Inheriting System as an Effort to Maintain the Local Culture

Abstract

Calengsai is a traditional art collaborating calung, lengger, and barongsai. Calung lengger is a traditional art from Banyumas, while barongsai is from China. This collaboration was driven by both communities' intense interactions. Calung lengger and barongsai have experienced ups and downs through time. Each has been in its glorious moment in a certain period. Calengsai has also begun to experience ups and downs due to the development of science and technology that the entertainments either from home or foreign country are considered more attractive than the existing traditional arts. The existence of communities greatly influences the existence of their traditional arts. The decreasing traditional arts may be caused by their own communities, especially related to the needs of communities whether or not they still want to maintain their traditional arts. Traditional arts may be continuously survived and developed by their own awareness, one of them, by passing them down to the next generations. There are two types of inheriting systems: vertical and horizontal transmission (Berry, 1999) closely related to the cultural and religious values implied in the local wisdom of each region/community.