RITUAL KREMASI ETNIS TIONGHOA DI RUMAH DUKA RUMBAI PEKANBARU

Abstract

Death is a thing that can not be rejected, but death is fear by everyone. Generally,the
Tionghoa belief is based on the belief that the world of people's life is a reflection of the
universe. Any death that happens to a family member of the heir or any other family member
will perform a death ritual as a form of last respects. The death ceremony in this Tionghoa
community can be done by being buried or cremated.
Cremation is the application of the release of the corpse by burning. This ceremony is done
at the heirs home or in the house of grief which held by a foundation. In addition, this funeral
with a cremation is not only done by ethnic Tionghoa who are Buddhists. Tionghoa Ethnic
who are Catholic, Christians also perform the funeral ceremony by means of cremation. For
that researchers tried to address how the implementation procedure of the cremation
ceremony. The results showed that the implementation of cremation rituals through several
stages: (1) Family meetings attended by close family. This meeting was conducted to find a
mutual agreement on where the corpse was located, the length of the body was held and the
election of a good day for each ceremony process. (2) Preparation by the family in the form
of cleaning the body, wearing clothes on the corpse and some offerings. (3) Preparation by
the funeral home in the form of room decoration, (4) Ceremony before entering the crate. (5)
The end of the deceased. (6) Tutu ceremony crate. (7) Funeral / cremation ceremony. (8)
Taking ashes made one day after the cremation ceremony. This cremation ceremony is
performed in order to fulfill the last request of the deceased or a hereditary tradition that is
believed in the community group itself. In addition there are several factors behind the
cremation ceremony conducted on the community itself, one of the main factors is the
economic factor.
Keywords: Ritual, Cremation, Tionghoa