Religion and Culture Encounters in Misool Raja Ampat: Marine Ritual Practice of Sasi Laut

The acculturation of religion and culture in such a way are gradually accepted without
causing the loss of the native culture in one community will influence the social process. When
religion and culture arise and merged into one, it can be clear to be found in their rituals. This
ethnography study on qualitative in nature was conducted to see how the existence, practices, and
acculturation between local culture and Islam in, Sasi marine rituals in Misool Raja Ampat in West
Papua Indonesia. Data collection was done through observation, in-depth interview including
library research on community manuscript and local government database. Using snowball
sampling technique, this study is able to gain solid information from native people in Misoo that
willing to take part as the informants. The informants in this study were found as influences native
people in Misool community e.g; the head of Fafanlap village, community figures, female figures
and youth figures. This study considers Misool community which still strongly maintains their
cultures including sasi laut as a sign to start and stop harvesting the specific sea resources to
maintain the sustainability of nature. The acculturation between the culture of Islam runs smoothly
in changing the native mindset to eliminate the things that can cause syirik but did not eliminate
the characteristics and the main part of the ritual of sasi laut.
Keywords: Sasi, Misool, Religion, and Culture