Abstract

Indonesia is known as an agricultural country where most people work as farmers, both as primary or part time jobs. Most of those who make farming as their main job are people who live in rural areas and one of them is the Muna community in Barangka District, Southeast Sulawesi. For the Muna in Barangka Subdistrict, farming is not only exploring or manipulating nature but more like their lives, their safety, especially when it comes to corn farming. Related to this rescue, farming corn becomes a tradition of the Muna community in Barangka Subdistrict which has its own ritual called the Kahitela defembula. For centuries, corn has become the staple food of the Muna people. Maintaining corn for the Muna community means maintaining their traditions. Thus, the ritual of cahitela defembula not only functions for the success of the corn harvest, but also their safety in real life. This ritual is led by a person known as special knowledge. This figure is called parika, whose role is to regulate each stage in the ritual of the Kahitela defembula and ensure the safety of the corn plantation owner and all members of his family. This paper aims to answer the question of what ideologies lie in the ritual of the cahitella defembula which was maintained by the people of Muna in Barangka District for centuries. This paper applies field observations to meet with Parika and corn garden owners directly to collect key data to explore the ideology behind the practice of the cahitela defembula in Barangka District