Local Deities as Symbol of Acculturated Chinese Diasporas Temples in Indonesia

Abstract

Migrants of Chinese diasporas have long history in Indonesia. To survive as new settlers they should adapt to local situation as a process of acculturation. This paper pursued to find the proofs of acculturation in existing old Chinese temples. The research process is done through extensive field surveys, explanation of symbols by anthropological background of Chinese cults, and semiotic interpretation of symbols. Temples as open public places showed their expression and attitude of acculturation appearing through adoption and worshipping local symbols. The result showed that there are two groups of adopted local symbols: first, indigenous figures and objects, and second local Chinese diasporas figures.