LIMINALITY OF IGAL RITUAL THEATER: A SOLUTION OF TULAH

Abstract

This paper work delves into the igal ritual practised by the Bajau ethnic group in Semporna, Sabah as a form of a ritual theater. In the traditional context, the igal ritual is presented for healing from tulah for the community’s wellbeing. Other than that, igal is presented as a symbol of change of the practitioners’ ethnic social status through the experiences of the communitas and liminality during the liminal stage of the performance. The ethnography method is applied as a strategy that concentrates on the relationship between behaviour and culture. Ethnographers work hard to understand and separate the emic perspective from the etic pespective. The analysis of the igal ritual has been studied by applying the theory of communitas and liminality as coined Victor Turner. The aim is to analyse how the two aspects assert that the igal ritual as a form of ritual theatre plays the role in influencing the process of change of the social status and the culture of Bajau ethnic for the wellbeing of the practitioners. The communitas experience is faced by the practitioners of the ritual at the liminal stage, which is the stage where players are unconscious during the performance. Liminality and communitas are a stage where the state of mind is able to accept change or the proposed change that happens. This research outcome justifies the ritual igal as a form of a ritual theatre with a significant role in influencing the process of social interaction of the Bajau ethnic through both experiences communitas and liminality for the benefit of the people.