The relationship between God, nature and society among Tengger people at Tengger highland, East Java Indonesia is expressed in Kasodo ceremony. From the tourism perspectives, Kasodo is one of the Indonesia’s best tourism attractions, and many domestic and international tourists entertained Tenggerese culture and the beautiful landscape of Mt. Bromo - Tengger Caldera (BTC). While Kasodo becomes an important tourism event, there are few studies related to the relationships of the ceremony, tourism and BTC conservation. Most of the scholars attention to Kasodo addressed the socio-religion and anthropological perspectives. The aim of the research is to examine some of the dynamic complex of the Kasodo, tourism, local people and the perspectives of ecosystem conservation to ensure sustainability of Tenggerese community and tourism industry. Semi structured interviews and questionnaires were employed to explore Tenggerese perspectives toward Kasodo, tourism and BTC conservation issues. Our findings show that Kasodo is an important part for Tenggerese to reflect their thankfulness, and it should be conserved to ensure the Tenggerese culture sustainability. The dependency of Tenggerese to BTC was high, mainly for Kasodo ceremony. According to Tenggerese, tourism should be managed to ensure the sacredness of the ceremony than nature conservation issues. However, less attention and participation for BTC conservation among Tenggerese should become the main issues of discussion to draw the conclusion, both for national park authorities and local government. Hence, Kasodo, tourism and nature conservation should be viewed integrally, particularly to the regional planning policy to ensure sustainable society.
The main festival of the Tenggerese is the Yadnya Kasada, which lasts about a month. On the fourteenth day of the Kasada, the Tenggerese go to Poten Bromo and ask for blessing from the main deity Hyang Widi Wasa and the God of the Mountain (Mount Serumu) by presenting annual offerings of rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers, livestock and other local produce. They will also see the examination of the medicine men memorizing prayers. The medicine man who passes the exam is decided to be spiritual leader of Tengger tribe.
The origin of this festival is a legend which dates back to the Majapahit kingdom, during the reign of King Brawijaya, involving the queen of the Kingdom giving birth to a daughter named Roro Anteng, who married Jaka Seger, a young man from the Brahmin Caste.
According to the legend, Roro Anteng and Jaka Seger were among many others who fled from the already tattering Majapahit kingdom during the 15th century, when the Islamic religion was gaining followers rapidly. The couple later settled in the Tengger mountains and ruled the region jointly under the title Purbawisesa Mangkurat Ing Tengger.
For a few years the Tenggerese people flourished under the leadership of Jaka Seger and Roro Anteng, yet the king and queen were unhappy for they had no children. Desperate, they decided to climb to the top of Mt. Bromo and pray for help. Deeply moved by the couple's depth of his faith, the god of Mt. Bromo assured them of offspring but with the condition that the youngest child be sacrificed in the crater of the volcano. After giving birth to 25 children, the time came for Roro Anteng and to fulfil her part of the pledge. Although they were reluctant, they were threatened with catastrophe, forcing them to futfil their pledge and complying the god's wishes, they have no choice but to sacrifice their 25th child, Kesuma, by throwing him into the crater.
The main festival of the Tenggerese is the Yadnya Kasada, which lasts about a month. On the fourteenth day of the Kasada, the Tenggerese go to Poten Bromo and ask for blessing from the main deity Hyang Widi Wasa and the God of the Mountain (Mount Serumu) by presenting annual offerings of rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers, livestock and other local produce. They will also see the examination of the medicine men memorizing prayers. The medicine man who passes the exam is decided to be spiritual leader of Tengger tribe.
The origin of this festival is a legend which dates back to the Majapahit kingdom, during the reign of King Brawijaya, involving the queen of the Kingdom giving birth to a daughter named Roro Anteng, who married Jaka Seger, a young man from the Brahmin Caste.
According to the legend, Roro Anteng and Jaka Seger were among many others who fled from the already tattering Majapahit kingdom during the 15th century, when the Islamic religion was gaining followers rapidly. The couple later settled in the Tengger mountains and ruled the region jointly under the title Purbawisesa Mangkurat Ing Tengger.
For a few years the Tenggerese people flourished under the leadership of Jaka Seger and Roro Anteng, yet the king and queen were unhappy for they had no children. Desperate, they decided to climb to the top of Mt. Bromo and pray for help. Deeply moved by the couple's depth of his faith, the god of Mt. Bromo assured them of offspring but with the condition that the youngest child be sacrificed in the crater of the volcano. After giving birth to 25 children, the time came for Roro Anteng and to fulfil her part of the pledge. Although they were reluctant, they were threatened with catastrophe, forcing them to futfil their pledge and complying the god's wishes, they have no choice but to sacrifice their 25th child, Kesuma, by throwing him into the crater.