Name : Suciati Ningrum

NIM : 2201417045
Class : English Education 303
Culture Change in Tlogorejo Village

Culture change is a term used in public policy making that emphasizes the influence of
cultural capital on individual and community behavior. It has been sometimes called repositioning
of culture, which means the reconstruction of the cultural concept of a society (Uchendu Eugene,
2015). This cultural change can mean the loss of existing culture or the emergence of new cultures
in society. It happens because people try to adapt to the times. If they don't adapt to this modern
era, their culture will become extinct.

In Tlogorejo village, Grobogan, Central Java, there is a culture that appears because of the
times and there is a culture that has been left behind or no longer done. These cultures are usually
done in fasting month or Ramadan and Eid. They are parade at night of takbir and ater-ater. The
first is parade at night of takbir. Based on Cambridge Dictionary definition, the parade is a large
number of people walking or in vehicles, often wear costume, all going in the same direction,
usually as part of a public celebration of something. In Indonesia, parade at night of takbir is the
parade that brought various kinds of large puppets that were brought together and accompanied by
many people while shouting takbir. Around twenty years ago, in Tlogorejo village, that activity
did not exist when they held the night of takbir. People celebrated takbir nights in mosques and
they used torches for lighting. Just a few people that had electricity in their house and they lack of
information because not many people have television at that time. But now, every year people in
Tlogorejo always do parade at the night of takbir. Every mosque in Tlogorejo at least makes one
puppet and the design of the puppet also develop. The people who made the puppets were not just
mosque keepers but all the men in the mosque. If a couple years ago the design was always the
illustration of bedug or ketupat now it becomes more variable. There are figure of elephant, hand
phone, train, tree, etc. It is getting better now because it is used as a race and the most interesting
puppets will get prizes. This activity also make a sense of family relation between the society.
 The second is ater-ater. Ater means send. Ater-ater is sending food or sharing food to our
family and neighbors as a form of gratitude for being able to feel Ramadan and Eid in that year.
Ater-ater is usually done in the days of the last 10 days of Ramadan until the morning when Eid.
The food provided is chicken opor and lodeh along with white rice which is included in the basket.
But, unfortunately, this habit is rarely done now. It is because Tlogorejo’s people think that that
wastes time. At the end of the month of Ramadan they choose to spend time cleaning the house
and shopping. As the time goes by, this modern era also makes people more individual. It can be
concluded as individualism. Steven M. Lukes in his article says that individualism is political and
social philosophy that emphasizes individual moral values and interests. People in this era, start
not to care about surroundings. As the result, some good cultures such as ater-ater is almost gone.

In conclusion, the change of culture can give negative and positive effect to the society.
However, all of the changes show that the cultures try to survive in this era. People sometimes
have to leave their habits or culture because it is not suitable for now or they also make a new
culture, even give a kind of assimilation to the old culture so it can be done until now.