East Java Tourism News

WEDDING COUPLE OF OSING BANYUWANGI

June 19th, 2006

One of the societies living in East Java with attractive wedding tradition is Osing people in Banyuwangi. It attractive because Osing people are known as people with mixed culture. This can be seen in their wedding costumes which are influenced by other cultures, such as: Javanese, Madurese, and Balinese, also by other cultures outside Java. The wedding ceremony of Osing people is divided into several stages as follows:

Acquaintanceship

This stage is the time for two lovers to know each other well. In this stage, it is possible that their relationship would end because of certain reason. If this stage could go on without any obstacles, then the couple continues to the next stage, that is wedding proposal.

Wedding Proposal

According to the custom of Banyuwangi people, wedding proposal is done by the man’s family. Usually if a family has approved their son’s chosen girl, then the wedding proposal is done by asking other person to propose their future daughter in law. The person representing the family is usually a relative or trusted person. Before the wedding proposal is done, usually the man’s family would inform the woman’s family in advance. When the man’s representative comes to the woman’s family, he brings with him a set of woman’s clothes as the symbol of ties between the lovers. This wedding proposal is actually only a formality. At this moment, both sides would discuss the date of the wedding ceremony, the arrangement, and other matters concerning the ceremony. From this discussion, if it turns out that the woman’s family could not afford to hold the ceremony, then the man’s family would help them. On the contrary, if the man’s family could not afford, then it is up to the decision of the woman’s family (as much as they could afford).

The Wedding Ceremony

The wedding ceremony is the climax or the core of wedding custom. Therefore, the people who holds the ceremony will prepare it carefully and in a special way. The wedding ceremony of the Osing people is the combination of religious ceremony and traditional ceremony. For Moslems, they hold Ijab Khobul ceremony to legalize the marriage according to Moslem laws, then the couple would receive wedding certificate issued by the local office of religion affairs.
Besides those stages, Osing people also has two attractive wedding customs, namely Adu Tumper and Perang Bangkat.

Adu Tumper Wedding Custom

Adu Tumper wedding Custom is held in accordance with the belief of Osing people which prohibit the marriage between lovers who are both the eldest children of their families. If the wedding is still continued, Osing people believe that the couple would face a lot of obstacles in their marriage life. However, if there is a certain reason so that the wedding should go on, then Adu Tumper custom is done at the moment the bride and the groom meet (temon ceremony) in order to avoid unwanted things to happen.

Perang Bangkat Wedding Custom

Perang Bangkat Wedding Custom is also part of the sequence of youngest children’s wedding ceremony. This custom is done if one of the married couple is the youngest child in his or her family, or if both the bride and the groom are the youngest children in their families. Therefore, this custom is not applied to the eldest, second, or other children. Perang Bangkat custom is still maintained by the Osing people at present.

The Traditional Wedding Costumes of Osing people

Talking about the wedding costumes of Osing people is interesting. Similar to other societies, the Osing people have already been influenced by other cultures, because they live in villages not far from Banyuwangi (city). Looking at the phenomenon, many Osing people tend to choose Solo or Yogyakarta (Central Java) style of wedding costumes. Fulfilling their demand, there are make-up artists who have already prepared with those wedding costumes.

Parts of the Osing traditional wedding costumes indicate the combination of the wedding costumes of Javanese, Madurese, Balinese, and people outside Java. The groom wears kupluk (a kind of cap) which is usually worn by Javanese groom. Either the bride or the groom wears accessories such as ankle bracelet, like Madurese women do. The hair accessories worn by the bride are like the ones worn by Balinese dancers. Both the bride and the groom wear sarung pelekat cloth, made of silk from Bugis Makassar or Samarinda. Here we can see that the traditional wedding costumes of the Osing people borrow parts from other cultures.

Other interesting side of Osing wedding costumes is that there are agreements to make some changes to the costumes. Because of certain reason, some people who feel that they are responsible for the culture succeeded in recreating the traditional wedding costumes of Osing people. They recreated the costumes by modifying the previous wedding costumes, such as removing parts which are already old-fashioned, for example: leaving the custom of wearing sunglasses for the wedding couple.

The idea of modifying the teraditional wedding costumes of Osing people in Banyuwangi is a new invention. It is also done to promote one of the Osing culture, that is hand-made batik (a traditional cloth), with the motif called gajah holing. Actually the motivation to modify the costumes is good; however, because of the modification, the unique characteristic of the Osing people as a society with a mixed culture will fade away.

Entry Filed under: East Java News