Cross-Border Acculturation in Paya Dedep Village

Maybe some of us are unaware that in Aceh, especially in the Gayo land, Javanese culture lives and survives just like in its original home, and gets richer after experiencing acculturation with the local culture. Several districts here have become settlements for the Javanese community, such as Aceh Tamiang, Langsa, Aceh Besar, West Aceh, Nagan Raya, Central Aceh, Bener Meriah, and Cross- Aceh Singkil. Some of them have settled since the colonial period, who were brought in to work on plantations owned by Europeans. Some came during the early days of Indonesia’s independence, and others joined the transmigration Border programme under President Soeharto in 1982. Acculturation in Paya DedepVillage

Crossing Borders in Culture Zullubis

Coffee for generations Zullubis

Coffee for generations Zullubis

Paya Dedep Village in Jagong Jeget District, Central Aceh Regency is a village that has emerged and developed because of the transmigration programme. Prior to the division, this village was part of Paya Tungel Village, one of 7 Transmigration Placement Units (UPT) in Central Aceh District. Geographically, Paya Dedep Village is located in a mountainous area with an altitude of about 1600 metres above sea level. The air is very cold. If we look at the Accuweather application, the air temperature at 11.00 is only 19 degrees Celsius in normal weather. At 3.00 in the morning, the temperature can go below 0 degrees.

In Java, this temperature is roughly the same as the temperature in the Dieng plateau. It’s just a different atmosphere. While Dieng is famous for its potatoes, Paya Dedep is famous for its coffee.

Coffee is indeed the main commodity of the Gayo highlands, from Bener Meriah Regency, Central Aceh, to Gayo Lues. According to Q Grader, Gayo coffee has a distinctive aroma and taste. The quality of the seeds is very suitable for various types of processing, especially natural fermentation. In addition, the acidity level is also low, so Gayo coffee is relatively safe for consumption by coffee lovers with gastric problems. Various vegetables and fruits such as oranges and papaya also grow well in this mountainous area.

The age of the Javanese community in Paya Dedep is still relatively young, around 40 years or two generations after their first arrival. Memories of their place of origin in Java are still firmly attached to their psyche, and they still have an emotional attachment to their place of origin (or as a Javanese saying goes: the flame is still alive).

Adaptive, Friendly, and Open

Just like other Javanese communities in Gayo land, the Javanese community in Paya Dedep always shows a welcoming attitude to others. They are used to seeing outsiders coming to visit. Their smiles give a warm feeling in the heart and have become a blanket amid the cold temperature that pierce the bone. It’s an extraordinary impression, even though this village is not a tourism area. Whether we realise it or not, this friendly and open attitude is actually the basic capital of ideal human resources, which when mixed with its natural beauty will make Paya Dedep Village a culture-based ecotourism area.

The people of Paya Dedep have a strong bond with each other, which even exceeds blood relations. This bond was born from a long history of stories of the same fate and shared responsibility – when they arrived on the same ship, when they felt the harshness of clearing the land with only minimal tools, until when they shared their lives afterwards. All of this resulted in the formation of group ties with a very strong level of social cohesion, which sociologists Selo Soemardjan and Soelaiman Soemardi call paguyuban (association).

The association that was formed was not only limited to the Javanese community, but also with other tribes including the Gayo people as indigenous people. Referring to Ferdinand Tonnies, this kind of community model is called a gemeinschaft by place, or an association that arises because people live close together in an area. Its meaning is much deeper than group ties based on kinship relations (gemeinschaft by blood) because the bonds that are built transcend differences in cultural identities such as ethnicity and even religion. This bond also gave rise to the term sedulur sak kampung (family from the same village) for the Gayo people and people from other tribes who live with them.

Currently, the Javanese community in Gayo Land masters at least two regional languages, namely Javanese as their mother tongue and Gayo as a market language (lingua franca). In fact, many even masters the Acehnese language and Jamee language. They mastered these languages to be able to mingle with the local community, especially related to buying and selling activities that reach beyond the districts and provinces. The local language is also used to respect the

Border-Crossing tunes Zullubis

Coffee, a gift for the nation Zullubis

Art is nutritious food for the soul - Zullubis

culture that first existed. For example, if they are together and happen to be among the Gayo people, they will speak Gayo language. The use of this language may look simple, but this is a form of tolerance that exists in the Javanese community in Paya Dedep.

Acculturation and Mixed Marriage

In anthropology theory, every culture that lives close together for a certain period of time will trigger the acculturation process. In simple terms, this acculturation is a situation when one culture learns one or more elements of another culture and makes it a part of its culture. The elements of culture in question can be in the form of tradition, language, social system, knowledge, rites, religion, and art. In the village of Paya Dedep, the acculturation of Javanese and Gayo culture has existed side by side for a long time.

In a short film entitled “Jangin” released by a youth community called Etnis Mountain Signature (EMS), it is illustrated that acculturation occurs in an artistic setting that transcends existing cultural boundaries. In one of the film clips, Javanese children dance the guel and Gayo children play the reog art. The climax is reog and guel dances on one stage against the backdrop of a beautiful mountainous landscape as a symbol of harmony between two different cultures. This condition is an ideal picture of how we should live side by side in diversity.

The acculturation that has occurred in the Javanese community in Paya Dedep is proof that every human being has the ability to adapt to the environment easily. Their resilience strategy is quite simple, namely by holding the proverb “where the earth is stepped on, the sky is upheld”. Evidently, no conflict has been heard between them since 1982.

Of the various acculturation processes in Paya Dedep, intermarriage is one unique thing. Mixed marriages usually occur between Javanese and Gayo people, but there are also Javanese people who marry people from other tribes because they migrate and then return to Paya Dedep. In intermarriage, acculturation occurs very intensely. For example, during the marriage contract, both partners usually wear the Gayo filigree as is the usual tradition in Central Aceh. Likewise, with the reception, the bride and groom will usually change clothes according to their respective customs as a symbol that they have tied the promise of life under two different values. Not to forget, gagar mayang is a witness to the union of two lovebirds from different ethnic groups.

This mixed marriage produces a new generation which Prof. Usman Pelly calls the hybrid generation. The hybrid generation is the key to realising a more integrated society because they are the result of the process of cultural acculturation in a tangible form. Differences in identity not only live around them but also run in their blood. They are not Javanese, nor are they Gayo, but they can be Javanese and Gayo. Therefore, they can understand every difference to minimise the potential for conflict. (Dharma Kelana Putra, BPNB Aceh)