Structure Of Sayur Matua Simalungunese Funeral Ceremony

Abstract

One of the Simalungunese customs related to funeral ceremony is sayur matua. This ceremony is held for elder funeral who has had grandchildren from both sons and daughters. For his life is considered perfect, it is necessary to hold a traditional ceremony called sayur matua. In this ceremony, the three elements of community were involved. They are called Dalihan Na Tolu, that consisting of tondong, sanina, and boru. These three elements act according to their respective positions, functions, and roles and bring up discourse along the ceremony. There are various stages in sayur matua ceremony and most of stages has its own discourse. The discourse contain of concepts, ideas, and thoughts understood by the readers or listeners. Discourses are formed in sentence that met the grammatical and discursive requirements, namely cohesive and coherent elements. Discourse has a structure, namely the macro structure, superstructure, and microstructure [1]. Hence, the purpose of this study is to identify the form and structure of the discourse (macro structure, plot structure, and microstructure), as well as the aspects of cohesion and coherence contained in the text of the discourse of sayur matua ceremony. The discourse theory is used to analyze the ceremony’s utterances. While the method of analysis is descriptive analytic. The result of analysis shows that several stages of ceremonial activities presented the discourses. The discourse emerged with a dialogue between the elements of Dalihan Na Tolu. The discourse clearly shows the elements of cohesion and coherence that contains cultural philosophy of Simalungun communty.