Expressive Communication and Cultural Meaning in Sarafal Anam

Abstract

Sarafal Anam is a religious and cultural tradition practiced within the Tengah Padang community in Central Bengkulu Regency, Indonesia, combining religious recitation with collective verbal and nonverbal expression. This study examines how expressive communication is manifested in Sarafal Anam and interprets the cultural meanings embedded in its performance. A descriptive qualitative design with an ethnographic approach was employed. Data were collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews with six purposively selected informants, and documentation, and interpreted using Ferdinand de Saussure's semiotic framework of signifier and signified. The findings show that expressive communication is constructed through religious verses, synchronized bodily movements, facial expressions, rebana rhythms, and collective positioning. Religious verses communicate praise for Prophet Muhammad SAW, prayer, moral guidance, and devotion, while nonverbal expressions communicate togetherness, unity, discipline, cooperation, solemnity, and social solidarity. These expressive elements function as culturally recognizable signifiers understood through shared religious and social values. Sarafal Anam therefore operates as a multimodal and collective form of expressive communication in which religious devotion and social relationships are simultaneously expressed. Its continuity requires preserving both its performance forms and the intergenerational transmission of cultural meanings and community values.