The Implementation of the Pealoa Tradition among the Menui Ethnic Community: A Socio-Cultural Stud

Abstrak

The Pealoa ofose tradition is one of the social and cultural practices inherited by the Menui ethnic community in Ulunambo Village, Menui Islands District, Morowali Regency, as part of a ritual associated with death. This study aims to describe the implementation of the Pealoa ofose tradition among the Menui community, focusing on the place and time of implementation, participants involved, ritual equipment, and stages of the ritual. This study employed a historical research method with a qualitative descriptive approach and a structuralist approach to examine the relationship between traditional practices and the social and cultural life of the community. The data sources consisted of oral, written, and visual sources obtained through observation, interviews, documentation, and literature study. Data were analyzed through the stages of heuristics, source verification or criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The findings show that the Pealoa ofose tradition is conducted at the house of the deceased's family, with the time determined through deliberation between the family and the Mamotua kampu. The implementation involves the Mamotua kampu, ustadz or imamu, family members, relatives, neighbors, and community members who participate in ritual preparation and implementation through mutual cooperation. The ritual equipment, including rice, uba-uba, waje, punti, tuturu, kotupa, bepa baho, chicken, village chicken eggs, incense, and animal-slaughtering equipment, has functional and symbolic meanings related to prayer, respect for the deceased, hope, and family relationships. Therefore, the Pealoa ofose tradition is not merely a death ritual but also a socio-cultural practice that strengthens solidarity, mutual cooperation, social concern, and social relations within the Menui community

Kata kunci

• Menui Ethnic Community
• Pealoa ofose
• Socio Cultural
• Tradition
• death ritual