CACI: The Contradiction Between the Nature and Practice of Modern Manggarai Society with Its Relevance to the Character Formation of the Millennial Generation

Marselus Natar¹, Maria Yulita C. Age²

Pendidikan Keagamaan Katolik, Sekolah Tinggi Pastoral Atma Reksa Ende, Indonesia

*e-mail:  [email protected] , [email protected]

Keywords

ABSTRACT

Caci, Character, Modern, Milenial Generation

· Abstract: Caci is one of folk game or war dances originating from Manggarai, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara. The existance and nature of Caci dance teaches the value of nasionalism, brotherhood, social interaction, rituals, resilience, courage, hospitality, tolerance and aesthetics. Nonetheless, nowadays the way milenials generation play it tend to display negative aspect compared to the internalization of Caci itself. In many cases, Caci showed more personal ego, anger, fights, grudges, hate speech (rants), and the aesthetic and entartaiment functions whis are applied in Lomes (dancing), Bokak (sound art in Nenggo and Danding), and Paci (symbolic expressions/metaphors to show the existance and quality of self) almost have no space. Caci has relevance to character formation functionality such as: the values of nationalism, patriotism, brotherhood, aesthetics, social interaction, rituals, toughness, courage, sacredness and manners. Caci becomes a place for the formation of people character if the act of caci is played in accordance with its essence.

INTRODUCTION

Indonesian dance reflects the richness and diversity of Indonesian ethnicity and culture. This cultural difference makes Indonesia admired by foreign countries(Viartasiwi, Trihartono, & Hara, 2020). One of Indonesia's cultures is traditional dance in various regions. Traditional dance art can be said to be a symbol of civilization from each region(Abdi, 2018) . One of the traditional dance arts that is less known and considered is the caci dance from Manggarai, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT)(Aninda & Sihombing, 2022). Caci is a heroic type of folk game is also a game full of cultural values. It is said to be heroic because this traditional dance is almost always a bloody fight (Jampi, Nawir, & Hadisaputra, 2019).Caci is a battle between two men, one on one, alternately, namely Ata One (host) and Ata Pe'ang (newcomer) also called Meka Landang (challenger guest).  This dance art is not widely known by the people of Indonesia, even the people of Manggarai itself, especially among teenagers, do not know and understand the nature of this dance (Widyawati & Lon, 2022).

Caci dance is a war dance as well as a folk game between a pair of male dancers who fight with a whip and shield in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The dancer armed with a whip acts as an attacker and another defends using a shield. This dance is played during the thanksgiving of the harvest season (hang woja) and new year rituals (penti), land clearing ceremonies or other large traditional ceremonies, and is performed to welcome important guests(Nggoro, 2006). This caci dance is usually played by the people of Manggarai with an age range of 25-50 years. A man who acts as a batter () tries to cut the opponent with a whip made from dried buffalo/cow skin. The slash handle is also made from buffalo skin loops.

At the end of the pecut, thin buffalo skin that has been dried and hard is installed called lempa or lidi enau which is still green (pore). The man who acts as a deterrent (called ta'ang), deflects the opponent's whipping blisters with a shield called nggiling and a bow of bamboo intertwined with rattan called agang or tereng. The shield is round, covered with dried buffalo skin. The shield is held with one hand, while the other hand holds a counter-bow. This dance is played by two men, one on one, but hitting is done alternately(Dearborn & Ross, 2006). The players are divided into two groups that alternately swap positions as an attacking group and a defensive group (Passos et al., 2011).

Caci is always played by the host group (ata one) and groups of migrants from other villages (ata pe'ang or called meka landang which means challenger guest). Caci is one type of folk game or war dance originating from the Manggarai area, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (Kartomi, 2001) The existence and nature of Caci dance teaches the values of nationalism, brotherhood, social interaction, ritual, toughness, courage, friendliness, tolerance and aesthetics; But in the era of globalization and modernization, the caci act played by the millennial generation tends to show negative aspects compared to internalizing the nature of the caci itself. In many cases, diatribes rather show personal egos, anger, fights, resentment, hate speech (harsh words), aesthetic and entertainment functions applied in Lomes (dancing), Bokak (sound art in Nenggo and Danding), and Paci (symbolic expressions/metaphors to show existence and self-quality) have almost no space and appearance.

