The 8th session of the TUNEM Dandelion Cultural Exchange Program for the 2022/2023 academic year took place on November 7th, 2022 from 15:00 to 15:45 (GTM +8). The title for the 8th session of the TUNEM Dandelion Cultural Exchange Program was “Funeral Ritual”. The meeting was hosted by Mr. Yusuf Gezer from Turkiye through online using Tencent Meeting. Mr. Haci Samet Kucuk from Turkiye, and Ms. Amanda Dhyan Purna Ramadhani from Indonesia were invited as the presenters of this meeting.
The 8th session of the cultural exchange program discussed the funeral rituals from different countries. It is important to pay a final respect to the deceased relatives or friends during their funeral. Understanding different country’s funeral ritual perhaps is a unique method to experience foreign culture.
The host of the 8th session of the Dandelion Program-Cultural exchange series, Mr. Yusuf Gezer
Mr. Samet was the first presenter and he started by dividing Turkish history as Pre-Islamic and post-Islamic. Turks were nomadic during Pre-islamic, therefore, the writing system was not developed at that time. Most of the sources and evidence about Turks were discovered from the Chinese history.
Hacı Samet Kucuk (Right top) talking about Pre-Islamic period
Old Turks had the belief of “life after death”. Therefore, a man who passed away was buried with his valuable items to help him with his life on the other side. Horse, sword, gold, arrow, bow, and outfit were the main items buried along with the dead ones.
Ancient Turk grave illustration
Second Speaker, Ms. Amanda, spoke about different regions in Indonesia. Most of the people are muslim in Indonesia but there are many different beliefs. Amanda focused on three different beliefs during her speech - Pitra Yadyna and Trunyan from Bali and Torajan from Tana Toraja.
Amanda Dhyan Purna Ramadhani (right top) is talking about locations.
Trunyan people buried their dead ones above ground for centuries. The bodies are washed, dressed, and protected with a small bamboo cage that kept the monkeys and other animals away until the corpse decomposed naturally. After the body decomposed, the skull is taken and placed on a rock platform nearby to make room for new bodies.
Bamboo cage, Trunyan
The meeting resulted in a QAs session between speakers and participants.There will be a total of 11 more session in this cultural exchange program. We hope to foster mutual understanding between different nations and cultures through this cultural exchange program and ultimately help all TUNEM students enhance their global capabilities.
