Empowerment of Simalungun Traditional Clothes in Efforts to Maintain Local Wisdom For Young Generations

Abstract

The Simalungun people still exist today in maintaining their culture. Parents continue to strive to pass down the Simalungun culture to the younger generation, because they realize that this young generation will one day inherit this culture to the next generation. One of the defended Simalungun cultural products is traditional clothing. This traditional clothing can be in the form of bridal clothing, which is the clothes worn by the bride and groom. Wedding clothing in the Simalungun community is a symbol that has a function and meaning. Therefore, the younger generation must know that the clothes they wear at the wedding party are not just to look beautiful. However, all the attributes worn have meanings that can describe the local wisdom of the community. The traditional clothing reflects cultural values so that it must be properly understood by the community. For this reason, a study of the function and meaning of traditional clothing, especially bridal clothing in the Simalungun community, needs to be carried out. The results of the research will be used as the basis of knowledge for the people who own the culture. The right approach taken so that the function and meaning of these cultural symbols or signs can be described is the semiotic approach, as suggested by Charles S. Piere. In addition, for the discussion to be more perfect, the next approach that can be taken is the local wisdom approach, proposed by Robert Sibarani. This is because understanding the basics of past societal policies regarding the selection and meaning of a symbol will greatly facilitate the study of objects. This research is descriptive qualitative research with observation and documentation techniques. The results of this research will become a reference for the public, especially the Simalungun community, and will be published in indexed international journals.