The Memayu Ritual Tradition Route as a Sacred Space of Cultural Landscape Case Study: Kanoman Palace, Cirebon, Indonesia

Abstract

Memayu is part of the Muludan tradition, commemorating the birth of Prophet Muhammad SAW in the Cirebon Palace, Indonesia. The unique thing about this ritual is that many palace disciples from villages outside Cirebon City are involved in its event. Disciples, also known as wargi, get engaged from the preparation stage in their respective villages to implement traditions in the palace. Part of wargi's ritual activities are full of meaning, and routes from the villages to the palace are sacred paths. The perception and belief of wargi form this meaning space as traditional actors, based on understanding the memayu sacred value. Based on that, the article aims to describe the activities of the memayu ritual tradition held in Kanoman Palace and explore the form of space that occurs and the meaning contained in these ritual tradition spaces. The research method of this research is descriptive qualitative. The results showed that the villagers who were the palace disciples, position, and route to the palace created an imaginary sacred spatial pattern. The spatial pattern created in this memayu is physical evidence of an imaginary sacred space of the Cirebon cultural landscape whose elements are symbolically purified and believed to bring blessings to the palace wargi. Besides that, the aspects of ritual traditions of memayu, such as the palace, routes from villages to the palace, and the sacred objects used as a ceremonial compliment, contain Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). All of that is a part of the picture of the Cirebon cultural landscape.