Caci has relevance to character building because caci also has a function as character formation such as: nationalism, patriotism, brotherhood, aesthetics, social interaction, ritual, toughness, courage, sacredness and manners. Character is defined as character; character; psychological, moral or ethical qualities that distinguish a person from others. A person's character is not only seen from good behavior but seen from the overall pattern and behavior as an individual. Character describes a person's moral qualities which are reflected in all his behavior which contains elements of courage, fortitude, honesty and loyalty. A person who is competent and has character is a reliable, characteristic, intelligent and competitive human resource in facing global challenges. Caci becomes a place for the formation of a person's character if the act of caci played is in accordance with its essence. Character building is very important for us to review again, because character building is one form of the government's efforts to form a young generation or millennial generation with character.

METHODS

The approach used in this study is qualitative descriptive. According to (AK & ZA, 2015) qualitative descriptive research is a research process to understand human or social phenomena by creating a comprehensive and complex picture that can be presented in words, reporting detailed views obtained from informant sources, and carried out in a natural setting. This research was conducted based on the phenomenon of the practice of diatribe in modern Manggarai society which is full of egoism, individualism, anger, fights, grudges, hate speech (harsh words), as well as the lack of involvement of women, lomes (dancing), bokak (sound art in Nenggo and Danding), and Paci as symbolic expressions / metaphors to show their existence and quality.

Data collection techniques in this study consist of observation techniques, interview techniques, and documentation techniques. The scope of this writing is only limited to how the relationship between the values contained in the caci and the formation of the character of the millennial generation. The benefits of this paper include; Toretis benefits are for the development of social science and cultural research, especially research related to the theory of social phenomena, as well as practical benefits that can have a positive impact on the development of insight, knowledge and public understanding of the nature of caci dance in relation to the formation of the character of the millennial generation.

RESULTS

Etymologically; Caci comes from the word, Ca which means one, ci (gici ca) which means opponent. Caci in the acronym sense of the word ca gici ca.  Gici ca means one by one or one on one, as the rules in the game of caci are hitting with a whip and parrying backwards one on one (Inat &; Hermawan, 2021: 3). From those three words came the word caci which is now used by the Manggarai people. Until now there is no literature that explains the origin of the chili culture. The majority of people believe that the inspiration for the caci comes from the strong fighting of young men in battles between regions for generations. Caci has a strong element of violence, however, in fact the philosophy espoused by this dance is a message of sportsmanship, peace, and mutual respect, familiarity, brotherhood.

Caci dancers do not just move in performing this traditional dance, but are accompanied by music and wearing props to add a strong and interesting impression to the dance(Müller-Schwarze, 2015). Properties worn by chili dancers, namely: Array / cemeti, trousers combined with songket, grind and handle / shield, pangal / mask resembling buffalo horns, musical instruments (gong and drum), Ngorong / sleigh-giring, Ndeki . The dancer armed with a whip acts as an attacker and another defends using a shield. This dance is played during the thanksgiving of the harvest season (hang woja) and new year rituals (penti), land clearing ceremonies or other large traditional ceremonies, and is performed to welcome important guests. This caci dance is usually played by the people of Manggarai with an age range of 25-50 years.

A man who acts as a batter () tries to cut the opponent with a whip made from dried buffalo/cow skin(Beckwith, 1930). The slash handle is also made from buffalo skin loops. At the end of the pecut, thin buffalo skin that has been dried and hard is installed called lempa or lidi enau which is still green (pore). The man who acts as a deterrent (called ta'ang), deflects the opponent's whipping blisters with a shield called nggiling and a bow of bamboo intertwined with rattan called agang or tereng. The shield is round, covered with dried buffalo skin. The shield is held with one hand, while the other hand holds a counter-bow. This dance is played by 2 men, one on one, but hitting is done alternately. The players are divided into two groups that alternately swap positions as an attacking group and a defensive group. Caci is always played by the host group (ata one) and groups of migrants from other villages (ata pe'ang or called meka landang which means challenger guest).

