Crafting New Rituals Through Interrituality: A Community Case from Malang, Indonesia
Keywords:
Water conservation, ritual, cultureAbstract
This article examines how a citizen group in East Java, Hurip Hurup Handarbeni (H3), designs “new rituals” to care for local springs. We use “new ritual” to mean a community-built ceremony that recombines familiar symbols and steps and turns environmental aims into clear, shared rules of conduct. Building on the idea of interrituality, the blending of elements from different ritual repertoires, we show how H3 joins Javanese processions, multi-faith prayer, and civic/disaster signage to make water care visible and actionable at Sumber Wutah. The study draws on seven months of ethnographic, including participant observation and in-depth interviews. Findings indicate that the ritual script does more than raise awareness: it widens participation (officials, elders, youth, visitors), encodes simple rules through color-wrapped trees and banners (“quiet area,” “soap-free,” extraction etiquette), and supports ongoing site maintenance between events. Conceptually, the case clarifies how performance and interrituality can give grassroots initiatives moral authority without large budgets. Practically, it offers a portable template, clear route, cues, and signs that other communities can adapt to protect small water sources. We conclude that carefully crafted ritual can translate cultural heritage into everyday stewardship and help coordinate behavior at sensitive ecological sites.
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