Sampar Banyu Pager Ukir: Islamic Ecotheology, Ecological Memory, and Cultural Sustainability in Rural Java

Abstrak

Environmental knowledge is increasingly vulnerable to disruption as modernization and social change weaken the transmission of local ecological knowledge across generations. In rural Java, ecological knowledge is often embedded in religious rituals, oral narratives, agricultural practices, and culturally meaningful landscapes. This study aims to examine how the Sampar Banyu Pager Ukir tradition in Pesalakan Village, Batang Regency, preserves ecological memory, articulates Islamic values and local ecological knowledge, and contributes to cultural sustainability. The study employed a qualitative ethnographic case-study approach. Data were collected through observation, semi-structured interviews, and documentation involving village elders, village officials, and community members involved in the tradition. The data were analyzed thematically by identifying recurring concepts related to water, irrigation, ancestral memory, agriculture, religion, communal solidarity, and environmental responsibility, which were then connected with the concepts of traditional ecological knowledge, ecological memory, cultural landscape, Islamic environmental ethics, and cultural sustainability. The findings show that Sampar Banyu Pager Ukir connects Pager Ukir Dam, Kali Susukan, Talang Wesi, Watu Lawang, and Wadas Mayung into a ritual landscape where water infrastructure, ancestral narratives, agricultural knowledge, religious gratitude, and communal relationships intersect. The tradition functions as a form of ecological memory by transmitting knowledge through ritual movement, storytelling, prayer, communal meals, and repeated participation. The study concludes that Sampar Banyu Pager Ukir represents an Islamic-Javanese form of ecological memory that can support cultural sustainability by reconnecting present generations with ecological knowledge, collective history, and religious responsibility toward the environment.