This article is based on a part of one-year field research in Minahsa, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. This is concerned primarily with so-called “re-localization” of Minahasan cultures and traditions. Since the Dutch colonial period, the Minahasan community has accommodated Christianity and elements of European culture, thereby undergoing certain fundamental socio-cultural transformations. However, the Minahasan have also continued to retain a deep sense of Minahasan-ness in cultural practices so that one can discern a re-localized continuity in Minahasan culture. Minahasan traditions and culture still exist as ‘memory traces’, which enshrine local value systems deeply in the minds of the Minahasan. What is more, non-local cultural practices and systems have been imprinted with these Minahasan memory traces in the process of ‘re-localisation’, whilst at the same time blurring some of them. Some traditions have eventually disappeared, while others have been revived in the process of re-localisation. For instance, some pagan elements of the fosso [Minahasan feast] such as the activities of tona’as [Minahasan ritual specialist] and the worship dances for ancestral gods and goddesses have disappeared with the adoption of Christianity; but the festive properties of the fosso can still be traced in socio-cultural events such as marriage. This article is divided into five major sections. Firstly, it reviews some theoretical perspectives of local cultures and tradition in the era of globalization. Secondly, it proceeds to reveal the brief history of Minahasa in relation to Christianity and European influences. Thirdly, it talks about Christian influences on the Minahasan community in more details. Fourth, it attempts to describe the re-localized elements of Minhasan traditions and culture across time, taking examples of creation myths, belief systems, shaman activities, festive rituals and indigenous performances. Lastly, having said all these, it argues that the form and pattern of re-localization depend on how the Minahasan perceive and define their traditional culture in relation to the present lifeworld.

• 김예겸(아세아연합신학대학교)