The Sangihe Community’s Maritime Traditions: Protecting the Sea as a Sacred Space

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_37How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Maritime Traditions; Sangihe Ethnic Group; Protecting the Sea

Abstract

Maritime traditions, in terms of local knowledge of marine space, are well-known among the Sangihe ethnic community for their maritime culture. The marine environment and its components are inseparable from the Sangihe people, serving as their source of livelihood. Therefore, it is believed that the sea is protected by the ruler of nature or the ruler of the sea. The relationship between humans and the sea for the Sangihe-Talaud people is interdependent, requiring both parties to maintain harmony and balance. This marine area is closely linked to natural knowledge and fishing techniques, using both traditional and modern methods. Furthermore, they believe in the marine environment through the traditional masundeng belief system and mainstream religious beliefs. They also convey various ways of dealing with natural conditions. The sea is viewed as a sacred space or territory, and they refer to it as mateling. Furthermore, other natural objects, especially those seen high in the sky, such as the stars and the moon, are believed to influence human behavior and can detect good and bad, or predict good and bad weather, the best times for fishing, bad times, danger, wind direction, and other omens. The spatial structure of the sea is known as the concept or term “tagharoa,” which translates as “the open sea” and also refers to the sea as a whole. Fishermen must follow the rhythms of nature to fish, using traditional boats that must adapt to natural conditions. The traditional knowledge of the Sangihe people has fostered a tradition of preserving and maintaining the sea for sustainable use.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Steven Sumolang
AU  - Janeke Peggy Slipy
AU  - Nontje Deisye Wewengkang
AU  - Sjane F. Walangarei
AU  - Neni Kumayas
AU  - Gustaf Jentli Engelbert Undap
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - The Sangihe Community’s Maritime Traditions: Protecting the Sea as a Sacred Space
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Linguistics and Cultural Studies (ICLC-6 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 466
EP  - 485
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_37
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_37
ID  - Sumolang2026
ER  -