ABSTRACT

This research discuss about  invented tradition in religion of Chinese Indonesia community. Chinese people have spiritual world of view which see the divine concept of Tian, gods, spirits, ancestors are worshiped in addition to maintain relationships as well as to obtain the goals to be achieved. Modernity does not dismiss tradition, tradition can survive and continous to grow through the process of reinvented tradition. Modernity for the Chinese people  does not show the decline of worship of the gods. The Gods worship can be combined in any religious belief because gods worship is a tradition that became the basis for the practice of religious beliefs of the Chinese people. God worship can survive and be practiced by the Chinese people because the Chinese people generally do not use religion as an identity.This study looks at the practice of god worship by taking  Xuan Tian Shangdi sejit festival  as an  unit analysis in Hok Lay Kiong temple , Bekasi. The practice of god worship is said to be an invented tradition  because the tradition is formed  by the framer elements originated  from the original tradition.

By looking at the process of Hobsbawm,s invented tradition in terms of the Durkheim ‘s sacred and profane and its relation to the totemism,  that invented tradition has a new form and function. Data Collection technique is conducted by indepth interview, observation, participant observation, document literature in books, journal article, ethnography form which is related to religion.

Key words : shen, baishen, modernity, invented tradition, sejit, sacred, profane, totem