PERAYAAN MILANGKALA DI TATAR SUNDA

KONSTRUKSI HISTORIS, SIMBOL KEKUASAAN, DAN EDUKASI PUBLIK DALAM PERSPEKTIF HISTORIOGRAFI KULTURAL

Abstrak

Perayaan milangkala (hari jadi) kabupaten/kota di Tatar Sunda sering kali dipandang sebatas festival budaya tahunan yang bersifat seremonial. Padahal, di balik kemegahan ritus tersebut, terdapat kontestasi memori, penegasan legitimasi politik, dan transmisi nilai-nilai pedagogis. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis perayaan Milangkala Tatar Sunda melalui tiga pisau analisis: konstruksi historis penentuan hari jadi, artikulasi simbol kekuasaan elit, dan fungsinya sebagai media edukasi publik. Menggunakan metode sejarah kritis yang dikombinasikan dengan pendekatan historiografi kultural dan semiotika, penelitian ini melacak bagaimana narasi sejarah lokal diproduksi, direproduksi, dan dikonsumsi oleh masyarakat modern. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa: (1) Konstruksi historis hari jadi di Tatar Sunda mayoritas bersandar pada mitopoetik babad atau legitimasi piagam kolonial yang mengalami proses "penyucian" sejarah; (2) Simbol kekuasaan bermanifestasi dalam tata rupa prosesi adat (seperti kirab pataka dan helaran) yang berfungsi memperkuat hegemoni politik elit lokal; dan (3) Rangkaian milangkala belum sepenuhnya optimal menjadi ruang edukasi publik yang kritis, melainkan lebih dominan sebagai komodifikasi budaya berbasis pariwisata. Kebaruan penelitian ini terletak pada dekonstruksi terhadap perayaan milangkala yang selama ini dianggap taken for granted, dengan menyingkap bagaimana memori kolektif dikelola oleh kekuasaan sebagai instrumen integrasi sosial sekaligus pelanggengan status quo.

The anniversary celebrations of regencies/cities in Tatar Sunda (the Sundanese region) are often perceived merely as annual ceremonial cultural festivals. Yet, behind the grandeur of these rites, there lie contests of memory, assertions of political legitimacy, and transmissions of pedagogical values. This research aims to analyze the Tatar Sunda anniversary celebrations through three analytical lenses: the historical construction of the determination of the anniversary date, the articulation of symbols of elite power, and their function as a medium for public education. Employing a critical historical method combined with a cultural historiography approach and semiotics, this study traces how local historical narratives are produced, reproduced, and consumed by modern society. The findings reveal that: (1) The historical construction of anniversary dates in Tatar Sunda largely relies on the mythopoetics of babad (chronicles) or the legitimation of colonial charters that have undergone a process of historical "sanctification"; (2) Symbols of power manifest in the visual arrangements of customary processions (such as kirab pataka [flags/standards procession] and helaran [parades]) that function to reinforce the political hegemony of local elites; and (3) The series of anniversary events have not yet been fully optimized as a space for critical public education, but rather dominate as a tourism-based commodification of culture. The novelty of this research lies in its deconstruction of anniversary celebrations that have long been taken for granted, by revealing how collective memory is managed by power as an instrument of social integration while simultaneously perpetuating the status quo.