The Cultural View of North Bali Community towards Ngidih Marriage Reflected from Its Lexicons

TLDR

The lexicons used in North Bali’s ngidih marriage reflect the community’s cultural meanings, linking the bride and groom beyond physical union and involving family, clan, community, local government, and religious witnesses of spirits, humans, and God. The study aimed to determine how the North Bali community’s cultural view is expressed through the lexicons of the ngidih marriage tradition. Using a descriptive qualitative ethnolinguistic design, the researchers conducted the study in North Bali. The analysis uncovered 62 lexicons across the ngidih ritual steps, comprising 11 nouns, 49 action verbs, and 2 adjectives.

Abstract

This study aimed at finding the answer to the question: How does the culture view of the North Bali Community look as seen from the lexicons used in their ngidih marriage tradition?. Conducted in North Bali, this study was designed based on descriptive qualitative research with an ethnolinguistic perspective. The results showed that the whole ritual steps of the ngidih marriage consist of ngluku, mesedek, ngidih, mebiakala, natab kesurya, melukat pebersihan, malehpeh , natab sayut, and ngaturang piuning. Sixty-two lexicons were found in this study. Among them, 11 were categorized into nouns, 49 as verbs of action, and two as adjectives. Spreading over the whole steps of the marriage, all of the lexicons reflect the uniqueness of the community's cultural meanings, that is, the bond of the bridegroom and bride in a marriage is not only a matter of physical and spiritual union but it is also a binding with their cultural attachment, which include the rule of bridegroom's family, clan, traditional community, local government, and the marriage. The marriage is viewed to be complete one only if it has passed sets of rituals which are witnessed by three parties; bhuta saksi (evil spirits witness), manusia saksi (human beings witness), and dewa saksi (God witness) based on Bali Hindu religion.