Folklores stories have always held a special position in our hearts. Many of us experience those warm childhood memories about bedtime stories that are filled with morals, wisdom, and local values. Folklore serves as entertainment to children as well and lets them learn more about the local values that come from our ancestors. Folklores are also important to educate children and strengthen their bond with each other as well.
Folklore is also recommended by teachers as an aspect of ethical learning for children. According to Blyznyuk and Nafalska (2017), they claim that introducing folklore into the learning environment can help students meet academic goals and objectives. This is because arts and culture programs in the classroom have been shown to boost student self-esteem, exposing instructors to new teaching methods that adapt to different learning styles, and engage parents and family members more actively in their children’s education.
Folklore also tries to promote humanity in cultures and secure their survival by teaching children to admire and value nature. Folktales also serve an important role in preserving and expressing cultural traditions to future generations to come. Folktales also qualify as literary works that contain specific details on the social norms of the time they were written.
Folklore is a tale that is told generation by generation to preserve the stories and contains morals that are taught through Indonesian culture. Folklore means to embrace our own country and learn more about our culture in a deeper way. Culture is part of national identities which can grow in us through various forms of cultural products, including folklore stories. Parents often share stories of folktales to children for them to appreciate their culture more and bring out the morals inside that hold a rich heritage of Indonesia itself.
As part of an important element in Indonesia’s heritage, folktales must be preserved and prevent it from extinction. The most simple and common way to keep folktales alive is by introducing folktales to Indonesian children. However, introducing folktales can be implemented through many creative forms and not always a bedtime story. It can be a book for an event, a stage play introducing a folktale, children performance for school shows too. By storytelling, we can gather them in one place and create a fun atmosphere for them. Through this way, we can encourage them to read folktales and implant the values in their daily lives easily.
According to Kemendikbudristek (Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset, dan Teknologi), it can teach children how to express their thoughts vocally and increase their knowledge in reading. Storytelling is one of the teaching methods designed to boost children’s literacy skills from a young age. Storytelling encourages children to grow creative thinking, improve their perception of stories, and grab moral subjects into their daily lives.
From Aceh to Papua, across the diverse islands there are many folktales that can be told in different methods. It has not failed to capture the local wisdom and morals around us. These are some examples showing Indonesia’s unique folklore:
Sangkuriang is a popular folktale from West Java. It tells the story of how he built a boat for his lover who turns out to be his long lost mother that has casted him off due to his sins of killing his own father in his dog form. In the end, the boat turned upside down due to his mother and hence the name Tangkuban Perahu. To this day, respecting our parents is still one of the best morals that we get to imitate.
Malin Kundang is a famous folktale from West Sumatra. It also tells the story of a son abandoning his mother after reaching success for years. As a result, he turned into a stone statue due to his mother’s curse. From this story, We learn thoroughly that remembering our homeland and parents are very important, and how the prayers and gratitude from them cheered Malin Kundang in his journey to succeed in life.
Another popular legend of Jaka Tarub and Nawang Wulan from Central Java also amazes citizens of Indonesia with the story. It portrays that we have to be truthful in order to gain people’s trust. It tells the story about how Jaka Tarub met Nawang Wulan in the river and stole her shawl to prevent her from leaving as she is one of the angels in the sky. They eventually get married and Nawang Wulan found her shawl after years of Jaka Tarub’s hiding. At last, she left Jaka Tarub and their children alone to venture inside Heaven for good. From the story, we realized that it is better to give out the painful truth than beautiful lies before the person you love leaves you for good.
The Importance of Digitalization for Folklore
Since the era of digital technology has been going stronger than before, storytelling of folklore has decreased due to social media itself. People are obsessed with digitalization right now because people seldom read newspapers and books nowadays. Therefore, it is important to digitize folklore as well. Digitalization is not just enhancing the use of social media platforms or blog pages. There is a need to take steps further like, story adaptation, ebook production, retelling shows and more to go.
An example on how keeping the folktales alive and relevant towards newer generations and even future generations is through story adaptation. Dedes and 7 Wonders succeeded in bringing the retelling versions on WEBTOON Indonesia which can broaden our views about folktales. A horror film based on Nyi Roro Kudul’s story from South Java titled Ratu Pantai Selatan also was made into a film and cartoon animation about Timun Mas was also produced in Youtube with various sources.
Making an interactive application consisting of folktales, fairy tales, legends, and myths of Indonesia can also increase Indonesian children’s literacy skills and be a source of entertainment for them. They can still play on their device without endangering their mindset and learn more about their traditional customs through technology itself.
A reading app containing folktales can also help children gain insight into the world at a young age. There are also types of folktales available in Indonesia like fables, myths, legends, and more to entertain children without them feeling easily bored. Moreover, these types of folktales can broaden their mindset and knowledge to feel more dynamic and adaptable to the world awaiting them in the future.
It is also important for folklore to be shared worldwide to introduce our culture globally. It can be through a seminar discussing folktales and its wonder or infusing folklores in this technology era either way. Folklores represent the stages of human life, including our interactions with humans and nature. Folktales, when viewed in terms of frequency and moral significance, serve an important role in preserving and expressing cultural traditions to future generations to come. For example, A folklore-based creative dance in Indonesia was created based on Tangkuban Perahu’s tale. They mixed traditional dance and modern dance together to show how the digital era can be fused to one with the old methods. Through this, the richness of the local wisdom will be shared throughout the world.
Graciella Aurelia Tjan
IG: @graciellaaurl
Email: graciellaaurelia07@gmail.com
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