Blumer 1986;Carter and Fuller 2016), Mak Kobro's religiosity and her religious symbols entailed various messages.Kalang shaman's religiosity is a form of behavior carried out based on 'meaning' that comes from social interactions.Meaning is always modified through a continuous process of interpretation by individuals who participate in the interactions (Blumer 1986;Zeller 2020).Meanwhile, the interactional behavior of an individual can be understood based on the act of reciprocal interpretation between interaction partners in a certain situational, historical and cultural context (Outhwaite and Bottomore 1994).
The concept of acculturation (Sidler et al. 2021), then, captured such a compromise model which bridged the values held by Kalang people and Islamic principles adhered by the dominant │ 153 group of society.It engages two significant indicators to be responded by the minority group in their interaction with the majority i.e., 1) maintaining cultural identity and 2) connecting to other group members.
Using the two indicators, Mak Kobro's religiosity can be interpreted as the adaptation made by Kalang people in responding to the influence of Islam as dominant culture.They perceived that Islam was born through the revelation from heaven while Kalang belief was sourced from their local wisdom.They built cultural cognition to show that Islam and Kalang belief system were not to be debated.
In relation to that, as the elite symbol of this minority group, Mak Kobro held a responsibility to keep the sustainability of Kalang belief and culture.Her religious practices reflected Kalang people's strategy to maintain their existence in the midst of Islamic community's hegemony.Mak Kobro's religiosity, which emphasized showing religious symbols of the majority group on the surface while holding Kalang belief tightly beneath, was identical to Geertz's views on Javanese Islam in general, which was syncretic in nature (Geertz 1983;Rofiqoh et al. 2021).
Further, Mak Kobro's religiosity as described above can also be interpreted as the resistance of Kalang people against massive and unavoidable Islamization movement.Kalang people believed that accepting Islam as their administrative religion was the only way to maintain Kalang's cultural identity in a Muslim's mainstream society.Her religiosity became a model for Kalang people in dealing with the majority religion.Such a religiosity model was built based on incentive social motive, that is, a condition that forces a person to behave like the majority.It was captured through Islamic symbols they showed and practiced in the public spaces but not in the private space, despite having sufficient time.
More particularly, while the early event of Kalang people's escape out of refusal from converting to Islam during the reign of Mataram (Warto 2011) indicated open resistance, the expressions of Mak Kobro as the representative of Kalang people in the contemporary context were in line with the concept of hidden resistance (Scott 1985;Vinthagen and Johansson 2013).Her religious behavior reflected closed and indirect interactions between hegemonic and marginalized groups which are described as 1) irregular, unsystematic and occurring individually, 2) being opportunistic and selfish, 3) not having revolutionary consequences, and/or 4) being more accommodating against the domination system.Mak Kobro's religiosity has captured the connection between power and domination (Barker 2004).According to Foucault (Flohr 2016), resistance is related to the concept of power to dominate other parties, despite objections.Power with its various mechanisms does not always produce obedience from its subordinates; instead, it may create resistance (Karatzogianni and Robinson 2013).In other word, there is no power free from the opposition as it will lead to certain levels of protest from the oppressed (Lilja 2018).
To sum up, the data on this study was the proof that many Kalang people did not really adhere to Islam as their substantive religion.The majority of Kalang people tended to take the symbolic ways of showing their Islamic identity.They believed that Kalang identity, which embraced its belief and culture, should not be eradicated as it sticked in their blood.

Conclusion
This study found the fact that Islamic behavior shown by Kalang shaman was a reflection of the minority group's resistance to maintain their existence.This religious model was a form of the 'defense' mechanism of Kalang people in protecting Kalang belief and culture.The uniqueness of the findings of this study lied in two things, first, resistance to hegemonic forces was not always displayed in the form of reactive rejection; instead, it could be shown through silent resistance by pretending to accept, but essentially rejecting.Second, in a patriarchal social system, generally, the role of resistance actor was played by men.But in the case of Kalang people, the symbol of resistance was actually carried out by the woman, Kalang shaman.This indicated that women had a high position in Kalang social system.
Further, this research has some limitations.It was conducted limited to the religious symbol shown by Kalang shaman in a certain village, Wanglu, not to Kalang community in general.Hence, the results of this study could not be used to generalize that all Kalang people took the fight by displaying a symbolic religious way.Besides, this study focused on symbolic resistance, so it has not revealed the responses of Kalang people to the hegemony of Islamization.On the basis of these limitations, it is necessary to carry out further studies by taking a broader object or studying Kalang community's response to the Islamization movement.[] while remaining to practice the teachings of Kalang belief that they have held before.Kalang community has a unique attitude toward Islamization.In their Islamic religious practices, they tend to blend them with Kalang cultural tradition as what was mentioned by a Kalang figure, "Islame nggih sami mawon ... tiyang Wanglu Kalang nggeh mpun Islam, meskipun Islame nggeh cara wong Kalang ..." (We practice Islamic teachings as what common people do … all Kalang people in Wanglu are also Muslim, though the practices are performed according to Kalang's customs).

Figure 1
Figure 1 Kalang shaman as the Prophet of Kalang