The essence of caci is an expression of gratitude manifested in the game. The cacy becomes a symbol with various values in it, and that value value is packaged in the whole game of chime. The intention is that the people of Manggarai have fighting values, have a soul as a brave and valiant man. Caci dance shows a very high artistic value, ranging from dance movements (lomes), sound art (bokak), painting (caci ornaments), fine art or weaving art (woven motifs on songke cloth, shawls, handkerchiefs) used by caci dancers (Guntar, Moon, & Edu, n.d.).This art has a message of peace in it, such as the spirit of sportsmanship, mutual respect, and respect, brotherhood, social interaction, togetherness, ethics. Today reproach no longer shows the truth. There is a phenomenon related to the practice of caci that deviates far from its noble value. The internalization or implementation of the noble value of caci has almost no place anymore in the practice of caci today. In many cases, diatribes show more personal egos, anger, fights, resentment, hate speech (harsh words), lack of female involvement, lomes (dancing), bokak (sound art in Nenggo and Danding), and Paci (symbolic expressions / metaphors to show existence and self-quality).

Caci Function

Ritual and Customary Functions

The first function is related to ritual activities, namely as a symbol of communication to the power pledged by the Flores people. This can be seen from some of the prayers and mantras that are recited and offerings that need to be included when holding the Caci event. The goal is for the audience and performers to be given safety during the performance. Caci dance is often played as an expression of gratitude during the harvest season (called hang woja) as well as rituals to welcome the new year (penti), to ceremonies during land clearing. Often the Caci dance is also performed when welcoming important guests.

 Aesthetic Function

The element of aesthetics or beauty cannot be separated from a dance, including Caci from NTT. The beauty in this dance radiates from the clothes worn, songs and accompaniments played. Until the beauty of the language thrown by the players. Everything forms a cohesive whole so as to produce something that can be enjoyed as a whole performance.

Social Functions

The next function of the Caci dance is related to social interaction. Through the holding of Caci art performances, people have the opportunity to meet other people from various regions. Of course, each culture is also different, so it can open dialogue, exchange ideas about new knowledge and make friends with people from diverse origins.

Entertainment Functions

Caci dance is thick with entertainment nuances, so that the audience can be more interested and live what is displayed. In this thrilling dance, the spirit of dancers in fight scenes followed by certain singing voices can entertain the public so that they also feel the fighting spirit while voicing support for the players.

Character Building

Caci is a place for the formation of one's character, as it is essential. Every player is forged to have the values of brotherhood, tolerance, unity, loving caci as a noble heritage of culture, ethics, social intellect and toughness.

Caci Properties

Caci dancers do not just move in performing this traditional dance, but are accompanied by music and wearing props to add a strong and interesting impression to the dance. Properties worn by chili dancers, namely: Array / cemeti, trousers combined with songket, grind and handle / shield, pangal / mask resembling buffalo horns, musical instruments (gong and drum), Ngorong / sleigh-giring, Ndeki.

Whip

The whip serves as the main weapon for attacking opponents. Usually, the whips used by dancers are made of cowhide or buffalo that has been dried before. While the handle is made of buffalo skin, and the tip is installed thinner buffalo skin that has dried (called lempa).

Trousers

The next property in the Caci dance is the bottom, in the form of white trousers combined with songket (typical Manggarai fabric). This part is worn from the waist to the knees, while the upper part of the body is open because it will receive attacks from opponents.

