TRACING THE STORY OF “MYSTIC SYNTHESIS” IN SUNDANESE LOCAL INCANTATIONS

This paper aims to discuss the acculturation of Islamic spectrum and local customs with  special reference to the “cultural change” mechanism that reflected in Sundanese local incantations . In the tradition of Sundanese oral-literature, particularly those are widely used by “pananyaan” (local shaman), there are several magical spells that creatively assimilate with the Islamic symbols. It will provide a preliminary exploration on how they adopted as supplement and even transformed into local incantations. This kind of assimilation has shown the reception of Sundanese people which also established by local determinations. In one sense, it also reflected – in Ricklefs term – the “mystic synthesis” which regarded as the “major gate” for Islamization of the archipelago. In this case, the l ocal genius is one of the key terms through which the indigenous articulation of Islamic spectrum can be explained.