Facts about the Bugis Tribe (in Sulawesi), What You Must Understand!

Culture is a very complex and broad issue, for example, culture related to the way humans live, customs and manners.  Culture as a part of life tends to differ from one tribe to another, especially in Indonesia.  The heterogeneous Indonesian society also has different customs and habits that are still maintained to this day, including marriage customs.

1. Bugis in Sulawesi

The Bugis community is one of the tribes that still maintains its culture and customs in Indonesia.  The Bugis tribe, which belongs to the Deutero Malay tribes, comes from the word To Ugi, which means Bugis people.

The naming "ugi" refers to the first king of the Chinese kingdom in Pammana, Wajo Regency today, namely La Sattumpugi.  They call themselves To Ugi or the people or followers of La Sattumpugi.

In its development, this community developed and formed several other kingdoms.  The Bugis people then developed their own culture, language, Lontara script and government.

2. Bugis Kingdom

Some classic and large Bugis kingdoms include Luwu, Bone, Wajo, Soppeng, Suppa and Sawitto (Pinrang Regency), Sidenreng and Rappang.  The Bugis tribe that spreads in several districts has customs that are still maintained.

3. Bugis Community Relations

In Bugis society, kinship is the main aspect, both considered important by its members and its function as a basic structure in a society.  In-depth knowledge of the principles of kinship is very important for the Bugis to shape their social order.  This aspect of kinship includes marriage, because it is considered as a regulator of human behavior related to sex and domestic life.  In addition, marriage also serves to regulate the provisions of social prestige assets and more importantly is to maintain kinship relations.

4. The Marriage of the Bugis Bone.

The Bugis, especially the Bugis Bone, interpret marriage to mean bad luck or take each other, so marriage is a reciprocal bond.  The parties involved come from different social strata, but after they get married they will become partners in living their lives.

Marriage in the Bugis Bone tradition is one of the most important parts of human life, a marriage is not only an event experienced by two individuals of different sexes, it involves various parties, both family relatives and the bride and groom.  Marriage is considered as a public acknowledgment of the union of two individuals in a marriage bond.

In order to understand the Bugis Bone culture, especially in the traditional Bugis Bone wedding ceremony procession which is related to myth and religious spirit, an understanding of the culture is needed.  The cultural system that applies in the Bugis Bone community is a symbolism of the Bugis tribe.

5. Bugis Bone Marriage Ceremony

In the process of carrying out the Bugis Bone traditional marriage ceremony, in general there are symbols that are full of meaning, so it is very important to know the meaning of these traditional marriage symbols.  The symbols contained in the Bugis Bone traditional marriage procession are not just symbols that are made without meaning, but the communication message is implied in the symbol.

There is an absolute relationship between humans and culture, causing humans to be called cultural creatures.  Culture itself consists of symbols and values ​​are the result of human action.  Cultural meanings are created using symbols.

Symbolic messages created by humans in certain situations are basically intended for humans to be able to communicate.  In communication, you see messages that are symbolic, for example words that are revealed, a gesture such as shaking your head, symbols such as the traditional house of Bugis Bone (Bola Soba) which is full of meaning and events, such as marriage.  Where the symbols of a culture have meanings that have been agreed upon or believed by the local community.

The understanding of the symbolic meaning in the marriage ceremony is the continuation of a culture.  So it is considered necessary to conduct research with the aim of exploring the messages or symbolic meanings contained in every activity of the Bugis Bone traditional wedding ceremony.  Therefore, to avoid misunderstandings of interpretation for internal and external people of the Bugis Bone community, this research is very interesting to explore.

Human cultural works are full of symbolism in accordance with the system of thought or understanding that directs patterns of social life, as well as traditional Bugis Bone culture, there are many things that are expressed symbolically, such as in the ritual of carrying out traditional marriages which have various stages of the marriage mechanism starting from the beginning of the application.  the bride is mattiro, mappesek-pug, mammanu-manu, madduta malino, mappasierekeng to the procession of marriage contracts such as mappasau, mappacci, marriage contract, mappasiluka, marellau dampeng and after that is the mapparola procession to the groom's house.

That's the article about the Bugis Tribe (in Sulawesi), What You Must Understand!  written by Timothy Candra Kusuma with the original title Facts About the Bugis (Special Tribe in Sulawesi).  Hopefully it can be useful for every reader who is looking for literacy about the "Bugis".  Thank you, also read other posts.