The Importance Of Introducing Oral Tradition To Sentani Children, Jayapura

Sentani tribe in Jayapura, Papua has various oral tradition, i.e. folktales, oral poems, traditional proverbs, folksongs, dances, painting, traditional architecture, etc. Unfortunately, Sentani children as the future generation who will continue the existence of the socio-cultural life of Sentani people do not recognize their ancestor’s cultural heritages. This paper aims at discussing the importance of introducing oral tradition that focuses on folktales and folksongs to Sentani children since those two works are related, simpler, and accompanied by musical instruments (for folklsongs). Data of folktales and folklsongs were collected from some informants, i.e. tribal chiefs and Sentani elders in Waena, Ayapo, and Hobong in June-September 2019. The term “children” belongs to those children who are in 4- 8 years old or those who are in Early Childhood Education and grades 1-3 of Primary Schools. This research adopted socio-cultural approach. From the discussion, it is found that (1) folktales and folksongs could be used as media of learning Sentani language, traditional knowledge, and moral values, (2) the learning was a breakthrough of disseminating the Sentani cultural heritages and various socio-cultural values embedded, and (3) the learning was a strategy of Sentani cultural heritages preservation.