Elong Yabelale in Buginese Society

Abstract

One of the Buginese customs of ancient times when putting children to bed was to sing. This habit is called elong yabelale. However, over time, the tradition of elong yabelale has begun to be forgotten, thus many young people do not know about it. Elong yabelale contains a variety of local wisdom as a manifestation of ancestral life in the past, which may still have relevance to today’s life. It is therefore very important to reveal the local wisdom contained in elong yabelale. In this work, the methods used in data collection were recording and interviewing. The recording results were then transcribed into written form for further analysis. The results showed that elong yabelale expresses the parents’ hope for their child to be a pious child/devout, to be dutiful to his parents and the state, and to become useful to society. In addition, elong yabelale also contains teachings about faithfulness to others and to God. Finally, elong yabelale expresses parents’ doubts and fears about the fate of their child in the future.