Shield

A tool that serves to protect the dancer from the attacks of his opponent. The shield is used by holding it in one hand then the bow of the repellent in the other hand, the dancer can deflect the opponent's attack with the use of the right shield. The shield is made of bamboo intertwined with rattan, while the shield is round with a layer of dried buffalo skin. Men who repel opponents' abrasions are called ta'ang.

Mask

On the head, dancers wear masks / panggal with a shape resembling buffalo horns. This mask is indeed made from hardened buffalo skin, then added with colorful cloth decorations. The dancer's face will be partially covered by a mask, but it has previously been wrapped with a destar or towel to protect the area.

Ndeki:

Decoration as well as back protection made of rattan and installed accessories at the ends made of horsetail hair.

Musical instrument

Musical accompaniment is a complementary factor in chili dance, especially including tense and fighting spirit fight scenes. Usually the musical instruments used in Caci dance are gongs, drums, and singing songs from the Manggarai area. The music is fast enough to adjust to the course of the fight.

 Sleigh

It is a bracelet worn on the dancer's ankle. As an additional accessory, every time the fighter moves agilely, the sound on the sleigh also enlivens the fight.

The Practice of Caci in the Modern Era

In the era of globalization, information becomes a very powerful force in influencing the human mindset. Western culture today is identified with modernity (modernization) and eastern culture is identified with traditional or conventional. Modernization is defined as values that are valid in aspects of space, time, and wider or universal social groups.  Modernization as a process of a series of efforts to achieve or create values (physical, material and social) that are universal, rational, and functional usually likes to be opposed to traditional values (Firdausyiah, 2013).  Traditional values generally include a number of norms whose validity depends on the space, place, time, and particular community group. This means that its applicability is limited, not universal as it applies to values or values.  This opinion is true because tradition is a process of inheritance from ancestors that cannot be eliminated just like that because of the culture in it that is related.

However, it is undeniable that in the era of globalization, changes in the lifestyle of more modern people are a reality. As a result, people tend to choose new cultures that are considered more practical than local cultures. One of the factors that cause local culture to be forgotten today is; the lack of the next generation who have an interest in learning and inheriting their own culture and the lack of the role of parents and the community instilling local wisdom values from an early age to the younger generation(Nahak, 2019). Efforts to build the identity of the Indonesian nation, including appreciation of cultural and linguistic values, values of social solidarity, kinship and love for the homeland are felt to be fading, therefore we must build our national identity to be strong and internalized more deeply. The culture of our nation must not be left behind let alone lost by the rapid flow of globalization. Therefore we must instill in ourselves to love and preserve the culture of our nation.

The phenomenon of decreasing character quality will increase if the technological community cannot understand the philosophy of technology so that it is wrong to use and see the value of technology functions (Dalyono & Lestariningsih, 2016). The development of technology is very useful if implemented in a positive realm, but in reality there are still many young people who do not think too much about the importance of controlling negative attitudes in responding to the flow of globalization.  In the context of chili sauce, the phenomenon of deterioration in character quality is seen in the practice of caci that deviates far from its noble value.  The internalization or implementation of the noble value of caci has almost no place anymore in the practice of caci today. In many cases, diatribes show more personal egos, anger, fights, resentment, hate speech (harsh words), lack of female involvement, lomes (dancing), bokak (sound art in Nenggo and Danding), and Paci (symbolic expressions / metaphors to show existence and self-quality).

CACI as a Place for Character Building of the Millennial Generation

Caci is a place for the formation of one's character, as it is essential. Every diatribe is forged to have the values of brotherhood, tolerance, unity, loving caci as a noble heritage of culture, ethics, social intellect and resilience. Caci is an expression of gratitude manifested in the game. The cacy becomes a symbol with various values in it, and that value value is packaged in the whole game of chime.

The intention is that the people of Manggarai have fighting values, have a soul as a brave and valiant man. Caci dance shows a very high artistic value, ranging from dance movements (lomes), sound art (bokak), painting (chili ornaments), fine art or weaving art (woven motifs on songke cloth, shawls, handkerchiefs) used by chili dancers. This art has a message of peace in it, such as the spirit of sportsmanship, mutual respect, and respect, brotherhood, social interaction, togetherness, ethics.

