<i>Jin</i> Worship, Founders’ Cults, and Social Relations in Tidore, Indonesia

• Main Author: Seung-Won Song
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
• Series: Religions
• Subjects: arrival-order precedence; founders’ cult; Indonesia; <i>jin</i> worship; North Maluku; <i>sowohi</i>
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/9/788

This article examines perceptions of <i>jin</i> rituals in Tidore in order to explore how Austronesian perceptions of founders’ cults, arrival-order precedence, and stranger-kingship operate in determining social relations. Tidore origin narratives are significant historical texts that encode the social order and its power relations and so must be explored in greater depth. I analyzed rituals, origin narratives, and public discourse through interviews conducted with locals and particularly with four <i>sowohi</i>, the ritual specialists of <i>jin</i> worship. Additionally, I observed the public aspects of the <i>jin</i> ritual of inauguration of the sultan. The <i>jin</i> are the ancestral spirits and “true owners” of Tidore. Both the <i>jin</i> and <i>sowohi</i> are associated with the land and thus are the autochthonous leaders on the island. The sultan belongs to the stranger-king category, which was formed by later immigrant groups. During <i>jin</i> rituals of worship, the <i>jin</i> bless the sultan through the <i>sowohi</i>, who serve as mediums; this symbolizes the autochthonous flow of blessings to later immigrant groups. The rituals are also a recollection of a more primordial social order of heterogenous groups, which is based on the arrival-order precedence on Tidore.