Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Dragon village cultural attractions, live with nature
- The people of Kampung Naga choose a simple life without electricity and without gas stoves until now. The reason, because they obeyed the commandments of their ancestors.
- They choose traditional life because they think that changing times often lead to wrath.
- Nowadays, as the COVID-19 pandemic hits lives, the way they live is what city people dream of.
The pandemic is indeed testing the human body's power. And Kampung Naga reminds that humans are losing their future if they don't stop consuming energy that pollutes the air, continue to clear forests for economic purposes, and don't immediately do what we should do to prevent the earth's temperature from rising due to pollution from human activities.
Residents of Naga Village, Neglasari Village, Salawu District, Tasikmalaya Regency, West Java, grew up with fairy tales. Through light stories that are attached to the advice, the people of Naga stand firm on the commandments of their ancestors. From fairy tales, it seems, it can also be seen why they chose a simple life without electricity and without gas stoves until today.
The progress of civilization, is known to have robbed modern humans of sleep, due to light and electricity technology to keep the night bright. The presence of the lamp is also one of the causes of people changing their view of time.
According to the book "Why We Sleep", Matthew Walker points out that lack of sleep makes people unhealthy. Lights make the working hours of modern humans change, especially in urban areas, to be longer. The impact is that they sleep less than an hour and a half compared to ancient humans, who slept 7 to 6 hours.
Matthew Walker, researched the subject of sleep for more than 20 years. He observed the state of the brain of humans who slept under 4 hours, or 4-6 hours, and those who slept an average of 8 hours a night. He connected the research data with many things, such as the level of intelligence, accidents to health.
Because sleep is so important in the human life cycle, Matthew Walker, advises governments in any country to pay attention to the sleep needs of their citizens. Economic progress, which causes more urban dwellers to wake up due to busyness and traffic jams, is a catastrophe for mankind.
In Kampung Naga, sleeping late is meaningless, because the people here go to bed early, and enjoy their sleep in an atmosphere without lights. then they wake up faster too, it has become a habit in this village.
Kampung Naga is inhabited by 300 people, here it is very easy to find old people with fresh physiques. It could be because you are used to getting enough sleep. At first glance, the typical village atmosphere shows that residents enjoy traditional life in harmony with the authenticity of nature in the hills and upstream of the river. They obey the boundaries that have been determined by their ancestors, both natural and artificial boundaries.
The spatial arrangement with the contours of the valley on the outskirts of the Ciwulan River whose springs originate from Mount Cikuray is so neatly arranged. The village space is divided into three zones:
Sacred Zone
The "holy" area is in the forest west of the settlement called Bukit Naga, as well as a protected forest area (leuweung prohibition).
Clean Zone
In the clean area, there are 120 houses and several traditional buildings.
Dirty Zone
Meanwhile, the dirty area is given a bamboo screen as a place for the residents to do their daily activities.
"The division is a form that we live with nature, not living in nature,". The residents of Kampung Naga have never been flooded even though they live on the riverbank, have never experienced a landslide even though they live on a hillside.
Kampung Naga should not be expanded or expanded, even though the population here is increasing. So some of them had to move out. Even so, residents who are outside and inside the village, they call "Sa Naga", meaning, a village of Naga, as traditional as Naga. And the people of Sa Naga are known to be very obedient to tradition.
The mechanism for maintaining ancestral customs is obtained from oral stories and myths or pamali (prohibition/taboo). The shape of the pamali house touches the ground and requires a stage. This is in line with the life balance pattern of the Sundanese people. Where implied guidance must be in harmony between vertical relationships (self-interaction with God) with horizontal relationships (self-interaction with fellow creatures and nature).
This manifestation is so visible in the building of the house. Describes how simple and adaptable Sundanese people are. And, it turns out, the shape of the bamboo-walled stilt house is rationally healthy because the hole between the ground and the floor functions to regulate the temperature and humidity of the air. In addition, it has a function to withstand earthquake vibrations.
The roof is made of fibers because the tile is not allowed by the Naga ancestors. All houses are the same size, which is 5 x 8 meters, facing both directions, south and north. The shape of the roof is all two-way, there can be no three-way. This is one side of the life of the Naga residents in carrying out the leuhur decree, "So simplicity makes the residents here peaceful, there is no competition in life and helping each other,".
The value of obedience
What is contained in the ancestral rules are actually aspects related to the guidance of a sustainable and balanced life. This was proven when the pandemic hit life, it was obedience to customs that saved the residents of Kampung Naga.