The Kélah Ritual of The Manggaraians in Flores-Eastern Indonesia and Its Theological Significance For Roman Catholics

This paper aims to discuss the theological significance of the traditional religious practice of the Manggaraians in Flores, eastern Indonesia called the Kélah Ritual. It is an aspect of the traditional religion of the Manggaraians. The authorities of the Catholic Church in Manggarai have been very tolerant toward the ritual and provide enough space for the Catholics to practice it. The Church, however, does not have a sufficient understanding of its theological significance due to insufficient previous studies on the subject. This paper demonstrates that the ritual has a deep theological significance. This study employed direct observation, direct participation in the Kélah Ritual in several places in Manggarai, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and questionnaires. The results of this research indicate that this ritual is a rite of passage about the human soul departing from this world to heaven conducted a few days or months after the body’s interment. It was on the day of the soul’s ascension to heaven where all of the family ancestors meet with God eternally. This research concludes that, with its theological meaning, the ritual conforms with the Catholic faith doctrine regarding the gradual departure of the human soul to heaven after its corporal death – purgatory. No soul goes right away to heaven when it is not 100% holy. The ritual, therefore, could be valued and officially incorporated into the Catholic faith tradition in order to enrich its worship to God.


Introduction
This article is based on a study about the Kélah Ritual by the Manggaraians in Flores, Eastern Indonesia. Like any other ethnic group of the island, the Manggaraians are predominantly Catholic in a country of 250 million inhabitants. Manggarai is located in the territory When kélah ritual is not performed, the soul of the dead person is believed to be far from reaching its final destination. Performing the overdue ritual will remain as a duty of the surviving members of the family. They should remember it and vow to, sooner or later, do it.
Kélah ritual is held almost every year given that there is death/s occur in every year in a rural community in Ruteng. In line with the general policy of the worldwide Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council that respects the good and sacred values of other cultures and religions (Nostra Aetate, 1965:art.2; cfr. Gaudium et Spes, 1965:art.58;Ad Gentes, 1965:art.34;Paul VI,1975:art.20;Paul II,1990:art.5;Jerman, 2005:130) The only thing that the Catholic Church has not done is legally approving the practice. When asked about the nature of this ritual, the authorities of the Catholic Diocese of Ruteng, either its pastors or its bishop, would not be able to describe it comprehensively. They find it difficult to give an account as to why they have not legally approved it and why they do not prohibit it either. The main reason for this response is that the Catholic theologians and scholars of the Ruteng Normally, kélah ritual is conducted first, in its own way, and then soon after it is followed by the celebration of the Catholic Holy Mass. Both rituals are meant for the safe journey of the departing soul on that very day.
In terms of financial cost, the kélah celebration can be categorized as costly. It draws large groups of people such as residents of the entire village where kélah ritual is held. Groups families called anakrona (the wife-givers) and anakwina (the wife-receivers or wife-takers), including those living in distance, must attend the celebration. They must be willing to sacrifice their time, energy, money, and their day job for two to three days for this ritual.
From these facts, it can be drawn two major of problems that need to be addressed in this study. First, although the Catholic Church in Ruteng Dioces in Flores, Eastern Indonesia has been very tolerant toward the ritual of kélah, they might not be well-informed about the theological significance of the ritual for the traditional Manggaraians.
Second, although Manggarians cherish and practice the ritual, some of them may not have a good understanding of it due to the fact that this ritual is inherited from one generation to another without discussing its important nature.
In doing so, the local Catholic Church in the Diocese of Ruteng, Flores, implements the call of the Universal Church that it should bring into dialogue with the world in which she exists and labors (Paul VI, 1964: art.65;cfr. Paul II, 1979: art.11;Gioia, 2006:72 : 116-117, cfr. Fox, 2002(Bevans, 2004: 385-388) In these selected parishes, data was collected through focus group discussions (FGD), interviews with key informants, and direct participatiion in kélah rituals. Additional data was also collected through questionnaires filled out by one hundred villagers in each of the three parishes selected.

Literature Review
In many traditional religions, rituals that are similar to kélah are commonly found among various ethnic groups, either in Flores, in ethnic groups of Indonesia, or among the indigenous people in other parts of the world. Even though the ritual is performed in different ways, its main purpose remains the same. It is based on a religious belief that the soul of a deceased person does not immediately go to its eternal residence in the afterlife. Instead, it departs slowly up to a point where the living family members let it go for good through a ritual, so called by the Manggaraians as kélah.
Similar to Manggaraians, indigenous Australians, for instance, believe that when a person dies, the soul leaves the body in which it resided and once the mourning period is over it goes to the land of the souls (Durkheim, 1995: 249-250). It means that from the day of the body burial, the soul still temporarily lingers with the surviving family.
When a farewell ritual is conducted at the end of the mourning period, International Journal of Religious Literature and Heritage 199 the soul starts departing to its final destinythe land of the souls, or Heaven in the view of modern religion.
In Indonesia, many Muslims still practice a tahlilan, a series of prayers adopted from an old Javanese traditional religion, offered on the third, seventh, one hundredth and one thousandth day for the soul after the interment of its body. (Geertz, 1960:72). According to Machasin , this religious practice should be preserved even though the practice is not based on the Qur'an or any Hadith ( Kélah can only be taken place where both families of wife-givers and wife-receivers attend the ceremony; thus this ritual is usually postpone until a suitable time for everyone (Verheijen, 1991: 213). Following Verheijen, Maribeth Erb (1999) also observed that until a kélah ritual is held, the soul of the deceased were still around and so their sleeping and eating spots are treated similarly as if they were still alive. During the mealtime, meal is placed on the spot where the deceased used to eat; a cloth is placed on the spot where he/she used to sleep. The ritual is concluded by an animal sacrisfaction (Erb, 1999:50).  (Lon, 2019:456). Here, the authors mention a pig sacrificed at the occasion of the kélah as elakélas. The pig is sacrificed as part of the prayer to say the final goodbye for the soul of the deceased person that starts its departure for heaven on that very day.
Therefore, it is not sacrificed for a commemoration for the dead.
While kélah is presented very briefly, the discussion of Verhejijen and

