The Ritual of Hunting Deer within People of Kluet in South Aceh, Indonesia

Hunting deer as a ritual referred to the activity of hunting by people with the help of dogs and it was leaded by a Pawang (leader of hunting group possessing magical skills). The objectives of this research were to describe and to analyse this ritual within the people of Kluet Tengah in South Aceh. The study was conveyed by using qualitative approach, which meant that the researcher held the field study for the sake of data. The instruments used were observation and deep interview to the participants, who were Pawang, the elders, experienced people, and people involving in the rituals. Qualitative analysis included eliminating the irrelevant data, data display, and data verification. The result indicated that the ritual was still frequently held by the people, mainly for celebrating Islamic holidays. There were prohibitions during the rituals that must be avoided to prevent bad luck and to prevent bad effect from the magical spells used within the ritual. People said that deer had keepers by means of supernatural creatures that possessed ability to making harm for the people disturbing the deer. Thus, the ritual of hunting deer must be held by considering proper timing along with certain rituals as a way to ask permission of the keeper. The rituals of asking permission were including burning keumenyan (incense), casting specific spells, and tracing the deer’s trail. The meat of captivated animals then was distributed for people evenly, without considering the participation on the rituals.