Nitidiharjo

This humble figure who lives in Blubuk Hamlet, Sendangsari Village, Kapanewon Pangasih, KuIon Progo Regency is fondly called by the name 'Mbah Niti'. In her daily life, Niti Diharjo works like most residents in Blubuk Hamlet who spends her time working on fertile paddy fields and gardens. Apart from working as a farmer, Niti Diharjo has other activities that he is passionate about and is not carried out by most of the other community members in the Blubuk area. This activity is his effort to care for the burial of the tomb of Cakrajaya or Sunan Geseng and carry out the well-known curse tradition, especially in the Kulon Progo region (Yudha, 2020).

Daiam understands this increasingly dynamic life, Niti Diharjo admits that he remains optimistic that Javanese traditions can adapt to the various developments that have taken place. Niti Diharjo believes that the values and traditions of life as a 'Javanese' whose knowledge was obtained from his father and grandfather are able to survive, remain sustainable, and adaptive (limes) to the progress of the times. With this idea, the figure of Niti Diharjo was later approached by many young people in his area. The next generation wishes to be able to continue Niti Diharjo's struggle in advancing Javanese cultural values and traditions in their region.

Niti Diharjo's special profession as caretaker of Sunan Geseng's remains and leader of the curse tradition was obtained from his father, Muh Amat Semangun. His father is said to have inherited as caretaker and bearer of the curse tradition from Niti Diharjo's grandfather named Nowawi (died 1948). Meanwhile, Nowawi also took it from his father named Simbarwarya —Niti Diharjo's great-grandfather (Athoillah, 2020). From generation to generation, based on the family's memory, Niti Diharjo is the fourth generation in her extended family who takes care of the preservation of Sunan Geseng's petilasan and maintains the routine implementation of the curse tradition every year.

In the beliefs of the Blubuk people, it is known from generation to generation that the area around their dukuh was once used for meetings between Cakrajaya, who in his daily work worked as a tapper for coconut sap, and his great teacher, Sunan Kalijaga. The community believed the story told that Sunan Geseng had carried out his teacher's orders to meditate in the area they lived in—later known as the Blubuk Village. According to the Guiana story, Sunan Kalijaga then approached Cakrajaya who was in meditation and because it had been so long, the location used for meditation had become a forest. To find Cakrajaya, Sunan Kalijaga was forced to burn the forest so that Cakrajaya's body, who was in meditation, could be seen. Because of the burning, Cakrajaya's body looked a bit blackish as if it had been scorched by the heat of the coals, clouds of smoke, and bursts of flames. Because of that, Cakrajaya was later called Sunan Geseng or a sunan with a slightly darker body - a charred body. Meanwhile, the remaining land that is burned makes a lot of ashes scattered, or in Javanese terms it is called mblubuk. Based on this story, the area became known as the Blubuk Village.

The existence of Sunan Geseng's legacy with all the stories of his character for the people of Blubuk Village is understood as the presence of a symbol of harmony between -values, symbols and life practices - between Islam and Java. They preserved 'local knowledge' of the existence of the site and the symbolism of Cakrajaya's character through a traditional ritual called a curse - because the main dish is to use snakehead fish (iwak curse) which is believed to be Cakrajaya's favorite food.

The character of Cakrajaya or Sunan Geseng with his teacher, namely Sunan Kalijaga in the view of Mbah Niti and generally the people in Blubuk Hamlet are understood as something that has a sacred meaning. They mutually agreed to maintain their belief by preserving the ritual of telling the 'sacred story' of Cakrajaya's study to the great wall of the Land of Java. This narrative story was usually carried out by Niti Diharjo's ancestors for generations on Wage Friday after the rainy season rice harvest (harvest of prey rendeng). The story telling was carried out after the Blubuk people and pilgrims from various regions, both from around Kulon Progo and outside the Special Region of Yogyakarta, made pilgrimages to the Sunan Geseng shrine. Those who were present to listen to Cakrajaya's story were treated to a rice dish with a side dish of cured fish.

For Niti Diharjo, by continuing to preserve the legacy of Sunan Geseng and the tradition of curses, she and the people in the Blubuk hamlet are also part of the Javanese community which continues to care for the concept of Islamic-Javanese harmony. The effort to preserve both the Sunan Geseng relics and the curse tradition was understood by Niti Diha

Persiapan Kirab
Persiapan Kirab
Upacara Adat Kutukan Layak
Upacara Adat Kutukan Layak
Gelar Kirab Budaya
Gelar Kirab Budaya
Nitidiharjo
Nitidiharjo

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