Result and Discussion
The Process of the Kélah Ritual

a) The Vigil of the Kélah Ritual
Before

The Ting Ghang Ritual
At around 07.00 p.m. the event begins with a ritual of ting ghang and ngereng weki. In the ritual of ting ghang, the soul of the deceased is called to symbolically eat together with all of the surviving family members and all who are present for the last time. At a haungta'a ritual conducted to delay a kélah ritual, the soul of the deceased is told to leave his/her living family for a while, and he is promised to be called back when kélah ritual is to be held later.
If followed carefully, this ceremony is very moving. The soul of the deceased person, who is being invited to sit and eat together with his/her surviving family that night, is provided an empty pillow. He/she is symbolically welcomed to sit on it to indicate that he/she is indeed present and is willing to stay with the surviving family for the last time before he/she heads to the afterlife in the morning as kélah ritual is conducted.

The Ritual of Ngereng Weki
Ngereng weki is a ritual meant to ask for God's protection for all the surviving family and relatives, both who are present and not present. They are all expected not to fall into any temptation that endangers their body and soul. Ngereng wiki is conducted prior to kélah where a number of animals will be sacrificed, such as two roosters and two pigs or a buffalo. One rooster and one pig are sacrificed for the soul of the dead, while another rooster and the surviving family members make a petition to God that only animals will be sacrificed, not the surviving human lives.

b) On the Day of the Kélah Ritual
The ceremony of kélah always takes place in the morning around 7.00 a.m. Even though the soul of the deceased can leave the world for heaven any time, either in the morning, at noon, in the evening or at night, the Manggaraians still use their natural human sense. In their view, it is better for the soul of the deceased to start his/her long journey to heaven in the morning instead of any other times. Kélah

The Tudak Kélah Ritual
After the prayer offering from all parties, the ritual leader continues with the most important part of the ritual, namely reciting the prayer for the sacrificed animals in order to deliver and permit the soul of the deceased to immediately start his/her long journey to heaven. He opens the prayer by telling all parties present: "Now we have arrived at the peak of our ritual.
Since you support heartily this ritual with your prayers, let us now proceed to the most solemn part of our program, namely, the prayer of the kélah ritual." In and through the prayer of Tudak Kélah Ritual, the soul of the deceased is believed to start heading for heaven. S/he is now a part of the family of the ancestors gathering with God. Later on, the ceremony is followed by tudak pangga provided by the family groups of wife-givers to pray for the wellbeing of the surviving family members. Whenever there is a Catholic Pastor, the ritual is consummated by celebrating the Sacred Holy Mass in which the pastor also prays for the safe journey of the deceased soul off to heaven, and the wellbeing of the surviving family who are still in this world.

The Meaning of the Kélah Ritual
What is the meaning of the kélah ritual for the Manggaraians or of the similar ritual for other ethnic groups of the world religions? For Manggaraians, the meaning of kélah can be detected through the inquiry of various terms or phrases used to describe the ritual such as: The  (Verheijen, 1991:199 According to the traditional religious belief system of the Manggaraians, a baby is not automatically counted as a member of the living family. From the day of his/her birth until a few days afterward, the baby and the mother are secluded inside the house. They stay in the hearth called sumpéng (the fire of confinement) for several days according to the kind of seki practiced by the clan family (Erb, 1999:39). The Manggaraians where an author is from (Jebadu) practice seki alo (life cycle eight). The newborn baby and the mother are secluded inside a house near a sumpéng for eight days and nights.
During the stay in the sumpéng, the baby along with his/her soul is not Similarly, ancient Romans used to have a special celebration for the dead on the ninth day after the death so called novendialis (Latin) which means taking place on the ninth day. Normally, prior to this celebration, ancient Romans offered some prayers on each day to ensure a safe journey of the dead to a new home where the aviorum (ancestors) live forever with God. On the day of the novendialis ritual, the living family officially terminated the membership of their deceased member from their social community (Jebadu, 2009:110-111;Jebadu, 2010:73-74) and join a new family of the aviorum with God in heaven.
Later on, early Christians in Rome took the ritual over and changed it into what is today called the novena prayer, a kind of 9-day prayer to prepare Christmas celebration or Christmas Novena (Klein, 2000:101).  (Klinger, :1320. We argue that the Church's teaching about the temporary detainment of the soul after corporal death in that state of purification (i.e. purgatory) is not different from the traditional religious belief system that the Manggaraians hold as presented here in this study. The soul of the deceased does not leave right away for heaven after the burial of the body but, rather, it stays in this world until the ritual of ultimate farewell is conducted.

Conclusion
It has been demonstrated that kélah ritual practiced by the