Representation of Life Philosophy through the Sekapur Sirih Symbol
in the Implementation of Gawai Dayak Ritual in West Kalimantan
Herlina Herlina, Andayani Andayani, Herman J. Waluyo and Budhi Setiawan
Department of Indonesian Language, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sebelas Maret University of Indonesia
Keywords: Representation, Life Philosophy, Gawai Dayak Ritual, Symbols, Sekapur Sirih.
Abstract: The research background is the researcher’s interest in the strong character of the Dayak tribe in West
Kalimantan. The Dayak tribe is one of tribe that is known for their uniqueness, perseverance and obedience
holding and carrying on traditions derived from their ancestors. One of the traditions that is still practiced
today is the Gawai Dayak ritual. At the implementation of the Dayak Gawai ritual, there is one offering that
was always used, namely sekapur sirih. The research is aimed at reviewing the philosophical meaning of
sekapur sirih and how this philosophy works in Dayak life generally in West Kalimantan. This research used
a descriptive qualitative method with pragmatic semiotics approach. The data were taken from Gawai Dayak
ritual using observation and recording techniques. The research results indicated that generally the use of
sekapur sirih symbols represented philosophy in establishing social relations that must be accompanied by
binding ethic and rules.
1 INTRODUCTION
Dayak tribe was known have a strong cultural
tradition, one of the various forms of Dayak culture is
ritual form (Thomson, 2000). Some of these ritual
forms are still performed today one of them is Dayak
Gawai ritual. The Dayak Gawai ritual is a ritual was
performed to express gratitude for the overflow of
rice crops by the Dayak people. Way or the media to
show gratitude in the Dayaks in West Kalimantan was
dominated by the use of different symbols. According
to Bogdanovic (2013) that the presence of any object
which is symbolic can be reconstructed by the value
contained therein, both from nature and from
everything that is abstract.
Every use of a particular symbol has the ability to
represent everything that is representative, but does
not describe a phenomenon directly (hidden)
(Zhirenov et al., 2016). According to Sebeok and
Danesi (in Iskandar et al., 2016) representation as the
use of signs (images, sounds and so on) to connect,
describe, photograph and produce something that is
seen, sensed, imagined or perceived in a particular
physical form. In this case, Sebeok and Danesi (2000)
see representation as something that has the capacity
to refer to the world. The representation of the
language (verbal and non-verbal language and
symbols belonging to non-verbal languages) is an
explicit model of its object, while Sebeok and Danesi
(2000) describe that the representation is reveals how
the human brain carries out its work of transforming
sensory knowing into conceptual knowing. Ornelas
(2012) was illustrated that the use of Beo birds on the
Murai paintings was illustrated that the life concepts
of Maya and Altiplano communities used bird science
perspectives. This case was provided insight to
Ornelos that case of images (birds) and the context
was provided sufficient evidence to indicate the
existence of a symbolic relationship with the concepts
of life, fertility, movement and temporality of the
community.
In some places, sekapur sirih is a ritual
equipment. Hisyam with the research object of
Kapongo ritual, the tradition of offer the offerings, in
the form of betel, areca, and lime to the Pue (Hisyam,
2015). This ritual was performed by the people in
Central Sulawesi. Lubis and Khasiah’s research
(2016) was stated that among in the Minang people,
betel is a sacred leaf that is believed to launch an
event, sekapur sirih (betel and lime) used accompany
mamak and urang sumando (brother-in-law) to pick
up the groom to live in his wife’s family. Researchers
see that this way as an expression that contains an
ethics in communicating. This indicates that the
meaning of sekapur sirih as a non-verbal language
576
Herlina, H., Andayani, A., Waluyo, H. and Setiawan, B.
Representation of Life Philosophy through the Sekapur Sirih Symbol in the Implementation of Gawai Dayak Ritual in West Kalimantan.
DOI: 10.5220/0007171205760579
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 576-579
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

used when carrying out the Gawai Dayak ritual is an
explicit model of the pattern of life, including the
Dayak philosophy of the people in general. Physical
and the nature of the whiteboard is able to provide a
picture or able to radiate everything so that it can
function like a mirror in dialoguing how lifestyle
adopted by the Dayak community in general to the
wider community.
Through this research, researchers want to see
how the use of the sekapur sirih symbol represented
the philosophy embraced in the social life of Dayak
community in West Kalimantan. Given the research
on this object on the implementation of Dayak Gawai
ritual has not been studied separately from other
symbols.
2 THE SYMBOLS AND DAYAK
GAWAI RITUALS
Symbol is a sign based on convention, regulation, or
agreement mutually agreed (Tinarbuko, 2003), while
Geertz (1973) was stated that the symbol used for
each object. The importance of symbol understanding
was confirmed by the Putra (2010) that to prevent
clashes between tribes, need a thorough
understanding of how to live and understand every
used symbol. Understanding of the symbols is of
course motivated that each symbol has a certain
meaning and purpose, as the description of Turner (in
Dolgin, 1977, p.190) stated that each symbols store
information.
All of processes in the ritual implementation will
always filled with symbols. Magiman and Yatim
(2012) were stated that the symbol in the Makan
Tahun ritual (rice harvest rituals of Dayak Kanayan
in Sarawak) served as a marker of gratitude. The
variety symbols were used, in the form words, goods
(in the form of everything can be seen and touched),
and the symbol in the form of the supernatural -
symbols, i.e. symbols in the form of objects cannot be
detected by ordinary senses and magical nature
(Sukatman, 2012).