The character "Charakter" (Latin), which among other things means: character, character, psychological qualities, ethics, personality or morals. While in terms, character is defined as human nature in general where humans have many characteristics that depend on their own life factors. Character is the values of human behavior related to God Almighty, oneself, fellow humans, the environment, and nationality which are manifested in thoughts, attitudes, feelings, words, and deeds based on religious norms, laws, manners, culture, and customs(Subianto, 2013). Character building is very important for us to review again, because character building is one form of the government's efforts to form the next generation of young people with character.

To realize a young generation with character, support from all parties is needed, including families, communities and educational institutions. Sociologists believe that the family has an important role in determining the progress of a nation, so they theorize that the family is a very important unit in society. Therefore, sociologists believe, all kinds of depravity of society are the result of weak family institutions. For a child, the family is the first and foremost place for his growth and development.

According to UN General Assembly resolutions, the main function of the family is as a vehicle to educate, nurture and socialize children and the younger generation, develop the ability of all members to carry out their functions in society properly, and, provide satisfaction and a healthy environment for the achievement of a prosperous family. The family is the earliest and most effective place to carry out the functions of the health, education and welfare departments. If the family fails to teach honesty, passion, the desire to be the best, and master basic skills, it will be very difficult for other institutions to correct their failures.

Because the failure of the family in shaping the character of children and the younger generation will result in the growth of a society with bad character or no character. Therefore, every family must have an awareness that the character of the nation is very dependent on the character education of children at home. In addition to the family, the community also has a significant role in shaping the character of children and young people.  In this case, what is meant by society here is an older person who is "not close", "unknown", "has no family ties" with children and young people but is currently in their environment or sees their behavior. It is these people who can set an example, invite, or forbid young people in doing suatau deeds.

The Relevance of Caci to Character Building

The function of Character Education is to help humans become a better person, this is also contained in the nature of recklessness, including: Tolerance: an action and attitude that respects the opinions, attitudes and actions of others who differ in opinions, attitudes, and actions with themselves. Discipline: an orderly action and compliance with various rules and regulations that must be carried out. Hard Work: an effort shown to always make the best use of the time available for a job so that the work done is completed on time. National Spirit: a way of thinking, acting, and insight that places the interests of the nation and state above the interests of themselves and their groups. Love of the Fatherland: an attitude that shows loyalty, care and high respect for the physical, social, cultural, economic and political environment of its nation. Peace loving: an attitude and action that always causes others to be happy and is well accepted by others, society and nation.

CONCLUSION

Caci is one type of folk game or war dance from Manggarai, which besides being heroic is also a game full of cultural values. It is said to be heroic because this traditional dance is almost always a bloody fight. In Manggarai caci is a battle between two men, one on one, alternately, namely Ata One (host) and Ata Pe'ang (migrant) also called Meka Landang (challenger guest). The existence of the Caci dance that once taught the values of nationalism, brotherhood and aesthetics; Now in the millennial generation it even causes conflict and value degradation. The modern practice of Caci no longer shows its essence. There is a phenomenon related to the practice of caci that deviates far from its noble value. The internalization or implementation of the noble value of caci has almost no place anymore in the practice of caci today.

Caci has relevance to character building because caci also has a function as character formation such as: nationalism, brotherhood, aesthetics, social interaction, ritual, toughness, courage, sacredness, courtesy, friendliness, and gender equality. Maintaining the nature of caci in modern caci practice is an effort that must be encouraged together involving the role of various parties, including tu'a golo (village heads / traditional stakeholders), community leaders, local Education and Culture offices and families. The party concerned has a controlling, educative function related to the values contained in the Caci, and establishes strict sanctions for perpetrators who violate or tarnish the existence of caci as an ancestral cultural heritage that is full of values so that it is used as a forum for character formation in the midst of the erosion of character values today.

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