Know the culture of Indonesia through folklore

Regional culture is a nation's wealth that needs to be given special attention, especially when talking about preservation and introducing it to children. Introducing culture to young people, especially children, is done in various ways, one of them through folklore books.

As expressed by the artist and puppet master puppet from Tegal, Central Java, Ki Anton Surono, folklore is a picture of the identity of the community that tells the history of one local culture.

Through folklore, the public will know much about the cultural roots of each occupied area, such as knowing the history or the cause of an adat law, the background of a traditional ritual, and the local wisdom prevailing in a region.

For example, from folklore from West Java, entitled Sangkuriang which tells the story of a forbidden love between a mother, Princess Dayang Sumbi, and his son, Sangkuriang. This story occurs due to ignorance Sangkuriang who want to marry women who turned out to be his own mother.

Dayang Sumbi who eventually find out that the man who fell in love with him is his own child also gives a condition to Sangkuriang if you want his love accepted, ie stem the river Citarum and make a big boat only in one night, before dawn arrived.

After removing all his capabilities to mobilize his friends from the genie to help complete the task, but Sangkuriang still fail to complete his mission. Feeling annoyed that he failed, Sangkuriang kicked the boat he was making upside down. This is what then became the forerunner to Mount Tangkuban Perahu which still attracts tourists to this day.

Apart from the Sangkuriang story, there is also Malin Kundang story from West Sumatra which is still used by parents to teach the courtesy and respect for the parents to their children.

More than just a respect for parents, from Malin Kundang story we can know that the habit of wandering was already in the blood of Minang people since the first. Minang people are famous as people who like to wander for success and this habit is actually passed down from generation to generation. This can be seen from the number of Minang restaurants spread across various regions of the archipelago, as well as abroad.

Light folklore like this you can use as a tool to introduce the richness of Indonesian culture to the children at home. In addition to taking life lessons from these stories, using folklore as a reading material for children can also be one way to help preserve Indonesian culture.

You can intervene further to preserve Indonesian culture by helping to distribute children's books containing stories about culture, history, and general knowledge to areas with limited access through book donations.

Choose a truly trustworthy donation program to channel your donations to the right people, such as the #BukuUntuk Indonesia movement. Movement #BukuUntukIndonesia helps channel children's books, one of them is a book fairy tale archipelago, national and world history, as well as general knowledge books to 60 point areas in Indonesia, such as Jeneponto, Gunung Kidul, until Manokwari.

The donations you provide through this link will be very meaningful to the children in remote areas who may have never heard the story of the origin of Mount Tangkuban Perahu or the Timun Mas story. Help Indonesian children to get to know their folklore through the donation movement