Sigale-gale samosir: from the sacred to the secular | Sigale-gale samosir: dari yang sakral menjadi sekular

Sigale-gale is a life-sized wooden puppet carved in the likeness of a human male. It is used during burial rituals and in modern Sigale-gale dance performances in the Toba Batak community, Samosir, North Sumatra. The traditional myth of sigale-gale has become folklore which depicts the making of a wooden statue in human form given to Raja Rahat who is ill because his favorite son Manggale died in the battle. The sigale-gale is used by the community as well in funeral ceremonies for the dead who have died childless. In contemporary practice sigale-gale has been reconceived as public performance mostly for tourists. The sigale-gale thus now functions differently socially and culturally, moving from the mythological towards the worldly. The sigale-gale dance was originally only accompanied by the music of sordam but mostly now by a mixed ensemble comprised of taganing, gong, and suling. A performance can include five to seven dancers (panortor). Sigale-gale also vary in size from human dimensions as well as smaller or even bigger. Sigale-gale in its new forms represents an effort to sustain the cultural values of the Toba Batak. Patung sigale-gale terbuat dari kayu yang dipahat menyerupai manusia (laki-laki) digunakan saat ritual pemakaman dan dalam pertunjukan tari sigale-gale baru di masyarakat Batak Toba, Samosir, Sumatera Utara. Mitos keberadaan sigale-gale menjadi folklore yang menceritakan pembuatan patung kayu menyerupai manusia dipersembahkan kepada Raja Rahat yang sakit karena anaknya tewas di medan pertempuran. Sigale-gale digunakan pada upacara kematian yang tidak memiliki keturunan. Dalam perkembangannya, sigale-gale menjadi seni pertunjukan untuk menghibur wisatawan. Fungsi sigale-gale secara sosial budaya menjadi berbeda, yakni dari sakral ke profan. Awalnya sigale-gale hanya diiringi musik Sordam dan Sabangunan, tetapi di masa kini pertunjukan sigale-gale diiringi musik gondang, gong dan suling. Pertunjukan sigale-gale terdapat panortor lima sampai tujuh orang. Ukuran patung sigale-gale bervariasi, ada yang tinggi seukuran manusia ada juga yang memiliki ukuran tubuh lebih kecil ataupun lebih besar. Unsur pertunjukan terdiri dari: Sigale-gale, musik dan tor-tor (tari). Sigale-gale dalam bentuk baru merupakan upaya pelestarian nilai-nilai budaya masyarakat Batak Toba.