Telling Books through Hand Puppets
Dozens of children had gathered in the village hall of Dwi Karya Bhakti, Pelepat District, Bungo Regency, that was on Wednesday morning, October 14, 2020. The sunlight filled a part of the rooms in the village hall whereas the vilage children and SAD children from rombong Hari and rombong Badai had been together in there. From the village hall they were brought to the field, 2 older brothers from Kampung Dongeng Seloko, Jambi, guided them in a line to take up the gymnastic positions. By wearing masks and keeping their distance, the village children and SAD did the morning exercise while occasionally they were laughing because of their spontaneous humuor when one of them made a wrong move. They were also asked to cheer along the movements and rhythms of the gymnastics while the shady trees shaded them in the gusts of wind.
Anyway the morning exercise was just the beginning for warming up. While the activity that awaited as it had been informed before namely a hand puppet show. It acted out some of the stories in the book entitled “Berkampung di Kelukup, Beradat ke Rimbo” by Jhoni Imron, which was just launched the day before at the Bappeda office of Bungo Regency. And a carrier bag was seated next to a plastic chair, the children probably asked by themselves: “How big is a hand puppet? What's his name? What does it look like, and how many puppets can occupy in that big bag?”
Two mats were laid out in the field, all children took a seat for the most comfortable positions which seemed like city people fulfilled a cinema studio. One by one the hand puppet was taken out and introduced themselves. The puppet spoke by making a cute characteristic sound when her mouth moved and asking the names of the children who sitting in front of. The cute children were shy and blushed while holding back their laughter, they intended to mention their name but their vocal cords seemed reluctant to vibrate. After the awkward atmosphere gradually melted away, the story began to flow.
Each hand puppet plays its role in accordance with the contents of the book “Berkampung di Kelukup, Beradat to Rimbo.” The book tells about the life philosophy of Suku Anak Dalam, especially for Rombong Hari which purposely told to SAD children as the young generation who had been inclusive in villagers and familiar with technology and would not forget the origin and philosophy of their ancestors. Not only more than just knowing but it is expected that the next generation of SAD will continue upholding, respecting and applying the philosophy and cultural wisdom of their ancestors.