The nature of ritual performance Gawai Dayak /
Naik Dango is as an expression of gratitude for the
Dayak community to Jubata on the harvest which
they have acquired (Dodo et al., 2016). In line with
the description of the Dodo, et al, also described by
Turyati (2015) as a form of gratitude to Ne’ Jubata
(Creator) on results that have been received by a
farmer who get rice abundant, is one way to show
gratitude and feeling indebted their mind to God
(Magiman and Yatim, 2012). Similar rituals were also
carried out by villagers from Polaman, Lawang, East
Java. The term used to name this ritual is Wiwitan, a
ritual performed as a form of gratitude to God YME
over a fertile and abundant rice harvest. In addition,
as an application for the harvest process can be done
smoothly (Damayanti et al., 2017).
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research method was used descriptive qualitative
method used pragmatic semiotics approach. Cruse
(2006) reveals that the main topic of pragmatics is the
meaning aspect that depends on the context, while
Kondoahi was believed that pragmatic semiotics is a
study that reviewed the relation of sign and their users
(2013). The data sources are the sekapur sirih
symbols were used during the implementation of
Dayak Gawai ritual, while the research data is the
Gawai Dayak ritual. The research steps are including
of data collection, data reduction, data classification,
data exposure, and conclusions drawing.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The use of sekapur sirih in the Dayak Gawai ritual
was used alongside other offerings when the prayer
readings are delivered by Panyangahatn. The main
ingredient that must exist when making sekapur sirih
is the betel leaf. Betel is a wrapper of all other
ingredients. Therefore, betel leaf plays a main
ingredient beside other ingredients. Viewed from the
way of growth, betel is the vines or creeping plants,
despite growing by pad spread to other plants, betel
plant does not damage the host plants. Therefore, its
presence in other plants is not destructive, nor does its
height exceed the height of its support plant. The
nature that always grows by riding on other plants
cause this plant does not grow high by itself, but is
assisted by its supporting plants.
This creeping nature of this plant was symbolized
that in social life Dayaks people tend to be humble,
quick to mix or tend to adapt quickly when meeting
new people and environment, and generally Dayaks
people do not seem to stand out for people who others
around. The self-effacing attitude of others is seen
from the height of this plant that never exceeds the
height of its support plant. Therefore, in the life of
society, there rarely seen one party that is very
prominent when compared with other party.
Other natures that exist in the betel plant are not
damaging the plant it serves. The nature that does not
Representation of Life Philosophy through the Sekapur Sirih Symbol in the Implementation of Gawai Dayak Ritual in West Kalimantan
577

damage other plants means that the Dayaks people are
not a group of people who have destructive nature. It
was related to the concept of Dayak tribal belief that
in this world there is a land above the sky, the land
below and the land of the spirits. The countries in
question were inhabited and guarded by certain
creatures. Therefore, everything in the world has
rules, including when will opens agricultural land
because it was related to ethics when it comes to
contact with inhabitants of other nature.
The support of betel plants implicitly means that
generally Dayaks people tend to help each other, seen
from the process of clearing the land (field) to the
final stage of workmanship. When opening the land,
the Dayak people are still familiar with the mutual
cooperation system. In addition to betel, other
supplies are areca nut. Areca is one plant that grows
tall, straight, un-branched and not including plants
that have large size trees; however, the areca is known
as a fruitful tree and has an astringent sense.
Straight branches of the tree depict the social life
patterns of the Dayak people who are virtuous and
live simply. Simply life was reflected in the state of a
tree that has no branches and is more giving. In this
case, albeit living in simplicity, the noble minds form
the Dayaks people’s lifestyle to caring rather than
receive. The astringent senses but still used as a
complementary ingredient of the sekapur sirih
illustrated that despite experiencing bitter life, this
does not dampen the determination and spirit of the
Dayaks people to survive.
The next ingredient is gambier. The meaning of
gambier was based on the taste and colour of the
gambier. Black and slightly bitter is one of the
characteristics of the gambier marker. Bitter taste
symbolizes firmness while black symbolizes
bitterness and misery of life. The overall meaning that
comes with the presence of bitter taste and black
colour attached to the gambier is generally the
Dayaks realize that life is filled with various
sufferings, but the agony of life causes a belief and
motivation to stay and live.
The next ingredient is lime. The meaning of lime
was based on the texture and colour. Lime is known
to have a soft texture and white colour. The white
colour in lime symbolizes the Dayak character that
basically puts sincerity when interacting, while the
soft texture symbolizes the tenderness of the heart.
Seen from its function, namely to redden the colour
of betel, this symbolizes that behind the sincerity and
tenderness of Dayaks character, also contains the
courage meaning. This has implications for the way
of life of Dayaks people who are not afraid of facing
obstacles when they respond with nature to meet their
daily needs and are not afraid of dangers when their
tribe is disturbed by other tribal injustices. Therefore,
this tribe is known abstinence to disturb the lives of
other tribes as long as they were not disturbed and
never step back if they feel threatened.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Sekapur sirih in the daily life of the Dayak tribe are
generally used as hospitable and friendly signs. In a
hospitality, there are ethics and rules hold on for
interacting and undergoing daily life. The
philosophical representation of the use of sekapur
sirih is that hospitality are interwoven framed with
sincerity, simplicity, love peace, noble character,
more love to give than to receive, and always ready
with all the misery and suffering of life, and well-
known as a tribe that does not disturb the life of
another tribe but never run when their safety was
threatened.
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